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Dolomites 2019/20 News Unofficial Thread

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Thanks for the info! We will probably ski back down from the Sella Ronda side into Canazei anyway, have a drink and then bus back so it's just the getting up in the mornings!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Google street view is such a wonderful resource.. !

https://tinyurl.com/vts2uq4 --- Shows both base stations ; spin 90 degrees to your right and you can see the bus stop


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Thu 19-12-19 11:01; edited 1 time in total
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Fridge03 wrote:
Thanks for the info! We will probably ski back down from the Sella Ronda side into Canazei anyway, have a drink and then bus back so it's just the getting up in the mornings!


FYI Evidently that run can get very cut up and busy at the end of the day, last year we were warned off it by the rep but walked up to the end from Canazei centre late one afternoon just to take a look There were lots of people walking down and a queue for people to get enough space to take their skis off at the end of the actual piste. There were a few English voices complaining about how bad it was so we avoided and just used the lifts. That was early March so might be better in a Jan. There is a network of little streets with a few bars in just at the bottom though
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red 27 wrote:
@Fridge03, One's a double decker that takes about 150 punters (up to the Sella Ronda)


I have seen the Col Di Rossi lift described a couple of times as a double decker but having ridden it a few times, I am convinced it is not double decker!

Did I miss something; is my memory playing tricks on me?

Yes there are two cabins, similar to traditional cable car arrangement although I think it is not a traditional cable car. But I think each is single deck?
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@SteveM, yes sorry, you're correct of course. It just reminds me so much of the Vanoise Express that I think of it like that
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@red 27, snowHead
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Alta Badia have posted up this years start of the season video. It always reminds me how beautiful this place is:


http://youtube.com/v/327hZntWzxM
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Anyone heading to Alta Badia or Kronplatz area via public transport will be pleased to know that the rail line between Fortezza and Valdaora is now reopened after the November storms. Work still continuing to reopen the stretch between Valdaora and San Candido.
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Anyone know where I can find an up to date bus timetable for the trip from Cinque Torri over to Pescul & onwards from Allege to Malga Ciapela? I can't find a current version online
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Just seems to be an Italian only site

https://dolomitibus.it/it/linee-stagionali-invernali


or

https://www.altabadia.org/en/winter-holidays/italian-alps/first-world-war-ski-tour.html

scroll down for bus time-table link
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Much appreciated. Alleghe gets rave reviews from Snowheads so looking forward to visiting for the the first time very soon
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@GingerWizard, it’s really nice to head over to Civetta. I think we got the bus from near the Marmolada gondola station. We skied over the back of Civetta then took a bus to Cinque Torre.
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That is exactly what we plan to do. Just trying to work out where best to catch the bus in Cortina, where to get off in Cinque Torre etc. I think the bus leaves the main bus station in Cortina and we need to get off at Bai de Dones before skiing down to the Fedare Impianti to catch the bus over to Pescul
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@GingerWizard, I don't remember all the names but I guess we did it in reverse to you. We started in Corvara then headed to Arabba, over and down to the Marmolada gondola station. I remember we spent a bot too long skiing in Civetta (really nice). We then took a wrong turn at Cinque Torri and by the time we got to Lagazuoi we were the last two on the slopes. The guy with the horses kept is waiting, hoping for more custom. We hit the gondola home just in time. Fab day!
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Can anyone give me an itinerary for where to ski in Cortina? I’ll be there for 2 days later this month. Staying town. Group is 3 strong skiers so we can cover a lot of ground quickly. Info like which side of the valley to start on in the AM, recommended pistes & lifts, & lunch spots would be welcome. It’s a bit spread out and I’d like to have a rough plan for our route. This assumes that the weather cooperates and we have acceptable visibility and lifts running. Current plan is to ski as much of Cortina as we can on day 1 and head to 5 Torre and Civetta on day 2. We will be based in Corvara after that and on territory that I know. Suggestions welcomed.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
choucas wrote:
Can anyone give me an itinerary for where to ski in Cortina? I’ll be there for 2 days later this month. Staying town. Group is 3 strong skiers so we can cover a lot of ground quickly. Info like which side of the valley to start on in the AM, recommended pistes & lifts, & lunch spots would be welcome. It’s a bit spread out and I’d like to have a rough plan for our route. This assumes that the weather cooperates and we have acceptable visibility and lifts running. Current plan is to ski as much of Cortina as we can on day 1 and head to 5 Torre and Civetta on day 2. We will be based in Corvara after that and on territory that I know. Suggestions welcomed.


The usual advice is follow the sun...so Tofana side in the morning as it faces broadly East and Faloria/Cristallo in the afternoon as it has a broadly western aspect. Though both sides demand a full day really to do them justice.

Could you do two days in Cortina and do Cinque Torri & Civetta from Corvara on the WW1 Tour?

If you can do two days, start at Socrepes to get your ski legs back, work your way up the levels to the reds (inc the Olimpica Womens Downhill) around Duca d'Aosta/Pomedes, then head over to Col Druscie to catch the cable car up to Ra Valles which can be chilly, so best left to afternoon, but has the best snow and some nice reds. The black that drops out of here is one of the steepest runs in Cortina.

On the other side, best to hit Cristallo first thing as it catches the sun facing partly S, ideally starting from Rio Gere up to Son Forca, red 73 is my fave run in the whole resort, my son and I spent all morning doing laps on it. Pretty empty too, as it's least accessible from town. Rio Gere restaurant has great food, but the views are fantastic from the hut at Son Forca.

The Faloria side has some great runs, reds & blacks, with great views across to Cristallo and Tofana across the valley.

A worthwhile little area is Misurina/Col de Varda, the frozen lake and the interesting variants off the 2-man chair there show it be the kind of place that a true lover of the sport must have mapped out. Great for a couple of hours last thing, almost totally deserted even in Feb half-term.

You rarely get bad food in Italy, Italians (who are the main customers in Cortina) won't put up with it. Cortina can be a bit pricier than some places due its well-heeled clientele, so you might want to glance at the menu before ordering at the fancier people-watching hotspots like the Duca d'Aosta.
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Luigi, Exactly the info I was looking for. Thank you very much. Yes, we could do 2 days in Cortina. I’ll keep that in mind as we see how the weather works out. We’re coming from the US so, day 1 is always a bit of an unknown. Great info to work with. Much appreciated.
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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?
jimmybog wrote:
So, it does look like on Alpe Di Siusi, they have created an alternative easier slope through the trees to avoid the black off the Mezdi wall.
The new slope is to the left of the top of the Mezdi chair as you look uphill. It goes through the trees, then veers sharp left and then right onto the original track down to Sanon hut.
The top section of the orignal track to Sanon, which veered right off the black slope, now looks closed.
From the new slope, where it veers right to Sanon, I cant see if you can still go down to the bottom of the Mezdi and Sonne Chairs; but I guess you still can!!


A video posted on youtube this week shows the new alternative slope off the top of the Mezdi chairlift in Alpe Di Siusi. Shows the slope going right, under the Mezdi chair, through the trees and then turning sharp left back towards the main mezdi slope. After a bit you can turn sharp right onto the connection to Sanon hut or continue down to the bottom of the Mezdi and AL Sole chairs. Though I must say, the new section of slope where the Sanon connection veers off, still looks too steep for beginners. Not sure if its the video camera itself giving the impression of the slope being steep or if its just me.
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Evening all,

So counting down the days to our first ever Dolomites trip. Just the 14 sleeps to go! I've been asking questions and reading the forums in interest to best prepare ourselves for the week, to get the most possible out of the area. We are a group of 6 strong skiers, who go out first lift and come home the last. We are going to be be based in Penia, Val Di Fassa so our closest lifts are in Alba.

I've got a few ideas below of what we'd like to achieve but after any must do areas/experiences etc that I may have missed that we can include as well.

Sella Ronda: Obviously, going to have a go on the famous loop! Which way round is the most preferred as we may only get to go round once.

Ciampac down to Pozza: Going to spend a day exploring this side of the valley. Been told the black down the Ciampac lift is a good one as well as the black and red down to Pozza from Buffaure. Do people recommend heading down the road slightly from Pozza to Pera and having a play around the pistes out the back?

Hidden Valley: Ski to Armentarola (via Arabba) and catch one of the minibus taxis on the main road up to the Falzarego Pass, where the cable car takes you up to Lagazuoi, where the Hidden Valley run starts. Is the red back down to the lift a decent run? Been recommended lunch at Rifugio Scotoni, 2/3 of the way down? At the bottom the horse tow takes you most of the way back to Armentarola. How much are we looking at for the taxi and the horse tow?

Marmolada Glacier: Obviously another must do! I've seen that the Bellunese red run all the way down is recommended? We will probably combine this day with playing around Arabba as well (or am I seriously underestimating the time needed?)

Selva Val Gardena: We want to have a play around Selva as the runs look a bit more challenging than Corvara way. Any runs of interest around here that we can't miss out on?

So that's 5 of our 6 days sorted! Obviously all weather permitting!

How long does it take for reasonable skiers to get back from Selva or Arabba without stopping? Just so we know what times in the afternoon we should be aiming to start making our returns.

Thanks all!
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@Fridge03, I should be exploring most of those areas next week, so will post a few observations. Possibly not until I get back.

Comments for now:

The skiing around the sector you’re staying in I found wonderfully cruisy and quiet. Good modern main lifts too. Something of an overlooked underrated sector IMO.

Orange way round Sella Ronda. More skiing, fewer lifts. Wouldn’t bother doing t’other way. To be honest the circuit is overrated but good for the ticklist.

Hidden Valley. If any possible way of getting transport to Lagazuoi cable car by 9am, I’d strongly recommend doing that. Then you have time to explore the Cinque Torre slopes too, before eventually heading down the Hidden Valley. Definitely worth doing for the whole experience. The skiing itself down the valley not that good IMO. Better around Cinque Torre. Not hidden well enough to keep crowds away!

Your plan for Marmolada sounds good. A highlight for me. Allow plenty time to go up to observation platform, on a clear day, and be blown away by the panoramas. Couple of decent blacks down to Arabba.
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Posted elsewhere -- 6 euros for taxi and 3 for the horsie
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For your spare day have a cruse around Alta Badia
Easy day of cruising
Only other thing I will add is keep an eye on the forecast particular the wind
We got stuck on Selva side for a bit last year when they closed the high lifts for a while both ways Shocked
We did make it back to Arabba ok in the end but a bit of a worry for an hour or so, Circuit had been open both ways when we set off without warnings re possible issues
Keep an eye on the info boards as you pass them at main lifts
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Fridge03 wrote:
Evening all,

So counting down the days to our first ever Dolomites trip. Just the 14 sleeps to go! I've been asking questions and reading the forums in interest to best prepare ourselves for the week, to get the most possible out of the area. We are a group of 6 strong skiers, who go out first lift and come home the last. We are going to be be based in Penia, Val Di Fassa so our closest lifts are in Alba.

I've got a few ideas below of what we'd like to achieve but after any must do areas/experiences etc that I may have missed that we can include as well.

Sella Ronda: Obviously, going to have a go on the famous loop! Which way round is the most preferred as we may only get to go round once.


How long does it take for reasonable skiers to get back from Selva or Arabba without stopping? Just so we know what times in the afternoon we should be aiming to start making our returns.

Thanks all!


Hi,
had our first trip to this area last year, one strong skier (wife) and one significantly less so (me). We were surprised how quickly you could get around the SR, it's not a day trip by itself. We did it both ways on different days with excursion to Ortisei second time once we were confident of our timings. Just looked at my ski tracks data and ties in with my recollection that if you consider it a square it took us roughly an hour per side, this excludes lunch breaks etc but was a leisurely pace and we didn't know the route, can't remember how busy the lifts were (note our rep did it three times in a day for charity once but said it nearly killed him).

It took us under an hour from Canazei to Selva and about an hour from Canazei to Arabba. So you could do Selva orange and come back via the SR in a day and probably Marmalada and SR green another day. I'd do the anti clockwise route if doing Marmalada to get there early to avoid the queues or allow time to do another run of Marmolada and come back the short way if required. Pop into the small museum at the top of the Marmolada, it's sobering.

We enjoyed the run down to Ortisei from Seceda, it was quieter over that way and the scenery was lovely including frozen waterfalls and deer.

Rifugio in the hidden valley was heaving when we were there mid/late afternoon, we did it via a day trip with the TO to Cortina and HV. This time we are following PeakyB's advice and driving to Lagazuoi, parking and covering HV and Cinque Torri but are staying in Corvara with a hire car so it is easy. Would be a full day if trying to get from Val di Fassa to HV and back as there will be a bit of hanging around for taxis, lift queues and of course horses...

we'll be in the Dolomites 3 weeks tomorrow Happy
R
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@richb67, Have a good one snowHead
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@richb67,
Re the hidden valley rather than drinking to the top
We’ve done it where you drink to armentola the car park where you pick up the taxi - get there for about 815 and you will be up the top and on the first cable up - then the refugio is great for breakfast or ski the 5t and then head back - saves you a cab at the end of the day.

Also back to the main thread if you like a black do the grand risa World Cup giant slalom.

The key thing it’s all bloody great which is why we’re on this thread and not something about la plagne
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Great advice all! Thanks very much.

The Cinque Torri area looks like a bit of good fun so may have a look at that as the option when doing the Hidden Valley!
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Thanks @Hugoc good idea.
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If you look on the Dolomiti Superski insta Account and cortina2021 you will see the new lift has opened up to tofana. Today along with a new piste on the cinq torre
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You know it makes sense.
Anyone had any experience of the Cortina Express to Treviso Airport? Looks like the bus stops outside Venice Marco Polo airport but the Treviso stop seems miles away from the airport. Any Snowheads know how we get from the bus stop to the airport?
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Fridge03 wrote:


Selva Val Gardena: We want to have a play around Selva as the runs look a bit more challenging than Corvara way. Any runs of interest around here that we can't miss out on?



There are some nice reds under the Dantercepies gondola. The one on skiers' left (from the top) can get a bit cutup by the end of the day but it's not that bad. Of course there's the Saslong WC course, A and B -- do it early. I personally love the Seceda -- the top is all red with one short black. Great spot to lay over some GS turns. Easiest way to get there is from the bottom of Saslong, take the underground railroad (yes, really) to Col Raiser gondola.

One area to avoid, esp. if it's crowded, is the transition area between Plan Gralba and the top of the Saslong run (top of Ciampinoi bubble lift). There are 3-4 runs that get shredded really fast into an unpleasant combination of boilerplate and soft berms.
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 Poster: A snowHead
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Pasigal wrote:



There are some nice reds under the Dantercepies gondola. The one on skiers' left (from the top) can get a bit cutup by the end of the day but it's not that bad. Of course there's the Saslong WC course, A and B -- do it early. I personally love the Seceda -- the top is all red with one short black. Great spot to lay over some GS turns. Easiest way to get there is from the bottom of Saslong, take the underground railroad (yes, really) to Col Raiser gondola.

One area to avoid, esp. if it's crowded, is the transition area between Plan Gralba and the top of the Saslong run (top of Ciampinoi bubble lift). There are 3-4 runs that get shredded really fast into an unpleasant combination of boilerplate and soft berms.


The black that is to the right just as you head off towards the reds under Dantercepies Gondola is a nice run. It would be red in most ski areas IMHO, no real steeps and quite wide. You can cut off this to join the Dantercepies run about 3/4 of the way down or keep going to the Val chair ( no. 25 ).

As for runs to be aware of, red 5 from the top of Ciampinoi down to the Plan de Gralba gets cut up, bumpy and quite often littered with skiers who wished they had taken a different route! We always plan to do this one early in the day if we are heading out towards the Val di Fassa or Sellaronda green route from Selva.
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CP wrote:

As for runs to be aware of, red 5 from the top of Ciampinoi down to the Plan de Gralba gets cut up, bumpy and quite often littered with skiers who wished they had taken a different route!


But there is not really any better feasible route if you are making the circuit and are at top of Ciampinoi, is there?
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SteveM wrote:
CP wrote:

As for runs to be aware of, red 5 from the top of Ciampinoi down to the Plan de Gralba gets cut up, bumpy and quite often littered with skiers who wished they had taken a different route!


But there is not really any better feasible route if you are making the circuit and are at top of Ciampinoi, is there?


Quite right I can't think of an alternative unless one can cut round to the right of the top of the gondola and pick up red 6 - is this possible?
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Yup you can go round the other side, take what is labelled as red 4 on opensnowmap, and then pick up red 6. But in reality all you're doing is swapping a reasonably wide bumpy red that's strewn with skier incapable of skiing bumps for a narrow bumpy red. It's definitely a feasible route, but whether it's better is subjective.
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GingerWizard wrote:
Anyone had any experience of the Cortina Express to Treviso Airport? Looks like the bus stops outside Venice Marco Polo airport but the Treviso stop seems miles away from the airport. Any Snowheads know how we get from the bus stop to the airport?


I'm 99% sure that the bus from Cortina to Venice, stopped just beside the A27 motorway for Treviso airport drop off. And then another bus/shuttle/mini bus took passengers from the drop off point to the actual airport. I'll check with the Wife tonight to see if she can remember and if I'm wrong I'll post an update.
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andy wrote:
Yup you can go round the other side, take what is labelled as red 4 on opensnowmap, and then pick up red 6. But in reality all you're doing is swapping a reasonably wide bumpy red that's strewn with skier incapable of skiing bumps for a narrow bumpy red. It's definitely a feasible route, but whether it's better is subjective.


Alternative is to get the chair from St Christina up to MOnte Pana. Then the MOnte Suera chair up. SKi down to Tramans chair and then up. SKi down the red past the Vallongia hut and down to Plan De Gralba.

Or just catch a bus from Selva to Plan De Gralba, though they are not that frequent. Never understood why the ski bus stops at Plan rather than continue to Plan De Gralba. Guess there is very little demand for it to continue further
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That's quite a diversion to skip 100m or so of lumpy red.

Just looking at the map again, and there seems to be a path indicated as piste C, which links the top of that lumpy red 5 (on the right) and the bottom of the black run from the Plan de Gralba cable car coming back down to the vallongia rifugio. Can't say I've ever noticed it before, but I can only imagine that that's swapping a wide bumpy red and a narrow bumpy option for a really narrow path with a steep hairpin.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
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@andy, That's not an actual piste (are you looking at opensnowmaps?) - it is a footpath used during the summer. I have often looked at it as an alternative, but never used it. You can see it better on the 3d map - doesn't look very inviting..!
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andy wrote:
Yup you can go round the other side, take what is labelled as red 4 on opensnowmap, and then pick up red 6. But in reality all you're doing is swapping a reasonably wide bumpy red that's strewn with skier incapable of skiing bumps for a narrow bumpy red. It's definitely a feasible route, but whether it's better is subjective.


I have skied the 'green' route many times and always taken red 5 - will definitely try the alternative when we are back in Selva in March just to see what it's like. Narrow, bumpy and quiet is preferable to wide, bumpy and busy which red 5 is usually.

But it's all good as we well know in the Dolomites snowHead
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Quick question: Is it possible to ski from the top of Lezuo lift (#124) to the top of the Col di Rossi -- Alba lift (#130)? I tried one time but could not figure it out. It looks like you can on the trail map but I ended up skiing down to the Pecol -- Col di Rossi lift (#102) to get there.
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