Moving to the Alps in a very snowy winter
I’ve never been a big fan of snow and winter…. But our escape to the south of Italy was stopped by the Covid-19 regulations and so we kinda were stuck in the snowy mountains. Probably everybody I knew would have looked at this in another way: A winter wonderland.
So in the end I had two choices. Waiting for spring which could easily mean waiting for 3 month, or embracing the snowy winter and learning to like it. I was indecisive and a lot of days i fell back into this little cave underneath a pile of blankets wishing for some warmer weather but a lot of days were really beautiful winter adventures.
Finding joy in the unknown. I was wobbeling around on cross-country skies and enjoyed it to the fullest. The tracks in Forni di Sopra are just beautiful winding around on the shores of the Tagliamento. The Trees were loaded with snow and had really weird hats on which made them look like little dwarfs waiting for you to pass and bow in respect that you made it outdoors despite the cold and wet. I am a bit scared of speed so cross-country proofed to be a perfect fit! I even took a lesson with a great teacher to show me the basics. It always scary to learn something new. Its so comfy to stick with what we already know how to do or at least have done before. But overcoming that fear and learning was a huge energy and happiness booster. So my little hint to a happier and more energetic winter: Learn something new!
Enjoying the comforts of just walking. At the beginning we went for one or two walks after the fesh snow just had stopped falling and well we went on a 1 kilometer loop and i was completely out f breath and my butt was complaining for 3 days about what incredible booty-training I had done with the expectations of just going for a walk. After we waited a couple of days for the snow to settle we dared to step outside again and ventured further. (Not just the usual route to pet the awesome donkeys and back). We had some extra equipment for making walking possible and with snow shoes and trekking poles made our way through the water wonderland. Everything looked like covered by a nice puffy blanket. Hard rocks and stones looked like soft pillows and the whole landscape shone in a bright light. The snow covered the grey of the leafless seasons and made the brown shine somewhat more vivid. The landscape looked romantic (not even mentioning the village with each roof decorated with 1 meter of snow) and the snow made everything shine in a bit surreal light. Never the less we were working hard, walking those trails. Usually the trail to some nice waterfalls would have talken us an hour and a half… when we arrived after 3 hours of butt-exercise ;) we were tired. Tired but well rewarded with not just the normal waterfalls but frozen falls of ice and hundreds of really long icicles. There are wonders of nature that you can awe upon just in winter and slowly I learned walk by walk that i indeed live in a Winter Wonderland.
