Day 34: I support our farmers

While the only topic we can talk about these days is the Corona Virus, there seems to be a civil war going on in The Netherlands, On the one hand, there are the farmers and those who support the farmers. On the other hand, there are people who believe we should put an end to livestock farming. The farmer's argument is that they provide our food in The Netherlands. That is technically incorrect as about 80% of all the meat that we produce is FedExed to foreign countries. Every year we slaughter 640 million animals, so we can definitely say that we are one of the butchers of Europe.

Pigs that can go outdoors to explore the world, in a farm in Dobbiaco, South Tirol

I also believe it is not realistic to think that we all quit eating meat from tomorrow. So while there are still people who eat meat, we urgently need to move to a situation where our farm animals have better lives. Even if those lives are too short, let them at least be respectful. 

Following the undercover images of the barbaric abuse at pigs at Westfort by staff as well as by vets of the NVWA (the controlling authority), it surprised me that Minister Schouten was very quick to present a solution. In a professional environment, for example in aviation, which is an industry that leads in safety management, an incident is usually first followed by an investigation. People get suspended if the situation is serious, a thorough, objective investigation takes place, findings are analysed and conclusions are drawn. Only then, recommendations in the form of solutions are presented. Our minister, however, didn't need any of that; there was and is no need to suspend the operation, some form of investigation is on its way, the responsible people are told to behave a bit better next time and the solution is already there! Very impressive indeed.

The solution presented is to lower the production speed of the slaughtering. What the minister - or probably more likely,  the high-level NVWA manager who whispered this into the Minister's ear - didn't think about, is that this will just move the problem to a different place in the 'production line'. Already last summer thousands of pigs suffered from overheating while waiting for hours and hours in overcrowded transport vans to wait for their turn to be slaughtered. The presented solution is likely to make this worse. 

However, there is another solution, and it is a very simple one: we need to drastically reduce the number of animals we keep. Over and over again it is proven that we simply cannot cope with these quantities. So one would expect that I am against the farmers, but I am not.  If there is anyone to blame, it is the CDA and the VVD for trying anything they can to keep this sick industry going, I blame the supermarkets for pushing down the prices, that have contributed to the dire situation in which animals live; I blame the consumer for continuing to buy cheap meat at the cost of animal welfare, I blame the NVWA for being incapable, I blame Minister Schouten for a consistent lack of leadership and most of all, I blame myself for having eaten all sorts of meat for most of my life, without ever having wondered where it came from. 

Happy pigs at a farm in Dobbiaco, South Tirol

But do I blame the farmers? I sure believe that also they should take their share in the responsibility, but I often visit farmers and I know that most farmers really want to care for their animals as best as they can. All farmers I know are honest and hard-working people and I understand that they are fed up with people like me, who think they are clever because they read some reports and know all the numbers, but who have never stood with their feet in the mud. And as an entrepreneur, I also understand that farmers feel abandoned by the government for creating continuous uncertainty. Farmers ask for one thing and that is clarity, so they know where they stand, and the government is not even able to provide them with that.  

I think if we would enter in dialogue more often, we might actually discover that our ideals don't differ that much. Farmers might have great ideas on how we can improve animal welfare and what they would need in order to achieve that. If we would manage to stop exporting meat and live animals (and prohibit meat import), we can reduce our livestock by 80% and put a stop to long transport, which causes additional stress to the animals. This means animals can have more and a better life. Better for the environment, better for the animals, and probably more rewarding for farmers. The consumer will pay three times more, which means he will appreciate it more and is likely to eat less meat, which is also healthier. 

So yes, I support our farmers and anyone else who is open to not just achieve sustainable farming, but a way of farming that is kinder and more respectful to our animals, perhaps just like they do in South Tyrol.

Me, 20 years ago, with biological farmer Dick from Farm De Lindenhorst in de Hoef, I still visit their animals whenever I get the chance.  

Only through education, we can put an end to intensive farming and together we will!!! We are raising 10 Euros for every kilometer we ski, which will be used to make a documentary about pigs. Please help us to realise this documentary and make the world a place without intensive farming!

You can support us via Tikkie or via House of Animals Paypal Account
Thank you 🐷

Day 33: Let's stop insulting each other on social media (900 km Video)

When I read discussions about factory farming on Twitter or Facebook, I am surprised to see how perfectly decent people turn into untamed monsters as soon as they hit the keyboard. If I would count all the hours spent by Europeans (mainly in office hours), insulting each other and wishing each other the most horrible diseases, it might explain why our economy's growth rate sits at just 1.3%. 

Not too long ago, in The Netherlands, we fought against the sea and we managed to win that battle. I am not an expert on water management, but I somehow doubt that we managed to achieve this by throwing mud at each other all day and insulting each other from morning to evening.  

If we want to have any chance of improving the way we keep our animals, let's start by showing some respect for each other. 

#respect #dierenwelzijn #skiingforpigs

Day 31-32: Tyrolean hospitality

Since two days we are skiing in one of my favourite provinces of Italy, Sud-Tyrol. Until 1917, this province was part of the Austro-Hungarian princely County of Tyrol, but was then given to Italy as an incentive to enter the war on their side. During the rise of fascism, the German language was abolished, German teaching was forbidden and German newspapers were censored (except for the fascist newspaper called the Alpenzeitung).  Despite the political turmoil of the last century, the south-Tyroleans have managed to keep their identity, their culture, and their traditions and they are one of the richest provinces in the European Union.

I noticed that in South Tyrol there is a traditional culture of living with farm animals and from speaking to various farmers, they only have small to medium-sized farms and the animals live mainly outside on the fields for as long as the weather permits. Basically, they go back indoors at the end of the autumn, before the first snowfalls and that is a moment of celebration, a century-old tradition. 

The unconditional generosity and kindness of people from south Tyrol are exceptional. In the last two days, we have been skiing in Alpe di Siusi (Seiser Alm) and we were guests at Hotel Florian, a highly requested hotel, in the busiest week of the ski season. The family could have easily sold that room for a lot of money (as all the hotels were sold out) but decided to offer it to us instead. 

Mrs. Thomaseth, owner of this wonderful hotel

The next morning we had a photo shoot for the local press at the Alpe di Siusi Tourist Board and after our meeting with them, the tourist office called me to say that the Tourist Board of Alpe di Siusi had decided to financially support the realisation of our documentary of the pigs! They didn't ask us for publicity in return, they didn't actually seem to care about that, they simply care about the cause.  

The chairman of the tourist board, Mr. Kurt Malfertheiner wanted to meet us personally to hear more about our trip and invited us to have lunch at his hotel, Hotel Ritsch (recommended), which is located at the end of a beautiful ski piste with stunning views. Mr. Malfertheimer said that it is important that we respect our animals and that we offer them a dignified life.  

Mr. Kurt Malfertheimer, Chairman of the Tourist Board Alpe di Siusi (Seiser Alm)

As Mirko is officially THE most famous pig in Italy, he attracts a lot of extraordinary people. Also in Alpe di Siusi, he had a very special visitor who came all the way to our hotel to meet him. This time it was an Italian Olympic medal winner Karin Moroder, who decided to run the Medoc marathon with us in September: -)  

Olympic medal winner (cross country skiing): Karen Moroder

And a bit of weather on the way to keep us fresh and awake: -)

Only through education, we can put an end to intensive farming and together we will!!! We are raising 10 Euros for every kilometre we ski, which will be used to make a documentary about pigs. Please help us to realise this documentary and make the world a place without intensive farming!

You can support us via Tikkie or via House of Animals Paypal Account
Thank you 🐷

#SkieënVoorVarkens   #LanglaufenVoorVarkens

#Skiingforpigs #varkens #dierenwelzijn  #veehouderij #pigs  #altoadige #sudtirol #snow #freestyle #animalwelfare #animalstoday #olympic

Day 30: Hero

Yesterday, while I was skiing, I saw The Civetta (The Owl), one of the impressive mountains in the Dolomites, and one that I call home. I looked at if full of admiration and the next thing I knew (it must have been the tiredness), I found myself crying like a child just by the sight of it. On the left of it, the Pelmo, slightly higher than the Civetta, even though it doesn't look like that from the picture. If you cross the Pelmo, you literally arrive straight in our living room. 

In the last few days, I have been thinking a lot about someone who I don't often talk about, but who is always in my heart. My first boyfriend Maurice, one of the most determined and stubborn persons I have ever known. At school, Maurice was very clever and received advice to go to the highest possible A-levels (VWO). 

There was a problem though; Maurice had a dream, and this dream was to become a truck driver and to transport flowers (his parents are in the flower business). So Maurice had done his homework and discovered that attending VWO, would have taken him 6 years before he could see a truck from the inside. Instead, the lowest education would have taken him only 4 years... so why waste two years?  His no-nonsense motto was, if you want to do something, just go and do it. I thought it was an idiotic idea, and tried to convince him otherwise, but he was not having any of it. Maurice (with the brain of the size of the planet) chose the easy way, and attended the lowest eduction he could get and became a truck driver and drove flowers from Aalsmeer to France and Germany. 

In hindsight, he made the right decision, because not too long after he started working as a truck driver, Maurice became ill and fought against cancer for 3 years, a fight that in the end, he lost. In the years when he was ill (we were not together anymore at that time, but we always remained friends), not once have I heard him complaining. Instead, he was always joking, always cheerful and fun to be around. I visited Maurice the day before he died, and even then, at the most dire moment of his life, he was calming down everybody around him, and still making jokes. 

Maurice left us when he was 23 years old, and I have always wondered, why him? and why am I still here? I promised Maurice to do something useful with my life, which if course I didn't.... But I hope I made it up a bit and that today he would have been proud of me.   

This trip is challenging, not just physically, but also on other fronts.. and sometimes we all need a hero in our lives. Maurice is mine 💗

Day 27: COVID-19 Virus, I welcome you!

Factory farming is a major factor in the spread of new diseases like the coronavirus. 

As Bloomberg explains, epidemics are a product of urbanisation. It was only when humans started to live in highly densely populated cities around 5,000 years ago were infections able to attain the critical mass needed to kill us in large numbers. The worldwide disease outbreaks we call pandemics started to emerge only when our urban civilization went global. Think about this in terms of the livestock industry. In the space of 50 years, factory farming has “urbanised” an animal population that was previously scattered between small and midsize farms. 

Globally, the number of farm animals is about three times that of human beings. Some of the most serious disease outbreaks in recent decades have resulted from infections that have been passed on from intensively farmed animals to people. Yesterday, an Italian scientist who is working on developing a vaccine said: "As long as we continue to treat our animals and our planet without any respect we will have to be prepared for epidemics such as the COVID-19 virus". In other words, what goes around, comes around.

And therefore I welcome the Corona Virus and say thank you to China! Does that make me an extremist? No, I am not, and of course, I sincerely hope this virus will be under control soon and that there won't be any further casualties. But the world needs a serious wake-up call, and this might be just it!  I hope that this is a serious wakeup call for consumers, politicians, supermarkets and farmers to change this unsustainable system that has gone way beyond our control! 

This virus is a huge opportunity for sleepy Europe to wake up and turn the tides. There has never been a better moment than today. This is our chance as Europe, to take the lead, and convert factory farming into a sustainable, more animal-friendly and healthier way of farming. Simply put, to move from away from quantity and to start focusing on quality.  
This means smaller numbers of livestock, a full stop on the export of live animals, and reduced export of meat to other nations. Meat prices will increase, driving demand down (which is also healthier). So that is the price that consumers will have to pay. In return, they pay for improved animal welfare and for better quality, as the animals will have had a better life, without stress and will be healthier animals. 

Video in Italian for the 800th KM: I ask Italian meat-eating consumers to ask how the animal has lived when they buy meat in the supermarket, butcher or in restaurants, stating that if we continue to buy factory-farmed meat, we sustain this sick industry. In a civilised society, there is no place for any type of factory farm! 

Only through education, we can put an end to intensive farming and together we will!!! We are raising 10 Euros for every kilometer we ski, which will be used to make a documentary about pigs. Please help us to realise this documentary and make the world a place without intensive farming!

You can support us via Tikkie or via House of Animals Paypal Account
Thank you 🐷

#AnimalPolitcsEu #AnimalPolitics #PartitoAnimalista #Animalisti #StopAllevamentiIntensivi

#animalstoday.nl #varkensinnood #pigs #animalwelfare #dierenwelzijn #nvwa #skiingforpigs

Day 26: The Butler

I realise that I am more tired than I want to admit to myself and to tell the truth, I am officially exhausted. It is the thought of those millions of vulnerable, frightened pigs in those horrible closed and overcrowded spaces that keeps me going. The good news is that we just reached 800 km, and the bad news is that there is hardly any snow left. It is unsure whether we will be able to ski all the way home, but I have a good feeling that it will snow on the 1st of March, the day in which we should be arriving home.

My mother in law, who understands Greek and Latin better than most Romans and Greeks probably did themselves and who knows Dante's Divine Comedy by memory calls me 'The Ignorant'.  It may not sound very sweet, but I believe it is her way of showing affection (even though she would never admit that). To be fair to her, she has a point. There are many things, I have absolutely no clue about. There is one thing though... that I do know about and that is customer service. I travel quite a lot and the times where I experienced excellent customer service can be counted on one hand. Those who know me know that I never had much patience for poor customer service, but now that I am tired, my patience level has dropped to far below 0 and I risk to turn into an uncontrolled monster within less than a split second. 

The best things in life usually happen when you least expect them and yesterday was such a moment. Hotel La Tana dell'Orso near Ponte di Legno, a very elegant hotel decided to support our fight against intensive farming and offered us a room. We arrived very late, but were just in time to have dinner in their restaurant; a very posh place, filled with equally posh guests (apart from us: -). During dinner, I observed one of the waiters, and from very small things I noticed there was something special about him. He got my interest, he was polite but not stiff, he was friendly but not intrusive, he noticed everything that was going on and gave impressive advice on both the origin of the ingredients as well as on the wine. I noticed that he adapted his style to each different guest and the more I observed, I understood that to me, he was the most fascinating person in that restaurant. I was convinced he was not an ordinary waiter and was eager to get to know this person. So on our way out I chatted with him and he explained that he is actually a butler by profession (which explained why I was impressed) and a storyteller by hobby, with a prdound interest for local languages. His name is Iuri and he explained that this area (Ponte di Legno), like many other areas in Italy, had their own local dialect and when a language gets lost, a culture disappears with it  Iuri has a great knowledge of the local dialect that was spoken by shepherds. In that language, shepherds could speak to a lady, without her understanding what was said, and as such without risking to get into trouble. 

For example the shepherds would say: " Te do' 'na scabrinada sul baitel dei stodui' which is dialect for: "I am going to give you a slap on the house of the flees'; meaning: 'I am going to give you a slap on the head'. 

                                             Iuri



This is the last update about the actual skiing for the next few days because we have now arrived in Trentino and I do not wish to give any of my readers the idea to come here on a holiday! 

This province has opted for a policy to reintroduce the brown bear because that brought in interesting funds. In 2017 this became inconvenient due to so-called 'aggression to a tourist'.  Trentino politicians responded quickly and killed 2 female bears. Note that this so-called aggression was the result of a human being who proved unable (reason unknown) to use his brain. This perhaps, somewhat naive person (this is my best attempt at remaining polite, which I don't think is succeeding) met two bear cubs in the forest and decided to take a selfie with them. He didn't think that perhaps when there are baby bears... that maybe closeby...there might also be something else.... something slightly bigger... in the form of a mama bear. 

Having traveled in Alaska where I have seen brown bears myself, I have learned enough about these fantastic animals to understand that it is A: quite rare that a bear attacks a human being without provocation, and B: when he really intends to do so, there is not that much chance of survival and it usually ends in a slow and cruel death. In this case, the person in question just ended up with a scratch from mama bear. Clearly, this bear never meant to harm this person, but more likely, she wanted to protect her cubs and send a sign saying, get lost! 

Instead of educating people on how to behave when they encounter a bear, Trentino politicians decided this was not good for tourism and simply killed mama bear. 

So apart from a meeting with the organisers of one of the worlds biggest cross-country ski events (The Marcialonga), that happens to be here, we are refusing any hospitality in this province and we won't be publishing anything that might promote tourism here as a protest for the politics on bears in this province. We are here because there is no way around it in order to ski home, but we are keeping our stop in Trentino to the minimum. We recommend everyone to avoid Trentino as a holiday place until the bear politics change in this area. 

Only through education, we can put an end to abuse in intensive farming and together we will!!! We are raising 10 Euros for every kilometer we ski, which will be used to make a documentary about pigs. Please help us to realise this documentary and make the world a place without intensive farming!

You can support us via Tikkie or via ideal/paypal/creditcard



#butler #intensivefarming #pigs #skiingforpigs #trentino #orsi #bears #varkensleed #nvwa

Day 25: Enjoy your Parma Ham

Today the 700th-kilometer video was made in Italian and addressed the consortium of Parma Ham. In Italy, there are about 13 million pigs that live in intensive farming and about 75% of all Italian pig legs are produced for Parma ham. The consortium prides itself on the fact that they control the quality of the entire process from the moment the piglet is born, till the moment it reaches the supermarkets. In order to qualify for 'parma pig', they have to be reared in one of 10 Italian regions. This is in theory, as various reports state that there are cases where pigs were imported from countries in Northern Europe, their tattoos removed to then be sold as Italian Parma Ham. To the consortium, traceability is very important and they have strict controls in place to monitor the 'production system'. 

What they don't manage to control, or probably they simply don't care, is animal welfare. More than 1 billion Euro in revenue at the cost of millions of pigs that are subject to systematic abuse,  

In a large scale undercover investigation, conducted by the Dutch organisation Wakker Dier, investigators reported the following animal welfare problems:

• Overcrowding
• Bad conditions and evidence of poor inspection regime
• Floors were damp, dirty, bare and slatted 
• Obvious signs of fighting/biting (this is a sign of stress and frustration)
• No continuous access to drinking water (this is a violation of animal welfare regulation)
• Docked tails (pigs are mutilated, to prevent them from biting each other's tails, due to stress and frustration)
• Sows in sow stalls for a very long time (the sow stall is a stall with metal bars that enables the sow to stand up so that she can't accidentally squash her piglets because she is too big and she has an unnatural amount of piglets due to 'reproduction policy' that is aimed at maximising production. 

Sow in a sow stall with metal bars. Picture of a Dutch sow stall. (Source: Meat the Victims)

• Castration (and this often happens without anesthesia). 
• Lack of enrichment materials. (Pigs are intelligent animals and are mentally very active, they need to explore their environment, and when that can't do that, they get frustrated). 

These, ladies and gentlemen, are the fine ingredients, quality controlled from A-Z by the proud Consortium of Parma Ham, who proudly presents their products as high-quality Parma Ham. Enjoy your food!

I dedicated my video question to the consortium of Parma ham. The video is in Italian in which I ask how the consortium believes it can produce quality ham, from animals that never move, because they live on a 1 m2 space. Animals that can never breathe fresh air, that show signs of stress, frustration, and fear and who are subject to mutilation and other systematic abuse and cruelty. 

Only through education, we can put an end to this abuse and together we will!!! We are raising 10 euros for every kilometer we ski, that will be used to make a documentary about pigs. Please help us to realise this documentary and make the world a place without intensive farming!

You can support us via Tikkie or via ideal/paypal/creditcard

#SkieënVoorVarkens   #LanglaufenVoorVarkens
#Skiingforpigs #varkens #dierenwelzijn  #veehouderij #pigs  #livigno #snow #freestyle #animalwelfare 

1000 km op de latten tegen varkensleed: Days 21 - 24: Extraordinary people

1000 km op de latten tegen varkensleed: Days 21 - 24: Extraordinary people: I know I have been complaining a lot about the conditions of snow, piste, and weather in general, but in the last few days, I can really not...

Days 21 - 24: Extraordinary people

I know I have been complaining a lot about the conditions of snow, piste, and weather in general, but in the last few days, I can really not complain. we have found perfectly groomed slopes and excellent weather. The pictures speak for themselves 

Torgnon

 Torgnon

Torgnon

The slopes of Torgnon, offer the most stunning views. 

Claudia of the Centro Fondo helped us to find other pistes in the area that were open and prepared and not just that, she also organised for us to meet a very old pig, which was super special! We made a new friend and she will visit us in Amsterdam in May😊😊

Even though the slopes were amazing, at some point I flew (unwanted) and landed head first on the slopes. Nothing broken, but with a bruised rib and some other nuisances, I am a bit in pieces. So the next day, we decided not to ski to recover and to have a laundry day in the village called Bionaz. Next to our apartment, they have goats and we were welcome to go and visit them. The lady explained that they make cheese, but that at the moment she hardly had any cheese, because the goats have babies and so she doesn't take the milk, as it is for the baby goats. We asked her if she sells her cheese also to supermarkets, and she said no, because they hardly pay anything for it, and she would not be able to make a living, with the way she keeps her goats. They are indoors in the winter months (this is a regional law in Valle d'Aosta, which says the animals can't stay outdoors in the winter months). Once the snow melts, they all roam free on the hills. She said that some of her goats are 10 years old. So again, it is the supermarkets that squeeze prizes at the cost of animal welfare. And yet, they refuse to take any responsibility for it!  

Laura Betemps

The next morning we carefully skied 17 km on an official European Biathlon slope in Bionaz (I am still recovering from the fall), we said goodbye to Valle d'Aosta with which I fell in love over the past two weeks and we attacked our third region: Lombardia.  

Yesterday we arrived in Livigno and had an appointment with an Italian TV reporter and presenter Gloria Massera in Livigno. I assumed it was going to be a 5-minute interview on the slopes, but Gloria picked us up and drove us to the TV studio where we were guest in a talkshow to talk about intensive farming in Italy and in The Netherlands. The programma will be broadcasted in three weeks time. It was the first time ever that Eleonora and I were guests in a TV studio and it is great to see that there the Italian media is very sensitive to this topic. A big thank you to Gloria, an extraordinary person who has made our experience in Livigno a very special one! 

We also managed to ski 39.4 km in Livigno (a beautiful place I could definitely live). We were guests at Hotel Adele, owned by the very kind family Bormolini, who offered us a hotel room and a pizza, because they support sporty actions. Their son Maurizio, departed a couple of hours after our arrival, to participate in the world championship of Snowboarding in Korea. The lady said: 'we understand the endurance and the sacrifices people make in order to achieve a goal in sport, so when we read about what you are doing, we decided immediately that we wanted to do something to support this'.  It really keeps surprising me how people, who have never met us, go the extra mile to support us. 
It really helps to keep the spirits up. A big thank you to this lovely family.

This gentleman (the owner) is one of 15 children.  and the youngest is the mayor of Livigno. 

Do you also want to support the pigs? We hope to raise 10 euros for every kilometer for a documentary that House of Animals will make about pigs. All costs for this trip are financed by ourselves and in some cases sponsored by companies and hotels. If you also want to support us, know that 100% of your donation goes to House of Animals.

You can support us via Tikkie or via ideal/paypal/creditcard

#SkieënVoorVarkens   #LanglaufenVoorVarkens
#Skiingforpigs #varkens #dierenwelzijn  #veehouderij #pigs  #livigno #snow #freestyle #animalwelfare

Dag 21: Oproep aan de CEO van Albert Heijn (600e KM)

Wil jij de varkens ook een warm hart toedragen? We hopen voor elke kilometer 10 euro in te zamelen voor een documentaire die House of Animals gaat maken over varkens. Alle kosten voor deze tocht zijn door onszelf gefinancierd en in sommige gevallen gesponsord door bedrijven en hotels. Mocht je ons ook willen steunen, weet dan dat 100% van jouw donatie naar House of Animals gaat.

Je kunt ons steunen via Tikkie o.v.v. skieën voor varkens, of via ideal/paypal/creditcard

#SkieënVoorVarkens   #LanglaufenVoorVarkens #albertheijn #kiloknallers
#Skiingforpigs #varkens #dierenwelzijn  #veehouderij 

Day 20: Lost the wife

As it snowed all night, I couldn't wait to see Gressoney the next morning with fresh snow on the trees, as that happens to be one of my favourite things. I was also convinced that today would finally be a day of perfect snow conditions. So I woke up early and my stiff body jumped (well, that was in my head, in practice, it must have looked slightly less agile) to the window to open the curtains better, to see the trees with snow.  I looked full of excitement to discover there wasn't a single snowflake left on any of the trees. It looked, however, as if it was snowing a lot, but it turned out to be a super-strong wind that was blowing snow from the hotel and other places around. I could have cried, not because there was no snow in the trees, but because every single day there seems to be a new climate test to endure. 

So we dressed as if we were going to climb Mount Everest and went skiing. After about 15 minutes, the wind went down, the sun came out and it got warmer, and warmer, and warmer... Up to the point that it seemed summer.  Slightly confused about these changes in temperature and weird weather conditions, we ended up skiing like this: 

The slopes in Gressoney Saint Jean are at the foot of the Monte Rosa, which highest peak, 'Punta Dufour' (4634 m) is the second-highest in Europe. I always wanted to see the Monte Rosa, because I assumed it was pink like the dolomites (Rosa means Pink in Italian). It turns out, it is not pink...  Little I knew, that that was very stupid to think. So why is it called the Pink Mountain..  It turns out that this majestic mountain takes its name from the French-Provencal term 'rouja' and that means 'glacier'. That name is not very old, as in early writings Monte Rosa was called 'Monboso' a name give by Leonardo da Vinci. 

So we are in Gressoney and strangely, we noticed some words in German around here. Considering we are near France, and nowhere near Germany or Austria, we thought that was curious. Then we discovered that actually, Gressoney was the land of a people of Germanic origin that was called the 'Walser'. They came from Switzerland and settled on the Italian side of the Monte Rosa between the 11th and 13th centuries. They were a trading folk and Gressoney was also called The Valley of Merchants. 

Moving on to more recent history, last night we were guests at Hotel Alpenrose, which is owned by Mister Franco Bieler, a world champion downhill skier in the 70's and his wife. Mister Bieler and his wife care about sustainability and animal welfare and don't use any meat from intensive farming in their hotel. It's amazing to see how many people in Italy welcome this initiative and support us. 

When we arrived yesterday evening, we were told that we didn't need to pay for the ski pass today, as the Cross Country Skischool wanted to offer it to us, and they also wanted to meet Mirko! 

They were a fun bunch of people, and at the end of the day, the owner, Stefano saw me skiing from a bar next to the slope and called me in for a beer. Normally, I would have never refused... However, I had lost my wife... and it was getting dark..  Maybe I need to explain this a bit better... as it was really warm today, the snow melted (which is not great when you are skiing). As soon as the sun disappears, the melted snow (water), freezes up again and converts the slope into an icerink. So while descending, Eleonora (who is wiser one of the two), didn't want to risk breaking a leg and decided to do a longer piece through a little forest, avoiding the ice. I instead, refuse to do any meter uphill if it is not absolutely necessary, so I preferred the icerink. I don't know what happened, but I lost my wife, who was without phone. I now had three options: 1. Ski home, assuming that at some point Eleonora would arrive, 2. Forget the wife and join Stefano in the bar, or 3. Go back, all the way up and look for wife. It was a difficult choice, but as it would be dark soon, and the idea of going through a divorce, in the event Eleonora would turn up alive didn't inspire me. So I decided to go back all the way and look for her. This must have taken me a full hour, after which Eleonora called me, to let me know she had arrived in the hotel.

A big thank you to Marianne from the Tourist Consortium of Gressoney, to Stefano and all the colleagues from the Scuola Sci Fondo Gressoney and a big thank you to The Bieler Family for the good care in Hotel Alpenrose.

Do you also want to support the pigs? We hope to raise 10 euros for every kilometer for a documentary that House of Animals will make about pigs. All costs for this trip are financed by ourselves and in some cases sponsored by companies and hotels. If you also want to support us, know that 100% of your donation goes to House of Animals.

You can support us via Tikkie or via ideal/paypal/creditcard

#SkieënVoorVarkens   #LanglaufenVoorVarkens
#Skiingforpigs #varkens #dierenwelzijn  #veehouderij #pigs