 Poster: A snowHead
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@Harrow lady, we skied the Sella Ronda yesterday and it was busier than I hoped for January. Parked at Pian Frataces above Canazei and headed anticlockwise. Hit queues on the chair at Sas Bece which took about 8mins. After that it wasn't too bad, (but nowhere near as quiet as San Martino di Castrozza on Monday, where there was almost no queuing anywhere and had some pistes in the Ces sector to ourselves ie. you couldn't see anyone else.) The sun came out for us in Edelweiss Valley above Colfosco. Had some ribs at Jimmy's, but it was cold up there. Blowing a hooley at Dantercepies. Over above Plan de Gralba, it was busy on the Ronda lifts, but ok on the others. Sheltered from the wind by the Sassolungo too. Impressed by many new lifts, but all that means is more skiers dumped onto the pistes.
Was thinking of doing the Val Gardena Ronda as I've never skied on Alpe di Siusi, but reading on here is making me think twice! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@luigi, hello Luigi, yesterday we saw a terrible accident, three people were stretched out , 1 boarder lost control and knocked two girls really hard because the plonker was going far too fast, it was on piste 22 , boe to passo campolongo, i thank god we already done that section and were resting on the side but saw the whole event. Once you are out of the sella the skiing is totally fine and very enjoyable considering the weather but the sr is overcrowded and I think if you are not a competent skier you should stay away from it because the snow is wet and sticky and like on piste 22 it was one mogul after another. As my husband said in the last two years we have been spoiled here , skiing without queuing was the norm but not anymore yesterday it was 10 min q even for misery chair . Today we are back to alpi di siusi, I need a relaxing day , enjoying your hols
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Harrow lady would love to get a report from you later how Alpe di Siusi was. We arrive there on Sunday. Enjoy your day.
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Possibly busier because more Germans are heading south to avoid the bad weather over the northern Alps earlier this week ?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Alta Badia - Windy in some places today so Sella Ronda and HV closed for at least some of the day. Warm this morning but seemed to cool down later. Combination of wind and warm weather made pistes a bit hit and miss, nothing too bad but care definitely needed. Better than yesterday though. On the last run of the day I went from wind swept ice to slushy bumps in about 50 metres then back to ok again.
Bad news was my wife had her new, and expensive, gloves stolen. She left them in a toilet at a lift station, realised straight away and went back but they’d gone. Checked in lost property right next door and nothing handed in. So take care with your stuff.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Jesus that's pretty bad show and unexpected for the Dolomites
Also gloves are utterly useless unless they fit you
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@jimmybog, hello, ADS was a lot of fun yesterday. It is icy in the morning probably better to start after 9.30. Pista Laurin is so much fun, did it ten times just love it. Husband did the new Pilat , it is marked expert only but he tought it was nothing too difficult. We are going back today as I cannot cope with crowds . Lots more Laurins 
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@Harrow lady, pleased you enjoyed Alpe di Siusi/Seiser Alm. It’s our favourite. I believe there are relatively new lifts at Spitzbuhl and Goldknöpf
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Harrow lady, I didn't make it to AdS, yesterday. I opted for an easier commute in the other direction to Alleghe/Civetta. Runs were a mixture of powder, hardpack and softening nicely in the sun. There were a few easily avoidable spots in the Zoldo sector where brown soil was showing through and the shady Salere run down to Pescul had a few icy patches at the bottom. Judging by the number plates in the car park, it is ever more popular with E Europeans, lots of expensive Polish and Czech cars, but any crowds soon thinned out on the slopes and we had some runs to ourselves. Overall, I think the Civetta area is one of the best of the smaller areas in the Dolomites.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Peter S wrote: |
| Possibly busier because more Germans are heading south to avoid the bad weather over the northern Alps earlier this week ? |
It was Germans more than anything that I heard on the SR. They are the largest skiing nation in Europe and S Tyrol is a favourite spot, so not surprising really. I've never been this week before, so nothing to compare it with. I was hoping it would be quieter than Feb HT week, which it probably was, as you always have the Danish families in Val di Fassa that week
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Hello Luigi , unfortunately we actually saw the event, it happened at punta d oro and we arrived when they were airlifting the Second Lady. The person manning the chair was crying so hard, and the carabiniere was hugging him. I didn’t want to say anything as it was too horrific. Punta d oro was closed after that , they put shuttle buses instead. Today should be back to normal. I just don’t know how they manage to fall from the chair, unreal
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You know it makes sense.
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It seems the mild dry weather is continuing for the foreseeable. I'm off to Venice today before evening flight home
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Harrow Lady, thank you for the report. I remember the Spitzbuhl run from the past, great slope. Can't wait to get out there and thanks for the ski after 9:30am advice.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Yes the owner of our pension told us about this accident, awful. 83 years old and still skiing, what an amazing woman she must have been 
Been rather warm recently so conditions not great but the snow cover seems pretty good this year (for the dolomites) so that definitely helps things. Crowds also not too bad, eg no queue for taxi/bus to Lagazoi from Armentarolla.
Also finally tested something out, I'm not really a fan of the schlepp from Piz la Lla to Corvara so tried with the bus, was a 40 minute wait and then you have a good 10 minutes clump from where the bus drops you off to to the Borest/Boe lifts so not really a more comfortable option.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| luigi wrote: |
| It seems the mild dry weather is continuing for the foreseeable. I'm off to Venice today before evening flight home |
@luigi, if you have any top tips for an afternoon in Venice I'd love to hear them. Myself and the missus are going to Cortina next Saturday to Tuesday, with an evening return flight from Venice. Never been to Venice so planning to take the opportunity to spend a few hours there.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Colder today so good pistes around Alta Badia this morning with blue skies and not bad later pm, it suddenly got cloudy and cold about 2:30pm.
We made a last minute decision to do the hidden valley, arrived at Armenterola at 10:30, 25 min wait for a bus then about 15 mins for the cable car. The top mile or so was lovely but as soon as you turned out of the sun it became very icy and stayed like that for the rest of the piste. The steeper section by the frozen waterfall was very busy and basically carnage, we stopped at the top to admire the view and there were 4 or 5 falls in a matter of seconds. I picked a route down and then looked back up to spot my wife. She stood out like a sore thumb, including her there were probably 3 competent skiers who you could see in control picking their way down (my wife is much better than me), that’s from maybe 50 or 60. When it’s that icy they should put a warning in place at the taxi point and cable car.
I got knocked over twice, once at the top of the run by a very apologetic young British guy, he was above me and just lost control on a bump, fortunately no harm done to either of us. Then on the horse tow someone obviously couldn’t stop and I ended up at the bottom of a pile of 3 people. Someone had skied into my wife, knocking her into me and the originator just skied off without a word, again no damage done. Then at the drag lift someone skied into her again!
Maybe it was something to do with Friday being the last day for many people but there were quite a few falls on only slightly bumpy blues so a combination of that and the cold meant we finished a bit early.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@EricTheRed, the best advice we received when visiting Venice was “just walk around”. @luigi may have a better idea but honestly if you only have a few hours just have a wander. The only caveat is if you’re into something specific, e.g. Modern art, in which case go to the relevant museum, but some you’re better booking in advance e.g. Doge’s palace.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@luigi
Two locals told me that January has become the month when a lot of Eastern European customers visit. This was accompanied by some rather politically incorrect and uncomplementary views on their on piste behaviour. Whether this was prejudice or experience speaking is anyone’s guess.
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Thanks for the advice @richb67. A wander around, some coffee and people watching, and lunch in a nice restaurant will be just the ticket for me.
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| richb67 wrote: |
@luigi
Two locals told me that January has become the month when a lot of Eastern European customers visit. This was accompanied by some rather politically incorrect and uncomplementary views on their on piste behaviour. Whether this was prejudice or experience speaking is anyone’s guess. |
Ouch ... do we have to go there ... ?
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@richb67, that was always the case with Jan ‘s Eastern European visitors . We stopped coming to the sella ronda for that reason , in Jan 2016 in selva you would have tought you were in Moscow. At least discovered Cortina and Plan de corones.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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yesterday was a wonderful day, skied non stop from 9.30 until 3 , I had to give up then as The knees couldn’t take anymore. Alpe. Di Siusi are really well looked after, all the slopes are nicely groomed and once the sun is out you can let yourself go. Of this holiday I will remember the hotel the most, I have never eaten so well and so much before. Scallops, sea bass, truffle just incredible food. Now back to reality, have fun if you are coming this week
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| Harrow lady wrote: |
| @richb67, that was always the case with Jan ‘s Eastern European visitors . We stopped coming to the sella ronda for that reason , in Jan 2016 in selva you would have tought you were in Moscow. At least discovered Cortina and Plan de corones. |
Really? I've only done either 3rd or 4th week in Jan for 8 years now, I've heard the occasional group speaking an east European/russian language but its not been a problem in any way. For you to say you'd stop coming to the SR because of that you must have had some bad experiences or?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Cheapski, for me when people are skiing you can’t tell their nationality so unless they speak it’s easy to blame a certain group based upon prejudice.
I think part of the problem is groups of any nationality. Yesterday when going to the HV we ended up on a bus rather than taxi. My wife was the only woman out of the 30+ passengers and there was only one person under about 30. Most of the others were groups of middle aged men (like me) and it was surprising how many groups were in the queue. You can tell because the wrangler at the front is asking how many people so they can fill the taxi or buses. There were lots of shouts of 8, 5, 10 etc.
So the groups want to stick together which leads to certain behaviours getting into lift queues and then forming groups getting off, racing down the pistes, probably taking the less experienced group members on inappropriate pistes, drinking at 10:00 am etc etc. almost like a stag week on skis.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Week 10 and approaching the half way point in the season. Everything looks open with 1200km of piste and 413 lifts running across the SD area.
https://www.dolomitisuperski.com/en/Live-info/Open-slopes
Temperatures look mild and have mostly been above zero at 1400m over the last 3 days
https://www.bergfex.com/trentino/wetter/stationen/canazei/
The air is dry and the weather has been mostly sunny. Piste depth looks to be stable at 101cms at 2200m and 61cms at 1550m. Theoretically that is probably enough to last till the end of the season.
https://snowreport.skicarosello.it/skicarosello/?lang=en
There are plenty of skiers about so I imagine it’s good times for the lift companies and local businesses. Sounds as though the pistes are firm in the morning and the busier routes are getting cut up in the afternoon which is perhaps more typical of March.
https://www.bergfex.com/alta-badia/webcams/c14190/
The outlook is for it to remain dry well into February so that should make for sunny enjoyable skiing. The anticyclone is currently centred just north of the Dolomites and slowly drifting east. Temperatures look to increase during early February but then hopefully drop back a bit around the 4th ?
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@sean1967, bombardinio shots please
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Poster: A snowHead
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Good things showing up in the latest GFS run for w/c 4th Feb, still a little far out to be certain but promising...
Pack for warm or cold for the BB? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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lost and found items
Just a note for anyone who will be visiting the Dolomiti superski area this year
the ski offices have been great about our lost gloves, they have an app and anything that is handed in is photographed so on the two occasions we’ve asked about our missing gloves the assistant just pulls out her phone and scrolls through pictures of recently handed in items. They’ve been genuinely helpful and disappointed they couldn’t find them for us.
So if you find something hand it in at a ski pass office and if you lose something pop in and ask them.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@shiva_71, loads of visitors from Eatsen Europe, in Madonna there was a line of buses with relevant registrations. In Civetta it seemed the predominant accent, in La Villa car park the other day it was heaving with cars registered in Eastern European countries. Booming economies so people with money looking for holidays. Also some of these countries have school holidays from mid Jan so are perfectly placed to take advantage of previously off peak weeks. It’s partly why my wife and I are here after all…
Caveat - I can’t tell Russian accents from Ukrainian, Slovakian, Bosnian, Polish, Romanian etc. !
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| richb67 wrote: |
| Had a chat to my instructor who said that this year the 2 weeks mid Jan have been much busier than previous years. |
That seems to have happened right across the European Alps.
A bizarrely busy Jan 2024.
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| Whitegold wrote: |
| richb67 wrote: |
| Had a chat to my instructor who said that this year the 2 weeks mid Jan have been much busier than previous years. |
That seems to have happened right across the European Alps.
A bizarrely busy Jan 2024. |
Cost of living crisis, so rather than forego a ski holiday, people have shifted to cheaper weeks??
Last week was the last week of low season prices for liftpasses in Dolomiti Superski.
Or the good early season snowfalls pulled bookings forward??
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Excellent off out on Tuesday for 10 days. Hoping my knees hold out after just returning from a week in France.
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GFS seems very undecisive if there will be snowfall in the first week of Feb or not. But the last updates show there miiight be a mini dump around sometime after the 5th. We'll know for sure in a couple of days I guess
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FAQ
Be careful out there!!
The Italians took against them when one had a punch up with national ski hero Alberto Tomba in an argument in a hotel car park. 