Day 5: Life on the mountain We awoke to day to another beautiful sunny day. We made our way up to ski and found ourselves once again alone on the tracks. We thought the Norwegian National team would have made it up there today, but maybe tomorrow. We had a great ski and did a bunch of drills to work on balance and technique. Day 6: Bormio’s 2 Biathlon Ranges Today we skied again in the morning and towards the end of our ski the Norwegians showed up. You could tell that it was their first day at altitude because they were skiing really slow around the tracks. Their coaches were also monitoring their lactic acid levels every couple of loops to make sure they weren’t going to hard. After a few hours of skiing we made our way back down which is a highlight of our ski everyday because the snow is softer and we can do downhill turns the entire way down the downhill runs, it’s temping not to rent a pair of downhill skis and give it a whirl, but we get in one good run on our Nordic skis each day. In the afternoon we were to meet Nickola, our local contact, and the club coach to get situated at the range. So we showed up early to the range and waited and waited and waited some more. When we thought they might not show we just started to shoot. Just about that time they arrived. It turns out that there are two biathlon ranges in Bormio, one that is 30 points and could host a world cup and the other, the one we were at, which is small, only 8 points, and a little ghetto. So, Nickola laughed that we were waiting for him and he was waiting for us and everyone was waiting for everyone. He then drove us over to the big range where DeLorenzi of the Italian National team was training. The local coach then gave us keys to the place and left us to our shooting workout. We had a great shooting workout with some wind and then it was time to head back up the mountain to Stelvio Pass. We once again missed the 5:00 tram back up to our hotel so we slung our pack and rifles on our backs and hiked up the hill to our hotel. Another great day in the mountains. Day 7: Fog The wind howled all night long! Being at 10,000 feet makes you highly susceptible to some pretty nasty weather and today demonstrated that. It was too foggy and windy for the tram to operate so the tram was shut down. We had planned a hike in the afternoon so we just moved that up to the morning. We were all very excited about this hike. We had been planning it ever since we had driven up Stelvio Pass the first time. Our destination was a hut way up on the side of this mountain. At first we didn’t even think there was any way to get there, but with careful studying of the mountains while going up and down the tram everyday we thought we’d seen a trail heading over that way. We didn’t want to take a high route because that would involve some serious rock climbing and some sketchy terrain. We figured a route down across the bottom of the glacial chute or rock slide, down into the trees (we are way above tree line up here) and back up to the hut. We couldn’t see our entire route and had no idea how long it would take, but it would be an adventure. We also debated on whether or not to drive down part of the pass to cut across to our destination or whether to hike down from the hotel which would leave us a long section on exposed rock. Our adventurous spirits won over and we all decided to hike from the hotel. It was raining off and on and really windy, so we packed a back pack with extra clothes, food, and some rope incase we had to rope up on some steep sections in the fog. We bundled up and headed out across the exposed mountain. At this point we were kind of in between the clouds. There was clouds above us and down towards the valley but not where we were currently, but we were quickly approaching the fog. From the start of the day we couldn’t see the hut we were set out to find and we knew that it would be difficult in the ever increasing fog to find out where exactly it was. We found a trail that looked like it was heading in the right direction. This trail was amazing. It took us over all types of different terrain, across creeks, through trees, exposed rock, avalanche chutes, narrow ridges, past high mountain free range cows (all of which wear large bells around their necks) and mountain goats. We hiked and we ran, and we scrambled, and we kept our feet moving for a very long time ever wondering where the hut was and thinking it might just be up around the next corner and then the next and maybe the next. I don’t think we ever got a true appreciation for this trail because the fog was so thick. I think we would have found that we were skirting the edge of a mountain, thousands of feet up above the valley. We could tell that we were up high and that there was a sheer drop to the side of us, but how high we couldn’t tell. The occasional falling rock from the trail would roll down and down, and down further disappearing into the fog. It was so beautiful, the fog made it quite a unique experience. We eventually turned around without finding the hut. We had no idea if we’d gone to far or not far enough, or were we on the right trail. We are all very excited for the next clear day to see where we had gone and if we had passed the hut or not gone far enough. But what a hike! We ran back along the trail retracing our steps through the creeks, the trees, and past the cows. Then we had about a 2 hour uphill hike. The last section would be exposed to the wind and we were soaked to the bone, so before we got up there we made a change into warm clothes and then hiked up, and up and up until our hotel emerged out of the fog like a scene out of a movie. We were all cold, tired and exhausted after our 5 hour attempt to find the hut, still wondering where we had gone….