[caption id="attachment_162" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Italian espresso. Photo by Eben Mond"]
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This is how a typical ski day in Italy goes:
9 a.m.: Meet your friends for a coffee at the local cafe, then head to the ski hill over winding mountain passes in tiny Euro cars with two-wheel drive.
10 a.m.: Spin a few laps inbounds at the resort. Then stop at an on-mountain hut for more coffee and a pastry.
11 a.m: Head out of bounds (not that there's a gate or any kind of boundary line warning you that you're leaving), and skin out to an untouched powder field under jagged 13,000-foot peaks. Italian powder somehow seems sweeter than its American counterpart.
Noon: Stop in another hut deep in the woods. Drink red wine straight from the jug, eat crusty bread slathered in stinky cheese, then drink more red wine.
2 p.m.: Ski down from the hut. Powder seems even sweeter after two glasses of wine.
4 p.m.: Drink biera and eat sausage pasta with more cheese until it's time to dance or sleep. Then do it all over again.
Italian espresso. Photo by Eben Mond
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