 Poster: A snowHead
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@UtahGetMeTwo, Innsbruck is the closest main airport. A touch under 2 hours to Selva. However Austrian car hire much more expensive than Italy and taxi transfers are not cheap (I’m using Suntransfers- need a minibus as 3 of us plus skis)
The closest airport is Bolzano and there have just been flights launched from Stansted on Weds and Sunday. 45mins from Selva. Flights weren’t THAT expensive- can’t remember the airline.
Overall cost Venice and a hire car is probably cheapest. I guess Ryanair’s idea of Venice (ie Treviso) is an 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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@Garfield, touch wood - never had weather problems in well over a dozen return flights to Innsbruck. I’ve probably been lucky.
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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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| buchanan101 wrote: |
| @Garfield, touch wood - never had weather problems in well over a dozen return flights to Innsbruck. I’ve probably been lucky. |
I've only once ended up with a night in Innsbruck but it's been a close call another couple of times. Most of the time you end up in Munich which is not a big deal if you are heading for an Austrian resort but not great for the Dolomites.
I don't know the stats but I would think two or three times a winter the weather plays a bit of mischief with getting into Innsbruck.
It's not enough to put me of using the airport.
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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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@Garfield, I’ve only once had a night in Innsbruck but it was nothing to do with snow
March 2020, and I’d been staying in Ischgl until the Austrian authorities decided to cut short everyone’s holidays…
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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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| Scrunch77 wrote: |
Marmolada queuing-time question:
| beester1976 wrote: |
Want to ski marmolada, better be lucky with the cabelcar at malga ciapella (could be 45 min -1 h wait if you are not), want to do the sella ronda? Don't do on Wed-Thu-Fri when every week holiday skier has had his "need to first get back into the groove of skiing days" and is ready to tackle the sella ronda. Lot's of waiting there  |
We’ll be in Selva for a week from Sat 3 Feb. Despite skiing the area many times we’ve only been up Marmolada a couple of times because of a bad experience with a 1hr wait for the cable car at Malga Ciapella.
Does anyone have any suggestions for minimising the risk of getting stuck there for an hour?
If I’ve read the piste map right, there’s still no alternative lift connecting to the drag lift that takes you back to Capanna Bill and Passo Pedon (though one appears to be planned), so you’re stuck and just have to wait it out. Is there a live waiting-time board at the bottom of the drag lift before you pass the point of no return? Or a live webcam on which you can see the size of the queue?
Thanks in advance.
PS No suggestions required for alternative areas to ski. |
An Avalanche took out two of the drag lifts in the valley several years ago. A bus service was put in to allow beginners to use the area : I imagine it is still in operation
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| albob wrote: |
| An Avalanche took out two of the drag lifts in the valley several years ago. A bus service was put in to allow beginners to use the area : I imagine it is still in operation |
Thanks, @albob.
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Anybody have a recommendation for lunch on top of Kronplatz? Ideally great food and reasonably speedy. Not the cafeteria up there; it sucks. We'll have a non-skier up there looking at the museums, so it needs to be up top. Thanks
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| Scooter in Seattle wrote: |
| Anybody have a recommendation for lunch on top of Kronplatz? Ideally great food and reasonably speedy. Not the cafeteria up there; it sucks. We'll have a non-skier up there looking at the museums, so it needs to be up top. Thanks |
Of the ones at / near the top, my preference is the one near the mid-station of the Olang 1+2 gondola. The name begins with a “G”. It’ll come back to me. Maybe Geiselberghütte?
Obviously not at the summit and not instantly pedestrian accessible but pedestrian can take the gondola to the Olang 1+2 mid-station
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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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@JHS, thanks, probably suboptimal for us. We'll be ascending out of Reischach and I think the pedestrian will be walked-out after doing the museums. Appreciated nonetheless.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Scooter in Seattle, I’m sure you will find somewhere. On that side of the summit my choice would be Herzlalm which is adjacent to the gondola mid station of Reid / Gipfelbahn so gondola down from the museums. Sun terrace and you can watch people attempting the piste down from the summit to the Herzlalm.
But if you are looking for somewhere walk-able from the museums then you are stuck with the ones at the top
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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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@JHS, 10-4 thx
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A couple of weeks ago we had lunch in the more upmarket upstairs restaurant at the Corona hut on the summit and it was good.
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You know it makes sense.
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Just a quick thank you for the tips and advice prior to our trip. We arrived in Selva on Saturday and our first day skiing was yesterday. The scenery is as stunning as you all said, and we have been very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the snow. We skied in just Selva / the Plan De Gralba area yesterday and thought they were some of the best conditions we've skied for years anywhere else (which perhaps says more about our bias for slightly soft and super-forgiving). Is the snow similar in condition across the Dolomites or have we just been lucky in Selva? In particular, what can we expect on the Marmolada glacier this week?
Anyway, we're very pleased to be here, with the exception of one thing. What on earth is the story with the terrible music in the bars when we go there for a beer or two at the end of the day? Non-stop oompah-style covers, each as terrible as the last, played extraordinarily loudly. I've never experienced anything like it. Are there any lively apres bars in Selva with a more varied music mix?!?!?!
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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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| gendal wrote: |
Just a quick thank you for the tips and advice prior to our trip. We arrived in Selva on Saturday and our first day skiing was yesterday. The scenery is as stunning as you all said, and we have been very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the snow. We skied in just Selva / the Plan De Gralba area yesterday and thought they were some of the best conditions we've skied for years anywhere else (which perhaps says more about our bias for slightly soft and super-forgiving). Is the snow similar in condition across the Dolomites or have we just been lucky in Selva? In particular, what can we expect on the Marmolada glacier this week?
Anyway, we're very pleased to be here, with the exception of one thing. What on earth is the story with the terrible music in the bars when we go there for a beer or two at the end of the day? Non-stop oompah-style covers, each as terrible as the last, played extraordinarily loudly. I've never experienced anything like it. Are there any lively apres bars in Selva with a more varied music mix?!?!?! |
Have you tried La Stua bar ?
https://www.la-stua.com/apresski-alps/index.html
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Poster: A snowHead
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That’s the worst culprit! We were sitting behind the DJ booth yesterday afternoon and the music selection got so bad that I was tempted to get on the wifi to try to hack his laptop to put us all out of our misery 
To be fair, the locals seemed to think the music was terrific - so what do we know!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@gendal, was in Selva in Jan and found the apres options "limited". As you say, the music is awful. The best place we found was Bar Saltos, which wasn't as bad but very small and gets busy. If you're game for a laugh, check out Bar Aaritz on Wednesday, I think this is live music night in Selva.
The act in Aaritz was shockingly bad. We worked out he is the owner/manager of the bar (nobody in their right mind would pay him to play). He had acoustic,electric guitar, keyboard, the lot, but it was genuinely some of the worst musicianship I've ever come across, so much so it was entertaining! It's 60s/70s rock classics, in a way you've never heard them before! 
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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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Would you guys recommend Moritzino for apres or will it make my ears bleed
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| gendal wrote: |
Just a quick thank you for the tips and advice prior to our trip. We arrived in Selva on Saturday and our first day skiing was yesterday. The scenery is as stunning as you all said, and we have been very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the snow. We skied in just Selva / the Plan De Gralba area yesterday and thought they were some of the best conditions we've skied for years anywhere else (which perhaps says more about our bias for slightly soft and super-forgiving). Is the snow similar in condition across the Dolomites or have we just been lucky in Selva? In particular, what can we expect on the Marmolada glacier this week?
Anyway, we're very pleased to be here, with the exception of one thing. What on earth is the story with the terrible music in the bars when we go there for a beer or two at the end of the day? Non-stop oompah-style covers, each as terrible as the last, played extraordinarily loudly. I've never experienced anything like it. Are there any lively apres bars in Selva with a more varied music mix?!?!?! |
We're just back from Arabba, but we skied in Selva twice last week.
The snow was the same everywhere - the thing to watch out for is which runs get churned up most quickly, as that was the biggest challenge. I think it's going to be warm there this week, so get out as early as you can!
The Marmolada was fine last week - pretty moguly at the bottom (where it rejoins run 50) by lunchtime though, so take care there.
My favourite run in Selva (we came over from Arabba especially to ski it on our last day) is Cir (Black 3, I think) down from Dantecepies. I could ski that all day long. I also like going off the top of that lift in the other direction towards Colfosco, but it's a bit of a drag back up. If you only do Sellaronda in one direction, I'd go the orange way, mainly for that run! (although the red coming off the Boe gondola was pretty grim when we did it, but from Selva you'd be doing it much earlier in the day).
And to your question about bars... I don't think you'll find a lively bar with different music... There's a small one on the corner of the main road (close to where you have to take your skis off to cross the road, next door to the ski school) that I don't remember had much in the way of that kind of music, but it was always busy which was nice. But then I also don't remember La Stua having much in the way of live music - maybe it's new, or a one-off on whichever day you were there...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Also, do make sure you go over and ski La Longia from Selva. I loved that last year - it was my favourite day. We weren't quite sure we could make it that far from Arabba, so we didn't ski it this year, but it's a lovely run. And the trip back was lovely too - I enjoyed the ski down towards Selva from the top of the cable car almost as much as La Longia - views in front of you are amazing.
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Thanks all for the advice (both skiing and bars). Will give Bar Saltos a try (but with suitably low expectations  )
| Quote: |
My favourite run in Selva (we came over from Arabba especially to ski it on our last day) is Cir (Black 3, I think) down from Dantecepies. I could ski that all day long.
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Thanks for that tip... super helpful. We did both the red and the black from Dantercepies back to Selva this afternoon and the black was far more enjoyable... it was as if they'd got the gradings the wrong way round.
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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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| Quote: |
My favourite run in Selva (we came over from Arabba especially to ski it on our last day) is Cir (Black 3, I think) down from Dantecepies. I could ski that all day long.
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Thanks for that tip... super helpful. We did both the red and the black from Dantercepies back to Selva this afternoon and the black was far more enjoyable... it was as if they'd got the gradings the wrong way round.[/quote]
I agree - I think the black is much nicer. But I think it's just because it's less used and therefore not as bumpy. There is a little bit of 'extra' black at the bottom, just off to the right. It has a short chairlift bringing you back up. It's a great place to get a bit of practice in for anything technical, as it's hardly used so it's in good shape and doesn't have many people on it. We didn't go there this year, but bombed down it a few times at the end of most runs down Cir last year.
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Hi everybody - just a quick note to say thanks for all the tips you shared before our holiday. We really enjoyed our week in Selva and thought it was the perfect base.
We stayed at Hotel Oswald, with Inghams. I know there can be some sniffiness about package operators but I couldn't fault them, and I thought the hotel was perfect for our needs. Very efficiently run, with friendly staff, and good facilities. It was a bit of a walk to the Ciampinoi gondola, which we knew beforehand and wasn't a problem as we'd booked our rentals from the Intersport at Costabella, where we were able to leave equipment over night. This shop was fine, but extremely small, and got very busy at the start of the week so we'd probably pick a different shop next time.
As others have noted on other threads, the conditions were great... and we felt very lucky/smug when we read how much less pleasant the skiing was elsewhere in Europe this week. It got a bit soft and chopped up towards the end of the day but the balance was great for us... I don't think we encountered any genuinely unpleasant hardpack/ice at any point.
It's hard to pick a favourite area but Alpe Di Siusi sticks in my mind, mainly because of how quiet it was and how vast it felt... there was a real sense of covering ground.
Again, this may be mainly a comment about the conditions, but something I only realised after we'd left was that it was the first ski holiday we'd been on where we felt confident to basically try any run we encountered, never worrying that we'd find ourselves terrified at the top of something totally beyond our abilities. That made for a nice sense of progression and achievement.
Finally - I can't remember the name of any of the mountain restaurants we visited but there was a clear - and extremely obvious in hindsight - pattern: those off the beaten track (eg at the top of lifts with no options except to ski back to the bottom) tended to be great, and those with lots of passing traffic were over-run and had far worse service.
Net-net: I can see why so many people speak so highly of the Dolomites. It was great. (Although the less said about the music in the apres bars the better...)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I completely agree with your observation about being confident to try anything. I felt exactly the same when we were there 2 weeks ago. I would never have gone down a black run that I hadn't had a clear view of from a lift (or the reassurance from someone I trusted), but I happily went down all the black runs in Arabba (several times), as well as the ones we'd already done last year in Selva. I also had my first falls for a few years, but in a strange way that has also helped my confidence, as I realised I can fall safely (I was scared of falling and hurting myself - particularly this year as I'm mid way through a marathon training cycle and needed to get home in one piece!).
If you loved Selva, I heartily recommend Arabba as a follow up - easy to get up to Marmolada and over to the Hidden Valley, plus easy access to all the other places on Sellaronda. Apres bars (apart from Bar Peter) were quieter than Selva too!
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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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| WoottonBecs wrote: |
| I would never have gone down a black run that I hadn't had a clear view of from a lift (or the reassurance from someone I trusted), but I happily went down all the black runs in Arabba (several times), as well as the ones we'd already done last year in Selva. |
Yes - exactly that.
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| WoottonBecs wrote: |
| Quote: |
My favourite run in Selva (we came over from Arabba especially to ski it on our last day) is Cir (Black 3, I think) down from Dantecepies. I could ski that all day long.
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Thanks for that tip... super helpful. We did both the red and the black from Dantercepies back to Selva this afternoon and the black was far more enjoyable... it was as if they'd got the gradings the wrong way round. |
Three runs from Dantercepies... all near enough the same length and (obviously) the same drop. Yet one is blue, one is red and one is black...
The red is definitely better than the blue as it's less travelled. Which is pretty common everywhere - people congregate to blues. Prime example is Zell am See - southern arm of horseshoe is blue runs, packed and bumps up. northern arm is red runs and much quieter, and better...
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You know it makes sense.
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A few questions if anyone has time. I've looked at various threads but I'm still unsure. What is the timing like to end up at Scotoni around lunch? If you have a car is parking up near armentoarola and getting taxi or ski bus to tram best? Thank you!
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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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You need to get to Scotoni before 1115. Otherwise you’re waiting in line. Was there yesterday. As for the tram, you’re gonna have to ride a taxi to get there, or to get back to your car, so whatever floats your boat. If you get first tram, do the super eight Circle, get a hot chocolate at Averau then back up the tram and down Hidden Valley to Scotoni your timing should be perfect.
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Poster: A snowHead
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And bring some 'cash' for the Horse tow back to Armentorola !
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The taxi is eight euros and the horse tow is three euros.
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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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Thank you so much for the details! I did it years ago but with a local friend. Very helpful to have all these details so I can feel confident solo!
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FAQ
