Right, so this winter has been massive in the Alps with nothing short on snow or places to ski, so why travel to Sicily to ski? Well for starters, how about for the sake of skiing on a volcano or perhaps skiing while enjoying the sea view? Actually the best reason is simply for the snow - both the amount and the quality. Sicily and Mt Etna in particular both exceeded our expectations - by a heck of a long way!
So I have been to Sicily a couple of times over the past years to enjoy the quality of the rock climbing (which is also easily quantifiable as world class), so I guess it was only fitting to experience what winter offers on the highest point on the island - Mt Etna.
There are 4 man craters that make up the "summit", the highest of which - the North Crater - sits at 3350m above sea level. Since the high point is only a mere 20 odd kms from the coast - by road, it is easy to imagine that most things go up from there.
Ok so first we need to get there and getting there is pretty easy with several flights per week from mainland Europe and in particular Rome which in turn bring you to the main port town of Catania.
Now for the adventure and skiing...
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| 10 days after the last storm they were still digging out the parking lot and the buildings |
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| The main craters smoking away |
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| From a little closer |
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| summits and views |
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| la bocca nuova crater |
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| day 2 lap around the summits (and through the smoke) |
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| when in Rome... |
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| really impressive |
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| and so is the skiing |
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| one final run on the BD Verdicts |
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| one of the best runs down towards the Riffugio Citelli |
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| perfect corn all 1300m of it |
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| get some |
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| view from the road |
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| well deserved gelatti on the last evening |
Here is a short video I made of the trip as well
Guess we left just in time to experience an eerie glow from one of the craters early Sunday morning...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTOd2tq0OVM
Special thanks to
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