 Poster: A snowHead
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As we pulled into Madonna, the sight of the terrifying Spinale Direttissima descent looked straight back at us with utter contempt for us mere social skiers, the steep 70% decent should put off those skiers and snowboarders you could almost hear it say.
Not being a group to back down on a challenge, the run had to be conquered. The trip to the top of the Spinale Direttissima is via a stand up cable car (forget queuing in an orderly manner, this is every man for himself) packed into the cabine, it’s one of those moments when you would rather just pick up one or two of the tame red or blue run that feature quite heavily in this resort. However we have a 14 year old boy with us who is determined to ride the Spinale Direttissima and unfortunately and owing to experience, middle aged men just love the opportunity to prove that they are not yet ‘past it’!
We arrive at the top fix our skis on and start the descent which is a really nice run, fairly steep but nothing to worry about , challenging and steep enough to get a good speed up, so all in all my kind of run. One of our crowd started to sound a little nervous and asked if he might go up the chair lift that is three quarters of the way down, I suppose he was hoping that the 14 year old would follow and we all need not prove ourselves, of course the youngster was having none of it! Finally you arrive at the last descent along a very narrow ledge and there it is, the 70% decline and believe me its takes your breath away, it even shut the ever confident 14 old up for a second declaring as he did that, “You should lead the way”… Teenager Nil - Middle aged man One!
So away with it and although steep, the slope is more than skiable, the thrill is in the build up and the conquering of the piste. As with many of these steep runs they look worse than they are; when you start your descent it’s all over too quickly, but there are other black runs here and now we’re warmed up.
Madonna di Campiglio is a beautiful part of the Dolomites, the people are very friendly, the food is delicious and good value too, I recommend the Restaurant Belvedere at the end of run 35. The slopes for the early part of the day and at lunchtime are almost deserted, I travelled in half term and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of visitors. The late evenings and the home trails did get a little busy, but I guess that is the same wherever you go. All in all I thoroughly recommend this resort, especially if you want some laid back skiing with the odd spicy moment, the extent of the area does not compare with the 3 Valleys but the charm of the place, the friendliness and good value of the resort certainly make up for that.
[url]ww.adventuresportsgroup.co.uk/snow[/url]
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