Kronplatz

A snowHead

Anyone been to Kronplatz recently . Heading there next week and any useful information would be helpful.Chose it because of all the nice long blues for my wife but don't really know much about the area.

A snowHead

it's Italy, whats not to like?

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

We are there now. It suits me (this is my second visit this year)

Which village are you staying in? Olang/Valdaora, Reischach/Riscone, Sankt Vigil/San Vigilio ?

What are you looking for? Piste suggestions/ eateries on the slopes/ après/ restaurants?

Are you staying in self catered or hotel or B & B ?

Are you travelling via a package or DIY? To which airport?

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We are Staying in the Hubertus 1/2 board .Its on a hillside outside Valdaora.Info that would be handy are Snow conditions, good mountain restaurants ,are the black runs good and steep .Is there any apres.I have a taxi organised from Verona and we are getting the train back as staying in central Verona on the way back for a night.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Snow conditions : very good. The care of the pistes and snow management in the Dolomites is excellent and that includes Kronplatz. You don’t actually need a huge depth of snow as the majority of pistes are over grass. The temperature over the last few days has been very cold overnight. We left a couple of bottles of beer on the balcony last night. One survived. The other didn’t as the glass broke when the beer froze. It’s cold at night. Great in the sun in the daytime though. Lovely to sit with a beer on the sun terrace

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I haven’t stayed in Olang for quite a number of years. More than 10 I should think. That’s not to say it’s bad - just that I prefer the opposite side of the mountain for personal reasons. The area is named after the mountain rather than the towns. The mountain is shaped with a flattish top so you do get a good number of high level blue runs up there. Plateau and Belvedere and Spitzhorn and Alpen are the ones that come to mind. There are others up near the summit which might be graded as red but are nice. Arndt (through trees) and Marchner (ok cafe at the bottom) spring to mind. Reid is a nice run. Long. 11kms? Starts at the top as Spitzhorn I think, keep left and go above the top lift station of Alpen and watch out for the left hand turn away from Spitzhorn onto Reid. A couple of sections of Reid are very very flat. A couple are steep and graded black but with a blue or red loop around the steep bits.
The run down from the summit to Olang is good (red but not difficult) if the snow is cold. The bottom section can get very cut up and slushy when we come in late season but at the moment it is cold and should be good. We haven’t actually done that this week yet. If the Hubertus is where I think it is, close to the side of the bottom section of this piste (called Olang I and II) then you should be able to judge at the start of the day.

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Eating on the hill : so many places. Lots of good ones. The one closest to you will be the Obereggeralm which is on the left of the bottom section of the Olang piste probably very close to where I think the Hubertus is.
Two good eateries half way down Alpen. One in the middle of the piste and the other very slightly higher on the left of the piste (the left as seen when skiing down). We like the one in the middle earlier in the day. The one on the left catches the afternoon sun.
The other one on the summit / Olang side that we like is Ucia Bivacco which is really on the way towards Sankt Vigilio between the Furcia piste and the Costa piste.
If the Hubertus is where I think it is then it is very handy for the lifts which are really at Gassl rather than Olang. When we stayed in Olang there were a couple of good places to eat but if you are half board I really don’t think you will be going down there to eat.
There are plenty of other places besides those mentioned.

After all it is free

Food and drink : don’t know how familiar you are with Dolomite food and drink. If you ask for a bombardino or a calimero you will get a nice warming drink. The recipe seems to vary a bit from place to place. In some places a bombardino is an espresso coffee with advocaat and cream. Drink through a straw so you drink the liquid at the bottom of the glass first. In some places you also get a shot of brandy. In some places if you want the shot of brandy then you have to ask for a calimero. But in other places if you ask for a calimero then you don’t get the espresso. It gets complicated.
Do try a lumumba or hot chocolate with rum - with or without the cream in top.
Do you know Kaiserschmarr’n? Chopped up pancake with raisins in, served with either apple sauce or plum sauce or, in this area, cranberry sauce. Very filling either as a main course on its own or as a dessert. Usually a dessert.

The other eating places we like are on the Sankt Vigilio side of the mountain. At the top of Pedaga, also the top of Piculin, there is Col de L’ Ancona - there are several cafes there at the top of these pistes but this one is a bit to one side, down a few steps, with stunning views and good food and drink.
At the bottom of Col Toron, just on the corner before the piste turns into Miara, there is a cafe called, I think, Miara Cafe but also more well known as Schnappskurve. Good food and drink.
On Miara itself there are several good spots for food and drink

Are the black runs good and steep : yes.....and no.
Personal opinions again. There are two blacks from the top of Kronplatz that go down and finish at Reischach. Sylwester and Hernegg. I really like Sylwester. It is steep enough and I think it is good.
The thing I like about Sylwester is that it is varied. Steep and then it eases off and does a few turns and then steep again.
Hernegg starts and finishes from almost the same places is steeper for longer at the start and finishes with a long fast flat stretch. Nothing wrong with Hernegg. I just prefer Sylwester.
There is another run graded as black at the Furkelpass / Furcia Pra de Peres. In my personal opinion it is really a side variation of a red. I haven’t done it for several years so I’m possibly being unfair.
Over on the Sankt Vigilio side you have Erta and Piculin. Both are steep.
Erta was used as the Ladie’s World Cup piste a couple of weeks ago.
Piculin is most definitely steep. It is one of my favourite pistes anywhere. A nice gentle start and as you come out from the trees, BAM ! you get a view and the piste falls away. Better in the morning or on colder days as it can get the sun later in the day.

Personal choices are Piculin then Sylwester then Erta then Hernegg

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Après : I am really not sure what you will get at Gassl or Olang. The entire base station has been rebuilt since we stayed at Olang. There used to be a bar close to the base station called “Toni’s Bar” but that got demolished and I don’t know what has taken its place (if anything has).
If you go down to Reischach (where Sylwester and Hernegg finish) you will get Austrian style Après at the K1 Bar at the end of the pistes from about 4.30 - 6.00 but it’s a longish drive or taxi back.

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The Blue Pistes : plenty of them. The best beginners piste I have found anywhere is Miara. There are others but Miara is long and consistent. But it is on the other side of the mountain.
It is actually quite easy to get around as most of the lifts are gondolas so you can download in them as well as upload.
So if you don’t want to ski down Olang piste to Hubertus then you can simply download in the gondola.
And to travel from Kronplatz summit to Sankt Vigilio you can ski down one of several pistes or download in the Ruiz gondola.
The easiest ski down is down Furcia. From the summit you will be given several options including red and blue Furcia. Generally stay left and it’s not so bad. After a 90 degree right turn the piste goes to Costa (blue) and if you stay high you find the Ucia Bivacco rifugio.
At the bottom of Costa you need to follow the signs carefully for Sankt Vigilio - turn left at the far side of the bridge.
Head for RaRa chair and if nervous then download in the Col Toron gondola as an alternative to the (red) piste.
Then it’s Miara.

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I hope you have a great time. I have been back every year (usually two or three times a year) for about 15 years.
Nothing wrong with Olang. I think I stayed on that side three times.
But we tend to hire a car for the transfer from the airport and then use the car to have a couple of days out and that’s easier from Sankt Vigilio.
You don’t need a car - you can take the train by skiing down Reid to Perca/ Percha where the gondola can drop you off at the station and a Superdolomiti pass covers you for further up the valley.

Thanks for all the useful info. It seems our hotel does organised day trips every week to The Sella Ronda,Cortina and Sextner Dolomoti as well using the hotel shuttle bus. My wife's a good skier and can get down most runs but is also pretty slow.

You know it makes sense.

We had a day out yesterday to the San Cassiano area. There is lovely lot of blue runs there. Between San Cassiano and Corvara.
If the Hubertus does a trip to the Sella Ronda then they will almost certainly drive to Corvara to start. If you want a day on empty blue pistes then maybe ask if you could get a lift to/ from Corvara and ski San Cassiano

Help!!

Kronplatz

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