If I say Italie, what do you think of?

La Torre di Pisa , Venezia , and Firenze …
Rome and the Empire (Astérix …)
Ferrari, Fiat 500, the Vespa …
Pizza, Lasagna, Tuscan wine
Fellini and 60s films …
Léonardo Da Vinci & Michelangelo
Verdi
Opéra di Milano, fashion, and the beautiful women …
Super stylish pumps and sun glasses …
Sofia Loren
Sergio Leone, Hugo Pratt, Milo Manara
The Mafia, la Camorra, il padrino
The political scandals and Silvio Berlusconi, la Cicciolina and Rocco Sifredi

Well you think of almost everything apart from skiing and the mountains who toughen the boot, from the Alpin Arc to Etna passing through the Appennines...This country is the homeland and playground of skiers like Gustavo Teonig, Stefano de Benedetti, Alberto Tomba.For me Italy is a shrine to mountain skiing, a haven of peace. Marco Sifredi once lead me to discover, in the dead of night, the South face of Mont-Blanc and a magical little cablecar where, in a morning I covered more terrain then three trips to Alaska... Then there were the Dolomites and that also was a revelation, a different ski, skiing which smells like Cannellonis. These mountains are almost forgotten by the world of freeride, the first track hounds, and they still offer the possibility of first descents as we like them. A thank you to Giuliano who guided us down the couloir he'd been smoldering in thought for the last three years,and with whom we had the chance to live powerful moments, intense moments, between sky and earth, rocks and snow, laughter and tears, between friends...

By Bruno Compagnet.

Colosseo:
400 metre gradient . 55 \ 50 continuous, ending in a 60 metre abseil.

Skieurs :
Guliano Bordoni (Italy)
Minna Rihimaki ( Finland )
Olivier Heren ( Canada )
Bruno Compagnet ( France )