Ski Recommendations - Dolomites

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 Rob Exile Ward 15 Nov 2021

Well, living in hope as ever, thinking about a ski trip in Jan/Feb and fancy giving the Dolomites a go; thing is I've never even been there in summer let alone winter. Be grateful for any personal recommendations - resorts and accommodation (just for two of us.) We're reasonably competent skiers so would prefer reds and blacks and some safe-ish off piste to easier cruising. Any suggestions?

 ripper 15 Nov 2021
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

I did a week in Canazei, on the Sella Ronda circuit (Dolomiti Superski lift area), a good few years ago. From memory a lot of the terrain fell into what I'd call easier cruising - much of it not very steep, and not a lot of black. The best black I remember was on the Marmolada side, above Alba... I think... but even that was not super-steep for a black. Having said that I'm not sure we covered the entire area and I believe there might be a bit more steep stuff around Corvara. Sure someone better informed will be along in a while. Good luck!

 TheGeneralist 15 Nov 2021
In reply to ripper:

Alba => Arabba?

I was going to suggest Arabba as well. I think we've been to that area 3 or 4 times to ski, and Arabba is definitely known as the best base for harder skiing. It's not that hard TBH but it has a few black runs.

I absolutely love it there.

Post edited at 11:46
 ripper 15 Nov 2021
In reply to TheGeneralist:

> Alba => Arabba?

> I was going to suggest Arabba as well. I think we've been to that area 3 or 4 times to ski, and Arabba is definitely known as the best base for harder skiing. It's not that hard TBH but it has a few black runs.

> I absolutely love it there.

No, I did mean Alba - small village up the road towards Marmolada from Canazei. There's a black back down there under the Ciampac lift that I vaguely remember being one of the better runs we did. Not sure we made it over to Arabba but tbh I can't really remember.

Obviously the scenery is amazing and little towns are mostly nice too. I've also been three times now in summer, a terrific area for a climbing trip

Post edited at 12:15
 beardy mike 15 Nov 2021
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Hi Rob. As Ripper says, the Sellaronda is easy cruiser, infact I say some of the reds on it are only given red because it puts off people who really are not yet ready for the distance involved from doing it. 

So where to go for harder skiing. Firstly take a look at my guide to some of the main resorts in the area - they are based around our accommodation, Casa Alfredino, but my Wild Pettorina is a purely informational site.  http://wildpettorina.com/sports/skiing/

For steeper skiing, Arabba is great, there are some very steep blacks there. In general it is by far the best spot for steeper more advanced skiers in the range, but by no means the only one. The Gran Risa down to La Villa is one of my favourite runs. Also some of the outlying, unconnected areas are worth visiting, as they are quieter (by a large margin) and have some really excellent runs. For example Falcade San Pellegrino has some amazing side country skiing of the summit dome of Col Margherita and its lower twin summit. A really excellent place to get to grips with offpiste as the geology makes it a more open, slightly lower angle area with less narrow gullies like the rest of the range. 

Also Civetta is worth visiting if there is lots of snow (so far looking great this year) as here you will find tree skiing and allows for off piste runs in murky weather but with enough visual contrast to help find the way. On a sunny day, skiing beneath Civetta is utterly awesome.

Marmolada if you get a decent dump of powder is great too - I have detailed quite a number of different routes to descend, the only downside is skinning back to the lifts if you go down to the dam end of the reservoir. 

But the greatest single thing you can do if you are a competent off piste skier is to do any of the runs from the Sella Plateau. Take the lift to Piz Pordoi and you can run Val Mezdi, Val Lasties, Val Setus or off the top of Piz Boe. They require varying degrees of skill, Lasties is the most straight forward, but the scenery is utterly stunning and you will remember them for the rest of your life.

 TheGeneralist 15 Nov 2021
In reply to ripper:

> No, I did mean Alba - small village up the road towards Marmolada from Canazei.

Soz shouldn't judge everyone else's typing by the piss poor standards of my Samsung's autocorrect.

Totally agree on val de Mesdi by the way. Awesome run.

 HeMa 15 Nov 2021
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

There’s some really good advice as for the resorts etc. At least from the looks of it, as I haven’t skied much in the Dolomite. 
 

But for offpiste skiing, limestone/Dolomite rock is prone on having lot of suden vertical drops (more so than say in the Alps). So when venturing off piste, know where your going. 
 

I have not had difficulty in reading the terrain in say Utah, Alps (CH, FR and northern IT), or in Scandinavia. 
 

But limestone has been harder, and Brenta Dolomite limestone I was in for a few more surprices than usually. 

 beardy mike 15 Nov 2021
In reply to HeMa:

Yes this is very true, the big runs in the Dolomites have a very different nature to those in Chamonix for example. You need to be confident doing steep, narrow gullies very often, it's not the wide swooping carving ski type of terrain many are used to. But this is not the case everywhere. Marmolada is pretty safe bar in a few places until you get towards the foot of the mountain on the extreme left and extreme right of the mountain. Likewise, the easy skiing at Falcade/San Pellegrino is really pretty safe. 

Things like Bus di Tofana, Val Setus, Holzer Canale, on the other hand are serious outings which need to be treated with respect. 

 HeMa 15 Nov 2021
In reply to beardy mike:

Yeah. I was making the point that both the rock type and gealogy/age of the mountains means that big sudden drops might be around. 
 

Getting dead ended is far more common than say in around Cham. Still there is lots of good skiing, but proper reasearch might be in order. 
 

Where as I’M reasonably confident in heading off-piste/out of bounds in say Utah or Scandiland…. Or old rock/granit based stuff in the alps. I’m more conservative when the rock is limestone/dolomite. Have gotten deadend too many times, or at least flow of good skiing went out of the window.

but with some research, I’ve some great run on places where the rock is still dolomite/limestone. 

 beardy mike 15 Nov 2021
In reply to HeMa:

Totally agree with what you are saying. This is worth a read especially if you can tour - it does have some routes which are lift served-ish though like Mezdi... https://www.cicerone.co.uk/ski-touring-and-snowshoeing-in-the-dolomites


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