The hotel shuttle bus drove us directly to the gondola's entrance a few blocks away. We found the groomed slopes covered with a thin layer of fresh powder, and soon it became apparent that I was the slowest and least athletic skier in the bunch. But keeping up wasn't too difficult on the easy terrain dominated by wide cruisers because, after each short run, we would regroup in an often time-consuming attempt to plot a course to the next lift or the next slope. My attempts to read the trail map were met with disdain from one of the men in our group. There are no orderly lines on Italian ski slopes.
Local custom demands that each person just push forward.
Line etiquette, however, was just the first blip in my learning curve. The entire lift system is different. Rather, each lift is individually owned by a family or group of investors, making for confusing layouts. A dozen kinds of lift tickets are sold, ranging from a ticket good for just a few rides to one for every lift in the Dolomite region's 12 ski areas. After maneuvering through my first New York subway-style lift line, I was confronted by a machine instead of a lift attendant.