Cesana ICC - 2009 Part 3

Tuesday, 1/20/09, the first day of sliding in Cesana - wait, let me clarify some things for you:

• The 2006 Winter Olympics were hosted by Turino (aka Turin), Italy
• The bobsled/skeleton/luge track was built over an hour away, in a tiny town called Cesana
• We stay at a nearby town, about 10 kilometers away, called Sestriere.
• To make matters more confusing, the track isn't really IN the town of Cesana, but is in an area called San Sicario, between Cesana and Sestriere.
  

There. Hopefully that clears up the confusion when I mention any of those locations!

Anyway, back to sliding day 1. We woke to a heavy snowfall, that left us fearing another 2.5 meter snowfall like the blizzard that canceled the World Cup! In just over 2 hours, about 8-10 inches of snow had fallen...

Here's Annie cleaning off our car:


Here is the other van, stuck in the parking lot. They ended up having to put on chains to drive to the track.


Visibility was zero, but I was assured by my teammates that the track would still be nice as it is almost entirely enclosed and / or roofed.

Gradually, the sky lightened. Slowly, the mountain view across the valley went from this:


To this:


To finally, this:


This is Annie by the start house at the track, looking hopeful.


With all the snow, we didn't get a chance to do a trackwalk or go down and watch any of the other sliders, so we just got ready for the session. There wasn't much space in the start house for everyone to have a seat, so the boys made do with lockers.


I could only hope that the notes and videos I'd watched would be enough to get me down safely. Cesana is a difficult track, and has caused a lot of injuries, so I was a bit nervous.

Keslie kept things light by wearing her 'bikini' speedsuit.




After Keslie went, it was Annie's turn, then mine. Here we go! I thought.

And then, suddenly, Run 1 was done and over, and I was safely down. Before I knew it, Run 2 was also done.

I'd survived! The track wasn't as scary as it had been made out to be, though I could see where injuries could happen if I don't pay attention. And, I'll admit to dragging some toes in a few corners....er, a lot of corners.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. After a 2 course (overly filling) lunch, Annie and I went and worked out at a sweet gym in this building:


Then we walked to the grocery store, then another grocery store, then on an endless hunt for the pharmacy (turns out we'd passed it twice - the sign was hidden behind a snow pile), all in an attempt to find some contact lens solution for me! Quite the adventure.

On our walk, we were amused by the snowplows. The chains were very impressive!


The big guy had a little friend.


He popped a wheelie for our amusement.


On our walk, the weather kept changing. It was clear, then foggy.


Then clear again. This is the same tower hotel in the picture above, we've just walked to the other side.


We saw some 2006 decorations.


I fixed the missing 6.


There was a lot of snow!


This poor little stand is buried for the winter!


Anyway, that's the first day of sliding. We made it back to the hotel for another delicious 5-course meal, and I'm grateful for the workouts we've been doing to burn the calories off! ;)