Calling Sella Ronda fans.

A snowHead

Hi, I am not sure if I am posting correctly as am new to the forum.....I am off to Selva on 22nd Feb - can someone advise me re the appropriate lift pass? My husband and I are intermediate standard and I have been told there is a local lift pass as well as an area lift pass - we are trying to limit the amount we spend and therefore my thoughts are that the local pass will be enough. Plus should I get the pass here or wait until I get there and if its the latter, will we need passport photos etc? Any help gratefully received Toofy Grin

A snowHead

Welcome to snowHead

and hope you have a great time ! I think the local one is pretty well restricted. If you're an intermediate you'll want to do some of the Sella Ronda (if not all) and that I'm sure requires a SuperDolomitiSki pass. Unfortunately they are about €250. It's an electronic pass (you wave it in front of the reader, like the Oyster cards on the London tube or the new Barclaycard thingy) so no photo required.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

There is a Val Gardena pass, as well as the full Dolomiti Superski one, but as intermediates it would limit what you can do - you wouldn't be able to do the Sella Ronda, or the Hidden Valley etc. We thought the full Dolomiti Superski pass was quite good value - 230euro for 8 days was a lot cheaper than some of the French passes. You can get the pass easily in the skipass offices, they just took a webcam picture to go on the pass. Be aware that some credit companies regard Italy as high risk, so they may refuse the transaction until they check that it is really you.

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Hi, thanks for your quick response! Ok, so I will Google SuperDolomitiskipass - do you know whether I can just buy that one on its own or will need to buy the local one as well?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

patsistone, the dolomitiski pass will include the area covered by the local pass. Welcome to snowheads....but the welcome doesn't mean that we shall be leaving you any fresh snow to play in wink

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I think the photo is just for subsequent identification if a pass is lost as it isn't on my pass from last year (still in my wallet - sad, isn't it !)

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

patsistone, if you're intermediates, you'll want to take advantage of the more extensive skiing that the Dolomiti Superski pass offers, as it's only €15 more, it's definitely worth it. You won't need a photo for a 6-day pass.

Can you pre-book your pass with your tour op? It may work out slightly cheaper, depending on the exchange rate they used to fix the sterling price. If you're travelling independently, you can buy it at the lift pass office in Selva.

Frosty the Snowman, There is plenty of snow for all. I am sure we can leave a flake or two for patsistone,.

patsistone, if you look back over this thread you will find plenty of enthusing about places like Cinque Torri and Laguzoi (the hidden valley). You will need the full Dolomiti pass for these which takes you absolutely everywhere. Do not miss out. They are well within the capabilities of intermediates and among the best skiing experiences in Europe. Welcome to snowHeads and this rather elite thread too!

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I've been following this thread avidly. Do the wise snowHead

s think that my 6 year old would manage the hidden valley? He's been listening to the adults talking and is desperate to come with us. He's been skiing on the dry slope for a couple of years (once a week), and has done one week on snow. He can do parallel turns though often chooses not to - his laid back snowplough seems to take him where ever he wants to go rolling eyes

He's also rather vertically challenged. What do folks think?

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ickabodblue, no problem.
It's not particularly demanding. At the very start, it's quite a red run but it's pretty mellow most of the way.
At the bottom, he'll probably have to sit in the cart rather than be towed by the horses though.

ickabodblue, I can't see any reason why he shouldn't be able to do the Hidden Valley as it's not too challenging but absolutely fantastic scenery. He will love the Horse drawn ski tow at the bottom of the valley. snowHead

As Admin has pointed out, he may find the Horse drawn lift a bit daunting but should be able to ride in the cart instead of being towed on the ropes.

You know it makes sense.

ickabodblue, If he can do this, then he can do the hidden valley.

That is right at the start, but there is nothing much steeper on the rest of it.

But do make sure he turns left at the bottom there. If he goes right, then it is a black run back to the base of the cable car Smile

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I've often thought it would make a fantastic racing course -although maybe some of the later stuff is too flat.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Have only just managed to get back on the forum from yesterday afternoon, thank you all for the advice re lift passes - we have booked with Iglu Ski and they have been pretty dreadful to be honest hence my trying to find out about lift passes myself, need to sort ski hire too...Am so excited now that I have read the rest of the bits on the hidden valley etc ....my uncle told me about the horse drawn lift as well. woo hoo!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Thanks for all the replies. I think he'll be coming with us if the weather is good snowHead

Can't wait!!!

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Right. Here we go then. Got a very early flight tomorrow so going to bed now. Hope to meet up with a snowHead or two next week. Weather forecast looks decent - snow showers and sun, that'll do. See you soon!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Chris Bish, Have a great time. snowHead

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Just got back from Selva - had a great time. Fresh snow at the beginning of the week, but some slopes a little scraped by the end. We only managed the Sella Ronda once (orange route), partly due to it being closed for a couple of days due to high winds; Hidden Valley was closed for a few days as well (we'll just have to go back for that!).

stats are pretty pathetic:

Lifts: 90
Height Diff: 26,480
Km: 143

Having said that, I was averaging around 22k per day till the last day then went skiing with a pair of demon pensioners and covered 35km Shocked

The best week's skiing I've ever had - I found slope gradings (esp black) flattering because of the lovely conditions - it's the first time I've skied everything in my path without really thinking too hard about whether it might be bumpy/icy/steep/narrow etc. The runs were all of these but I was happy with how I handled them. I even enjoyed the bumps (as they were really soft)

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Apologies for the delay. We got back from Arabba last Saturday.

Drove to BHX airport at 2:30am for 5:45am flight on the Saturday and landed at 9:15am at Brescia airport, waited 2 hours on coach for Gatwick flight, arrived in resort at about 4:15pm. A very long day. We were told that 1 metre of snow had fallen so far that day and that there was the most snow in resort, since 1951. It certainly looked like it when we got there. All mountain passes closed due to snow and avalanche risk. When we went through Alleghe, the lake was frozen and covered completely in snow. It looked a little surreal. From here onwards there were people on the roofs shovelling snow off to relieve the weight of the snow.

We had mixed weather during the week with light snow on a lot of days but the trend was towards getting sunnier but colder. Conditions on piste were the best I've experienced anywhere. Off piste wasn't permitted without a guide and we did see ski police patrolling as the avalanche risk was very high. Saw a lot of slips.

Did local slopes on Sunday and had private lesson. Corvara on Monday with Sueski.
Was going to go to Cortina on Tuesday but road closed so did Portovescovo with Sueski and fell over twice due to 1. whiteout 2. not skiing well due to skis and too much drink from the night before. Decided to call it an early day and swapped my skis for better ones (excuses, excuses) .
On Wednesday we had another private lesson in the morning and felt great afterwards and did San Cassiano, La Villa, Pedraces in the afternoon.
On Thursday, which was the nicest day, we had an earlier start and did the Sella Ronda anti-clockwise. I hadn't done this last year and was really impressed with the lack of queues, the stunning scenery and the runs going that way around, especially in Santa Christina.
On Friday we started early again and went up the Marmaloda on the cable car. Unfortunately there was a -30 wind chill factor at the top and half way down my wife broke down in tears as she couldn't feel her hands or legs. In spite of this she skied quite well and got back to Arabba at lunchtime and decided to call it a day due to the cold.

All in all we had a brilliant time and are now looking at returning late March, as there's still loads we didn't ski and the snow is so good. I'd like to hire a car and go to some of the more out of the way places such as the Civetta ski area.

btw the return journey started at 2:30am for a 9:45am flight rolling eyes

I've posted some photos on snowmediazone:

https://snowheads.com/the_zone/showphoto.php/showgallery.php/cat/832

A few tasters:

My statistics are:

Nr of Lifts: 94
Height Difference (mt): 29,671
Slopes lenght estimation (Km): 152

P.S. We won the pub quiz and got a bottle of Prosecco Laughing

After all it is free

Going to Arraba on the 7th march. I have asked this question before but can you explain what is so good about this curcuit you all keep going on about Confused

and can you let me know which runs you enjoyed please especially the reds and blacks? Im confident on the black pistes and my partner likes the reds but could do with them quite close so i can go and play Toofy Grin

Thankyou

MFC, Having been recently I'd say that the Sella Ronda circuit (which goes either clockwise or anticlockwise) around the Sella Ronda itself and so takes in various resorts such as Arabba, Corvara, Colfosco, Canazei etc on the way is not in itself "great". I found it better to treat it as the means to get to a place and then to explore that place. But it is worth doing once so you've been all round. I found it better to go clockwise.

As to runs I enjoyed the most, I liked the runs down Marmolada, Dantercepies, the runs above Corvara down into La Villa, the world cup run into Val Gardena and some others. Also worth doing, but you have to get on a skibus, was a little side trip into Alba which then leads on a small trip to Pazza di Fassa. V quiet and some good runs.

It was the first time I had been with a bunch of snowHeads (was in fact the birthday bash). You can (if you want) read my trip report on the snoewevents forum here to see if it makes any sense to you, but be warned it may not make sense if you were not on the trip.

HTH.

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MFC, as SteveM says there are better runs off the Sella Ronda but I was still surprised how much I liked it. When we got to Santa Christina, we took the underground train to the Col Raiser area and really enjoyed the Seceda run. You just need to make sure you build in enough time to take mini detours off the Sella Ronda if you need to be back before your last lift on the circuit shuts for the day.

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MFC, to try and explain a bit further, see the Arabba piste map here and at the top right it shows the "Gruppo Del Sella" mountains. The set of interlinked pistes and lifts which go around it form the Sella Ronda circuit and as the map shows you can do it in either direction. Each linked valley tends to have its own more detailed map (such as this one for Arabba) which does not really show the whole circuit. For example a similar one for Selva Val Gardena is here.

You can get printed maps of the whole circuit, which I found to be rather confusing and hard to navigate, but I cannot recall where to see one online. From Arabba you have easy access to Porta Vescovo and Marmolada areas which should suit you, as well as round to Corvara.

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According to FtS it is "Feckin Superb"

THis might be a bit late for Patsistone, but I think there's another option for a lift pass. I went to Obereggen a few times with the family a few years ago. At that time, you could buy a weekly local pass with one day's Dolomiti Superski built in. You could use the Superski pass on any day, but for one day only. Don't know if they still do that, but I think so.

Also got a question. I'm off to Arabba on 1 March and will have a hire car. Does the Hidden Valley get very crowded? I was thinking of driving to the start early in my car and then getting a taxi back to the car at the end so that we could get ahead of the posse. Is that worth it? I realise this might not be one of my better ideas! Any suggestions....Thanks.

You know it makes sense.

-> COMBINED SKIPASS 3+3, 4+2, 5+1, 5+2
= skiing days in the valley where it was issued + DolomitiSuperski skiing days;
offered by the following valleys: Carezza, Alta Pusteria, San Martino di Castrozza/Passo Rolle, Val di Fiemme/Obereggen, Val d’Isarco, Trevalli, Civetta;
Combined skipass 11+1, 11+2 = skiing days in the valley where it was issued + DolomitiSuperski skiing days; offered by the following valleys: Alta Pusteria, Val di Fiemme/Obereggen, Valle Isarco;

Copied the above from dolomitisuperski.com Alas, Patsistone, it doesn't seem to be available for Selva, but I see you can get 1, 2, or 3 superski days, which might be of interest to anyone going to one of the smaller areas listed, although Cavalese (Val di Fiemme) might be the only one served by UK tour operators.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

archski, sounds OK as you can get a shared taxi from Armentarola or you could ski to Armentarola, get the taxi to the Lagazuoi cable car rather than taking your car and then do the Hidden Valley. We went on 5th March last year and got there about 11:30am and it wasn't too busy. It may be worth driving though as you could do the Cinque Torre slopes first, which are really good and then do the Hidden Valley and get the taxi back etc.

A snowHead

Thanks Pokemon. I think the drive / cinque Torre option sounds good.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

You're dead right - hadn't thought of that. It suited me well with the kids and car in Obereggen, but I'll definitely be going for the full Monte ( sorry!) when I head for Arabba with the boys.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

MFC, You dont need a piste map once your are on the Sella Ronda just follow the Orange or Green signs dep;ending on which way round you are going. A Piste Map is needed for all the trips off the Sella Ronda which is where the quiet and interesting runs often are.

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MFC, I agree - the piste map is terrible, but we easily followed the signs for the sella ronda last week. I would like to say "I skied X run" but I have no idea apart from the "lumpy one off the ciampinoi"

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

MFC, yes the full pass will allow you to use any lift in the dolomitisuperski area. I think the slopes are all numbered but agree that names are better.

MFC, I found the orange route fine - I'm not sporty and I wouldn't call the route sporty either (although that's what is says on the piste map). There are some short steepish bits, but wide enough to traverse if necessary. I understand the green route has more flat bits which need a lot of poleing. If you do runs off the route you might need to watch the time for getting back to your own valley if your girlfriend is not a reasonable intermediate, or if the lift queues are long.

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Going away next saturday to San Cassiano and fancy doing the circuit but wondering if I've got enough experience? Early intermediate (7 weeks skiing) happy on most reds unless really narrow/icey. "Intermediate" seems to cover lots of skiers. :~

Help!!

Calling Sella Ronda fans.

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