Yes. Italy's team did it, again. Without a place where to meet, ski and party togeteher SCIJ was facing a boring winter. Don't know who the primus motor was, but incredible work was done in equally incredible time to organise a memorable week for us in Piemonte, northwestern Italy.

My own memories from Turin were from 34 years back when I slept a night in my brother's car at a Agip petrol station. We had crossed the Alps in dark and we'd hit a rock that broke both a tyre and the suspension. The tyre could be changed but the rest not.
At five o'lock millions of Vespas and Fiat 600s woke us up. We thought everyone was on the way to work in car factories.
That was all I new about Turin before last winter.
How wrong I had been. Turin appeared to be a beautiful and interesting city.
I usually I have a terrible urge to hit the slopes and was a bit annoyed about the delay of getting there. But staying in the lowlands certainly payed off.
Winter isn't the best time for sight seeing in a city but getting around in Turin made one think what everything might look like in summer. I bet quite a few of us will find that out some day.

The Synagogue of Moving ImagesI am truly greatful to the Jewish congregation for not approving the thedesign of the new synagogue. The city's important men showed foresight by buying the peculiar building and making the Museum of Independence and in the year 2000 the Muesum of Cinema out of it.

Sanctuary of Culinarism
As pleasing as the Museum was to one's cultural eye was the restaurant San Giorgio to one's culinary eye. Between the river Po and the Medieval Castle the old restaurant offered us foretaste of what was to come during the week.
Some skiing between endless lunches and dinners. Even more in the post tour, which I am sad to tell to those of us who couldn't make it. Sometimes we had to hurry from the lunch to get in time to the Dinner. Even though the Italians use to have their dinner much later than we more northern SCIJers.

Some skiing, too
Via Lattea, Milky Way, as the main skiing area is called consists of four resorts: Sause d'Oulx, Sansicario, Cesana, Sestriere, Claviere and Montgenevre.
You can take the Gran Comba and Chadonnet lifts up in Eastern Sauze d'Oulx and go on from slope to lift to slope to lift to slope and so on through 92 lifts and 140 courses till one day you'll reach the westernmost corner in Montgenevre. You will have crossed 400 km of slopes if you didi not tur once. Doing those turns typical to alpine skiing will have inreased your journey considerably.

Super-super-SL
Our champiponship race took place on the FIS super slalom slope and the track was a bit shorter than usual. At the first check-up the steep part looked a bit... steep, but as usual, when you have a starting number on and you hear the "GO" the track is not bad and after a few turns and a few mistakes the whole thing is over.
Yes it's over and very few of us will stand on the podium and the rest of us will not. Not ever. Well, let's see next year. Anyway, the winning is not important but it's always nice to buy a beer to the next guy.

CCR-Cross Country Race
Usually CCR means Creedence Cleawater Revival but not in this context. Or maybe a little. The cc trail consisted of 3 km climing on the right side of a cleawater river, a bridge, and another 3 km downwards at the speed of 60 km/h. Nowone did, but if someone had fallen behind a blind curve in front of you you would have ended up in the river hoping for revival.
Anyway, the day was sunny and warm. In the valley there was no wind and the atmosphere was more like on a family picknick. The traditional Dutch pea soup and hot wine hid the bitterness of losing and nobody really cared who won except the winners.
If you really want to know check the results through the link on top
mmmm.
Smile! You are on (canded) camera..