 Poster: A snowHead
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Party of 10 boarders/skiiers heading to the Dolomites from Innsbruck mid January, all intermediates/advanced so looking for challenging slopes. Any recommendations as to a good resort to stay in with reasonable transfer time from Innsbruck? We'll be looking for a chalet/large apartment so eating out in the evening... and they younger people in the party will be looking for decent apres etc. Never been to the Dolomites before. Any advice helpful. Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Has to be Selva for that kind of mix. Lively apres in mid Jan may be a little thin on the ground. However, we'll be there for the 3rd/4th week in Jan and will get the drinking going in the Kronestrube/Liuskeller. 
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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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Arabba has the most challenging skiing but is not apres central.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Arabba.
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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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| pam w wrote: |
| Arabba has the most challenging skiing but is not apres central. |
Skiing Arabba when based in Selva is a doddle. it's half way around the SR.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I'd second Mollerski's recommendation of Selva. From Innsbruck transferring to Selva will be quicker, cheaper and easier than to Arabba, and it has more apres-ski. Staying in Selva which is in the Val Gardena valley there is some good local skiing, including from Ciampinoi the SassLong World Cup downhill to St Christina with its famous camel bumps, and from the Seceda plateau on the other side from St Christina there is the 9.5 km La Longia run down to Ortisei/St.Ulrich. Selva (like Arabba) is directly on the Sella Ronda circuit so getting from Selva to Arabba (which as Mollerski says is half way round) without breaks shouldn't take you more than 2 hours.
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Innsbruck to Wolkenstein (Selva Gardena's real name  ) is an easy two hour drive btw. Plenty of fun skiing, and it's easy to get to any of the other resorts and back from there.
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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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Arabba has some advanced stuff. The best black runs are off the back end of Alba, in Val di Fassa in my opinion.
The off piste route at the top of the cable car off Passo Pardoi is pretty epic I'm led to believe.
But, in all honesty, if you wan to party and ski steep stuff then heading west from Insbruck is probably a better option than heading south east.
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Several great routes off Passo Pordoi and around Arabba, including the Marmolada. Selva is more party town than anywhere else.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Interesting! Thanks for the correction - when I was there several people told me German was the first language, but I guess not!
I actually looked at the citation as I didn't believe the number haha  German is the main language of 103 of 116 areas, but Sëlva is one of the exceptions!
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In 103 Gemeinden ist die deutsche Sprachgruppe mehrheitlich vertreten. An erster Stelle rangiert die Gemeinde Martell mit einem Anteil von 100%, gefolgt von Rodeneck (99,65%) und Moos in Passeier (99,58%). Insgesamt beträgt der Anteil der deutsch- sprachigen Bevölkerung in 26 Gemeinden mehr als 98%, in 64 Gemeinden ist er höher als 95% und in 77 Gemeinden übersteigt er die 90%-Marke.
In 8 Gemeinden ist die ladinische Sprachgruppe in der Mehrheit und zwar Wengen (97,66%), St. Martin in Thurn (96,71%), Abtei (94,07%), Enneberg (92,09%), St. Christina in Gröden (91,40%), Wolkenstein in Gröden (89,74%), Corvara (89,70%) und St. Ulrich (84,19%).
5 Gemeinden haben eine italienische Sprachgruppen- mehrheit. Dies sind Bozen (73,80%), Leifers (71,50%), Branzoll (62,01%), Salurn (61,85%) und Pfatten (61,50%). |
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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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| Quote: |
Innsbruck to Wolkenstein (Selva Gardena's real name wink)
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It is called Wolkenstein on my 1:50,000 map. After being in Italy for almost 100 years I think there is an official attempt to eradicate german from the area.
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| johnE wrote: |
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Innsbruck to Wolkenstein (Selva Gardena's real name wink)
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It is called Wolkenstein on my 1:50,000 map. After being in Italy for almost 100 years I think there is an official attempt to eradicate german from the area. |
That's definitely not the case - Sud Tirol is quite strongly protected by Austria, who just wouldn't allow it to happen. Official documents have to be provided in German as well as Italian, tax collected can only be spent in Sud Tirol, guaranteed university places, etc.
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You know it makes sense.
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Can you imagine if they ever got it back? The Italian ski team would be almost wiped out as a competitive force?
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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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| Quote: |
Skiing Arabba when based in Selva is a doddle. it's half way around the SR.
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Whilst that's true, if you wanted to do Arabba every day - and if you're after steep and challenging terrain; you do - it'd be between 2 and 3 hours of the same slopes/lifts getting there and back every day from Selva. If you want to ski mainly in Arabba, stay there.
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But, in all honesty, if you wan to party and ski steep stuff then heading west from Insbruck is probably a better option than heading south east.
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+1 to this - The Dolomite resorts in general are not party-central for powder hounds, St. Anton is a much better bet for that if you're flying in to Innsbruck.
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Poster: A snowHead
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We're thinking about doing a similar trip to @notnats in late Jan 2017, i.e. flight into Innsbruck then drive down to the Dolomites. Our idea is to do a mini tour, taking in a few of the most challenging resorts the region has to offer. We'd also like to sample Cortina. With that in mind which resort would be a good base?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@skidm, What do you mean by "good"; is it the most central, the most glamourous, the best door step skiing, the cheepest, the best food, the most english speakers.
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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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| skidm wrote: |
| We're thinking about doing a similar trip to @notnats in late Jan 2017, i.e. flight into Innsbruck then drive down to the Dolomites. Our idea is to do a mini tour, taking in a few of the most challenging resorts the region has to offer. We'd also like to sample Cortina. With that in mind which resort would be a good base? |
Probably Arabba. If you think of the Sella Ronda circuit as a clockface then Arabba is around about the 4 O'Clock position, so is already on the Eastern side which means if you have a car (you said you were driving down from Innsbruck) then you just have to drive past Passo Falzarego to Cortina. Passo Falzarego is also where you take the Lagazoi cable car to do the Hidden Valley run, and also near Passo Falzarego the small Cinque Torri area is well worth checking out.
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@johnE, good point. Ideally the base would be centrally located and itself offer challenging skiing. Some life in the evenings would be a bonus.
Nice one @Alastair Pink. I'll definitely check out Arabba.
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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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Arabba is OK to get to from Innsbruck (much more of a hassle from the north Italian motorway - long way past Selva). And of course, as we know, it does get snowed in more often than most. I had to drive over an officially closed pass the first time I went there. It took @Alastair Pink and several other SHs to help dig my car out after I had no choice but to wedge it in a snowdrift to get off the very narrow ploughed track of a road outside our hotel. All lifts were closed for days.
Cortina is worth a visit - don't miss the passeggiata at the end of ski-time. More mink coats than you can shake a ski stick at. Don't think it's noted for tough skiing, though?
Some of the best Dolomites trips (Hidden Valley, Cinque Torre) are about spectacular scenery and luscious lunches rather than very gnarly skiing and well within the reach of most intermediates. (Provided they're prepared to pole/skate some of the flat bits).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Where are you flying from? If you can get to Venice or, even better, Treviso then you will likely get much cheaper flights than Insbruck and the drive up to the Arabba side of the Ronda is pretty straight forward. You'll also get cheaper car hire in Italy or get a very good transfer deal with Dolomiti stars.
Stansted Treviso is usually the cheapest and quickest option.
Altough the Sella Ronda is the focal point of the Dolomites it's crowded and more lift than skiing. the real joy are the offshoots - Corvara, Arabba (Marmolada) Selva and Ortesei.
If you're quite keen intermediates then I'd highly recommend: Sass Long in Val Gardena, Marmolada, The run down to Ortesei (The bond run) The Hidden Valley anti clockwise to get in the hidden valley but make sure you double back and do the top to bottom at Alleghe (The resort run is absolutely epic) - the boarders will hate the bottom of the hidden valley- and a day out doing the far corners of Val di Fassa (some great Blacks)
San Pellegrino and Cortina make a great day out too.
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| cameronphillips2000 wrote: |
Altough the Sella Ronda is the focal point of the Dolomites it's crowded and more lift than skiing. the real joy are the offshoots - Corvara, Arabba (Marmolada) Selva and Ortesei.
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Yep, the SR can be akin to the M25. OK as a means of getting from A to B, but otherwise best avoided due to weight of traffic.
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I note that no one ever mentions the Pala when talking about the Dolomites.
For what it is worth I did once fly to Innsbruck to climb in the Lake Misurina area north of Cortina. Though the drive appears straightforward on the map we crawled along behind camper vans for hours. Half the world's camper vans must spend the summer in the Dolomites. This summer we flew to Venice and it took over 3 hours just to get to Cortina. We spent some time in a very nice hotel near Alleghe and upto 3 hours every day just driving to and from where we wanted to climb. I love the Dolomites but do half my annual gear changes and 90% of the annual hairpin bend driving allowance in just 12 days.
And beware the speed cameras. they are everywhere. There are even two near the top of the Giau pass.
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