Skiing the Planet: January 2024

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Lago di Como tower ruins

Castello Baradello is a fortress on a nice hill above present day Como, with great views of the city and the lake. Fortresses on this site date back to the 6th century, although the current fortress was rebuilt in the 13th century. This is also the site of the original settlement in Como.

Today only the tower remains, much of the rest has been destroyed in the 16th century in fear of it falling in the hands of the enemy.

The coordinates for the tower are . It can be visited during opening hours, but even when it is not open one can walk up the hill and tour the top of the hill and around the castle, essentially only missing the insides of the tower. Much recommended!

At the top there's a picnic area, an old water cistern-pond, a small tower, the main castle ruins with the still standing tower, and stretches of old castle walls.

The coordinates for the tower are N 45.794127 E 9.086032.

Views over Como and Lago di Como:

Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Tower of Velate

The Velate tower is in town of Varese northwest of Milan. It is in ruins, only two sides of the tower remain.

But it is an interesting sight!

The coordinates of the tower are N 45.840353 E 8.792560.

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Grani hill 90 years!

My local ski hill in Kauniainen turned 90 today. This little hill got the first ski lift in Finland in 1934. Congratulations!

Today the ski club on the hill, GrIFK Alpine, hosts an extensive training program from beginners to racers. This winter their program is training 40 people for instructors, and 500 small kids to ski. In addition, the club has produced Finland's more racers than any other club in Finland. The typically have several World Cup ski racers.

The hill is close enough for me to walk to it. I often start and end my season there, skiing when the first snow falls and when the last patch of snow melts in late May or June :-)

Video:

Photos:

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Enough is enough?

Is this enough car window cleaning?

Today's road conditions

Today’s road conditions. Count the cars ahead.

Two:

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Will it start?

Helsinki airport, 2am in the first night of the year. Car is buried, will it start? Any bets? -17 and stayed here for a week. No electricity to heat it up.

...

It did start!

But some work remains:

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Matinkylän uimahalli, now with parking

I've been to the new Matinkylä swimming hall before, but it was only now I realized how to park in their garage! The swimming hall is a block or two away from the massive Iso Omena shopping mall, where I've parked before. But I kept wondering how come people were walking to the garage underneath the swimming hall, yet I couldn't see a way to drive there.

It turns out that you drive into the mall garage, but there's signs to follow and you will finally end up in an underground garage that you simply take a few stairs up and you'll be directly at the swimming pool. No need to exit the mall on foot and cross streets, etc. Nice. Why didn't I realize this before???

Monday, January 15, 2024

Want: Bormio spa

There's a more famous spa in Bormio city center, but ... this is something else: QC Terme Bagni Vecchi. Nestled in the high mountains above Bormio, on the road to the famed Passo di Stelvio... like a castle with indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna in a cave heated by the natural thermal waters.

My only regret: I did not visit this place. I tried to go, but the most convenient time for me was booked out, so we only visited the outside to view location. Wow.

This isn't an inexpensive place: a 2.5 hour ticket was north of 60 Euros, and daily tickets or staying at the spa hotel would be even more costly. But for sure worth it!

It is now on my bucket list!

The road to Passo di Stelvio actually stops at this spa in the winter, the rest of it is closed. Here's a spire and a tunnel on the way from the spa down:

The outdoor pool:

Views from the spa:

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko and family members. All rights reserved. I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers (at least not when they would appear bigger than a few pixels in general photos like the one above) and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for me.

Google Maps Approach to Going Skiing

We were talking about skiing in places that I have not been to, like Tunis or Alger. I asked Google Maps about "Tunis ski" and it helpfully interpreted this as a request to drive from the Finnish skiing association to Tunis :-) Helpfully, it also displayed all the speed cameras on this 4000+ km journey ;-)

Nice.

Oddly though, I *think* there are ski places in Tunis and Alger, but even skiresort.info cannot find them. Needs more investigation.

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Sunken church

Interesting. A sunken church, abandoned in the face of rising waters for a dam built in 1952. The Old Mavrovo Church is repeated submerged, and as a result has been considerably damaged, e.g., the roof has caved in.

There is a project to build a small berm around the church, however, and attempt to save it from further flooding. Please help this project, if you visit Mavrovo; you can done on site.

Coordinates: N 41.660032 E 20.735375.

An interesting visiting destination for sure!

Grotta San Giovanni Mystery

Grotta San Giovanni is near Lecco and Lago di Como, in northern Italy. As you can see from above, the views are wonderful! But there's a mystery: did this cave inspire Leonardo da Vinci's painting Madonna (or Virgin) on the Rocks?

Some people think so ... you judge by yourself.

Below you see a picture of the London version of the painting (picture credit: National Gallery).

There's a main cave exit hole in the painting on the left. In that exit hole, you can clearly see a similarity between the upper right stalactites and the pillar/stalactites on the right. The main proponent of this idea, Ricardo Magnani, argues about both the similarity of the cave forms and Leonardo's documented travels in the area.

Below you see the pillar a bit more clearly:

In the painting, the view out of the cave is not what you see in reality, the lake shores of lake Lago di Como but rather the nearby mountain landscapes in Val Calolden, Sasso Cavallo, and Sasso Carbonari. Other real elements placed into the painting by Leonardo.

For more information about the similarities, see article 1, article 2, and article 3. The last article is by Ricardo Magnani.

I have no doubt that other, similarly vaguely resembling cave sceneries can be found. But, the proximity of Leonardo's travels, the ease of access to this cave and closeness to civilization, and the similarity... who knows. Maybe the cave and surrounding mountains did inspire Leonardo. Artists do need inspiration and frequently take elements from nature that they've seen.

In any case, intriguing, a small cave but well worth a visit for the views!

More pictures from the cave:

The main cave is at coordinates N 45.8788776 E 9.4042302. There are also side caves:

Side cave 1, similar to the main cave is at coordinates N 45.8790221 E 9.4045484.

Side cave 2, a more prepared cave with steps and stone walking platforms is at coordinates N 45.879205, E 9.404845.

Finally, the biggest cave is taken over by a cemetery, housing family burial buildings. It is at coordinates N 45.8797179 E 9.4047744. The church of S.Giovanni ai Morti is mentioned for the first time in 1289, and the cemetery around it has been expanded several times.

This Grotta San Giovanni should not be mixed with another Grotta San Giovanni in Sardinia.