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Zoldo (Dolomites, Civetta Ski Area) Review

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
We stayed in Zoldo between 27 Dec 09 and 3 Jan 10 (ie between Christmas and New Year).

By way of background, my girlfriend and I met up with a group of eight friends. We had some excellent skiers (ex-racer, ex-seasonaires, Swedes born with skis on), an excellent boarder, with everyone else being a good skier (ie happy to go down black runs). We are all in our late 20’s, early 30’s.

Sitting at 1400m, Zoldo, is a small, charming place, very Italian, and part of the Civetta ski area with 80km of piste. The only English speaking people we came across were those who had also booked with Simply Dolomiti, so take your Italian phrase book!

SKIING:

The ski area is stunning, as you would expect in the ‘Dollies’. Sitting on the lifts is a pleasure when you've got those views to admire. The local skiing is pretty good too. I'm happy on any piste and there was enough there to keep me entertained for the three days I stayed local (well two and a half days, as I can’t count New Years Day as a full skiing day!).

Highlights are the red run down to Alleghe - (longer than it looks on the map), with some fun steeper sections, and the reds down to Pescul. The night skiing is excellent fun too on a nice wide, cruisey red that you can really open up on and a steeper red (classified as black) - not many places you can get first tracks twice in one day! The night skiing is open from 7pm to 11pm so plenty of time to fill your boots if you haven’t done enough skiing during the day, and generally quiet.

I’d have explored the trees a little which are accessible enough, but the days I was in resort the vis was poor or the snow was old and rain crusted, and the off piste base wasn’t fantastic for that sort of thing in any case.

The main point to note about skiing in Zoldo and Civetta generally is that it’s so quiet. We were there between Christmas and New Year, and there was a third of the number of people as I was expecting, especially midweek. Outside the Christmas period, I reckon you’d almost have the place to yourself! The pistes stay in good condition throughout the day but on flip side, because there aren’t huge numbers of people, there are more two man chairs than you’d like. However the longest we waited in a queue in the Civetta area for the whole week was 10 minutes, so not a problem, with a lot of the time there being practically no wait at all. I pretty much walked straight onto the gondola every morning.

First lift was at 08:30 with last lift before night skiing at 16:30.

I went on three day trips on the SuperSki pass, twice to the Marmolade (one sunny day - majestic, the other grim weather, very flat vis, but lots of snow - good challenge!) and the third was the World War One route, the ‘Grande Guerra’.

Getting to the Marmolade is simple enough, a free 20 min bus ride from Alleghe (the ski over is a great warm up), and well worth doing if it’s sunny. The views from the top after taking three consecutive cable cars is breathtaking.

The WW1 route for us (Zoldo, Pescul, bus to Cinque Torre, Lagazuoi/ Hidden Valley, Arabba, Malga Cipella/Marmolade, bus to Alleghe, Zoldo) is doable from Zoldo if you are a quick, fit skier, get the first lift, and you stay focussed on getting round. The last lift out of Alleghe to get back to Zoldo was 15:45 for us which left little time to get round, especially as we did a couple extra fantastic red runs in Cinque Torre, which meant we were a little late getting to Lagazuoi/ Hidden Valley, and had to queue for 40 mins. We also had an excellent boarder with us, but she inevitably struggled on some of the longer flat sections on the route.

If you weren’t starting from Zoldo, you’d be able to relax more as you wouldn’t be under the pressure of getting the last 15:45 lift out of Alleghe.

It is worth doing though, as you cover so much ground and it’s a great tour. The Hidden Valley is worth doing by itself. Be sure to stop at the frozen waterfalls just after the rifugio, and the horse drawn tow at the bottom is still childishly good fun!

FOOD AND DRINK:

The food in resort and up the mountain is fantastic value, especially when compared to the French Alps. The food is simple but good, and the recurring dishes were - pizza, pasta (obviously), rare beef steak, goulash, polenta, and strudel.

On New Years Eve, we ate at Deny Pizzaria (opposite the road that goes down to the gondola) and for main (not pizza), dessert , wine, shared side salads, coffee, limoncello and tip the bill came to just over €25 a head.

Al Lumin further up the hill was a bit more expensive, but the food was really good, and the waiter knew a bit of English so helped with the menu translation (apparently 'Bambi' was on the menu!). Their Cumin Grappe was also the smoothest and best tasting of the trip.

Christian Pizzaria was also excellent value, with giant salads on offer should you feel the need for a meal without cheese, and 'red' beer at €4 for 400ml, but at 8%!

‘On the mountain’, the quality and value of the lunch at Palma was really good, but boarders beware the long drag back up from there.

A hot white mulled white (vin brulé €2) or expresso (€1) at the little café at the bottom of the gondola is a perfect way to relax at the end of the day.

In the evening, the Stube dal Patriarca , which is most similar to a British pub atmosphere we found, had some decent live music, but otherwise we made our own entertainment (aka eating and drinking!).

There was also a sports bar and a bar/club called Zoo bar, but didn’t get round to visiting them - not for any particular reason (apart from being ‘old’ and tired from day and night skiing).

If you’re self catering two small markets within easy walking distance.

ACCOMODATION:

We stayed in the Garni Pecol, a B&B which was good value (can you spot the theme here?). The rooms were smallish, but tidy and comfortable, had nice views, Italian TV, and had quite a large terrace, which we didn’t make use of. It was a 10-15min walk from the gondola, depending on how fast you walk with skis - not really a problem. The highlight though was the breakfast room, which was relaxed, large, had comfortable seating, a bar (bottled beer €2), excellent coffee and a FIRE. On one evening we struggled to get into a restaurant (booking recommended at this relatively busy time), but we ordered take away pizzas, and they were happy for us to have them in there.

Breakfast was pretty good, if predictable - cold meats, cheese, variety of bread, fried eggs, fresh apricot jam filled croissants (nice with Nutella!), tea (ask for the milk) and coffee, yoghurt, orange juice, and cereals.

Marco, the manager, speaks a very little English, but both German and Italian, if that helps.

WHO WOULD I RECOMMEND ZOLDO IT TO?:

- The value of the place just cannot be ignored, so anyone looking to save a bit of cash would do well to consider Zoldo.

- Mixed ability groups would also do well to come here, as there is plenty to offer everyone, although this is not a destination if you’re looking for full on, black mogul skiing. We were a pretty good group ability wise, and we didn’t feel let down.

- This would be a fantastic destination for long weekends. The area is large enough to keep you going for a couple days locally, with perhaps one day trip and with the night skiing you can really ski all day. Transfers from Treviso was about 1 hour 45 mins to Zoldo on a private transfer. Going on the Dolomiti Stars transfer only takes you to Alleghe / Caprile, so an extra leg for the 30min trip over the pass would have to be organised to Zoldo.

- The families who were there with us also seemed to have a really good time, and their apartment (brand new, with 4* hotel facilities available) and other hotel accommodation was well received.

- Anyone who likes to ski on quiet pistes, in stunning scenery! As it is off the Sella Ronda circuit, there’s no through traffic… Brilliant!

- If you’re one of those crazy cross country skiing folk, there are some of that there too. (I’m not one, so know nothing about it!)

WHO WOULD I NOT RECOMMEND ZOLDO IT TO?:

- Those looking to meet other Brits! Not really any other Brits to speak of.

- Those who are not skiing. Off mountain entertainment is pretty limited. The 4* hotel does have a pool and spa, and there are a couple ‘tat’ shops which would take 10 mins to explore, and the obvious ski shops.

- Those looking for big Apres - again entertainment is a bit BYO, but you do have the opportunity to make it, and there is the club/bar ‘Zoo’.

- Those who want immediate access to the Sella. (To me, a free, warm 20min bus ride to the Marmolade, or 30 mins to Cinque Torre isn’t an problem, and gives you time out to enjoy the view. There’s always night skiing to catch up on the skiing time spent on the bus!)

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The red run (42) coming back into Zoldo from Alleghe can be a bit daunting for some at the end of the day if you’re tired, as it does see more use than most. Downlifting wasn’t a problem though (lift 32).

I would have liked to have eaten up the mountain and night skied, but couldn’t get everyone organised to do it!

Didn’t get to the snow parks either…

There are loads more trees around than the piste map would suggest. That really helped on the really poor vis day. There are some very accessible tress to ski through (basically a few trees dividing the piste) between runs 22 and 23, down from M Fernazza. A bit of fun!

Some of our friends stayed a couple extra days in Venice, which we thought was a nice idea.


HOW WE DID IT:

Booked through Sue at Simply Dolomiti, paid our money to ‘Not So EasyJet’, and done! We actually went through Milan Malpensa, as the flights were so much cheaper that way, we could afford to spend cash on a hire car and visit a friend on the same trip. We travelled to Treviso by car, then picked up the transfer bus.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
hum3, wonderful post - could almost taste the pizza, the grappa, the lemoncello!!! Re cable car for Hidden Valley - do you know if it tends to have a queue in mid pm? I'm intending to head there from Arabba in 2 weeks and was pondering Cinque Torri for a bit and then ?Hidden Valley earlish pm but would rather avoid major queues...
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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?
I've been to the Hidden Valley twice in the last 12 months (in February 09 when we stayed in Selva) and this trip, and both times the queues were pretty long ~ 40 mins. I think in Feb, we got there late morning, and this time early afternoon. It's just such a popular trip (including the travel companies) especially in good weather, so gets a bit rammed.

I would imagine that the queues would get better as the day goes on, but you'd still have quite a long way to get back to Arabba so be careful!

I would have liked to stay longer in Cinque Torri, but we had to press on!
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
If your keen to do the Hidden Valley and Cinque Tori from Arabba, I would recommened getting a bus or taxi from Arabba, so you get there early, as it'll take you a good couple of hours to ski there once you've fought for a taxi in armenterola, and by that time the hoards will have arrived too. This should give you plenty of time to do Cinque torri and then ski over to the lift at Lagazoi. The link between the two is relatively new so won't be marked on all maps, but is easy enough to find. Don't forget to check out the refugio half way down the Hidden Valley, its well worth a stop!
From Armenterrola it shold take you 1-30 to 2 hrs to get back to Arabba (depending on how fast you go and how much you queue), so if you go early you'll have plenty of time to ski in Corvara or Pralognia before heading back to Arabba!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
BUMP

I have looked at the Dolomitistars route from this year and it would now appear that it does actually go through Mareson/Zaldo Alto route now as well as Alleghe, can anyone confirm this.

And it would be good to know if there is a winter bus service running from Mareson/Zoldo Alto to Agordo or Caprile, I am sure there will be, but can anyone confirm.

Thanks in advance for all the well informed replies Very Happy Very Happy .
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