Lake Garda Windsurfing

After my Tour du Mont Blanc ride, I picked up a rental car at the Milan airport and drove to Lake Garda for a few days to windsurf. In the late 90s and early 2000's, I saw photos and videos of windsurfing on Lake Garda in Italy against a stunning backdrop. I told myself then that one day I would windsurf there. That dream finally came true and it didn't disappoint. 

Windsurfing on Lake Garda with a few hundred other windsport enthusiasts is wild but it didn't feel crowded. It's a stunning and surreal place to windsurf with the surrounding mountain peaks. I based myself in Torbole and rented my windsurfing gear from the Duotone Pro Center. It was within a short 10 minute walk from my hotel and a great place to launch and windsurf from right there in Torbole. I windsurfed 3 days in a row before driving back to the Milan airport to go home.

I stayed at the wonderful Hotel Paradiso, which has great lakefront views, has a nice on-site restaurant/bar, is a short walk to both all the restaurants and the town center, plus a short easy walk to the Duotone Pro Center. I didn't have to move my rental car the entire time I was there. If the wind doesn't cooperate, there are plenty other things to do such as hiking, biking, and sightseeing all around Lake Garda.

Some other observations: 

Windsurfing is still very popular here.

Wing foiling is also popular. Lots of kids doing both windsurfing and wing foiling. Seeing kid wingers doing loops and 360s. Probably a 60/40 mix of windsurfing/wing foilers. There was also a gigantic youth Opti fleet out practicing every day, all day. 

They have a designated kiteboarding zone far south away from the windsurfers and wing foilers but plenty of kiters there too.

The summer wind pattern is clockwork each day. The morning "Peler" wind coming from the mountains out of the north - gusty and the water is flatter. It started early. There were some people out as early as 6:30am. That blows until around 11am-noon, then the wind drops. Everyone has lunch and a siesta. Then the wind picks back up out of the south starting early afternoon, called "Ora" wind. It's a longer fetch and more consistent wind along with choppier water. This happens almost every single day during the summer season, driven by temperature and mountain valley pressure differences. 

This place remind me of The Gorge and Hood River with all the windsport athletes and vibes here. Camper vans, boards, sails, wings, and bikes everywhere. The obvious difference being it's a lake, not a river...and very European. I think I was the only American there. 

I'm extremely grateful to have had the experience and being able to fulfill a long time dream. 

My private lakefront terrace outside my room at Hotel Paradiso

Taking in the action from the hotel

Duotone Pro Center

The stairwell at Hotel Paradiso - made for windsurfers

Duotone Pro Center

A surreal setting and stunning backdrop for windsurfing

I enjoyed trying out the latest Duotone windsurfing gear

Torbole, Italy

A local's bike trailer rig

Torbole town center

Tour du Mont Blanc

In early August, I joined a group E-mountain bike ride around the Mont Blanc mountain chain in the European Alps, via 57 Hours. It was an amazing experience and a true bucket list ride with stunning views throughout. The terrain was a little bit of everything - single track, double track, forest service dirt roads, gravel, paved roads, high mountain passes with steep climbs and descents, rocky and technical, flowy downhill sections, and pedaling through some small European towns. 

We biked four days in three different countries for a total of almost 100 miles & 16,500 ft elevation gain:

Day 1 Courmayeur, Italy -> Cormet de Roselend, France - 30 miles, 5700 ft ascent, 5900 ft descent

Day 2  Cormet de Roselend, France -> Chamonix, France - 31 miles, 5600 ft ascent, 7500 ft descent

Day 3  Chamonix, France -> Martigny, Switzerland - 20 miles, 2900 ft ascent, 4500 ft descent

Day 4  Martigny, Switzerland -> Courmayeur, Italy - 16 miles, 2300 ft ascent, 2600 ft descent

I normally ride and prefer regular mountain bikes but having an e-MTB was good to have for this particular trip. We covered a lot of ground for four days in a row and there were some seriously steep climbs. The eMTB bikes took the suffering out of the equation and put the group on relatively equal footing to keep us together. To ride a regular mountain bike on this route would have required more days to cover the same ground and much more training to prep for the demands of it.

I went solo on this trip and ended up with a great small group of people, making new friends. It was only 7 of us plus our trusty experienced guide.

I booked this trip through 57 Hours and they handled everything with a local outfitter, making this a great experience: transport from/to the Milan airport, an experienced guide, all lodging, the bike, and food.

You can book your trip through 57 Hours here 

(disclaimer: Waterturtle may receive a small commission at no extra cost to the traveler)

Day 1

Flying over Mont Blanc on our approach to Milan

Courmayeur, Italy - the start and finish of our Tour du Mont Blanc ride

Day 2

Our ride begins, climbing out of Courmayeur

a pit stop for pastries and cappucinos

After the big climb - the higher altitude required another layer

Crossing the border into France, over the Col De La Seigne.

A fun group - we became instant friends

Lunch stop

my Specialized e-mtb

The prerequisite European cows with mountains photo

Made it to Cormet de Roselend, France and beat the rain

Our lodge was quiet and had a great view of the lake

Day 3

Climbing out of Cormet de Roselend

high meadows

rocky terrain

Another great lunch spot

Gelato!

Entering Chamonix, France. Chamonix is a cool mountain town. It's like Telluride, Colorado on steroids. Surrounded by beautiful peaks on all sides, a river running through town, with dog walkers, runners, and bikers everywhere.  

We had a nice hotel in downtown Chamonix. Our room had an old rotary telephone.

Day 4

Leaving Chamonix

Mont Blanc

We refilled our water bottles at various public town taps and springs along the way such as this one.

A look back at the Chamonix valley at the base of Mont Blanc

Making our way over the Col De La Forclaz

Lunch at Restaurant of the Col de la Forclaz in Trient, Switzerland

Entering Martigny, Switzerland

We stayed at the very nice Hotel Borsari that has a spa in their cellar that used to be a 19th century winery. It's been converted into a Roman-inspired thermal bath built inside repurposed concrete wine tanks. It was a pretty cool experience being in subterranean pools with various water temperatures for cold and hot immersion.

An old Roman Amphitheater built at the beginning of the 2nd century

Walking around Martigny

Day 5

Leaving Martigny

Pit stop

Crossing back over into Italy

The valley leading back into Courmayeur, Italy

Group photo - what a view

Alpine Ibex

Lunch at a mountain refugio

Our descent into Courmayeur

After dropping our bikes in Courmayeur, we were transported to Aosta for our final night together. This photo is of the Fiume Buthier River running through Aosta.

Aosta, Italy

 

Day 6

Morning view from our hotel before departing back to the Milan (MXP) airport

Hotel Milleluci - our Aosta hotel - a very nice place - walking distance to downtown Aosta