Italian Dolomites and French 3 Vallees – a few more personal comparisons

A snowHead

harriet, which resort out of interest ?

A snowHead

pokemon, are you refering to my most recent trip to austria/germany or up and comming to my dads? in germany and austria this year ahrwald,hausberg,biberwank , and correct me if im wrong theres a big stamp over the lift pass but looks something like horne bahn or horme bahn ???? (baisically zugspitz arena and zugspitz classic with the exception of one or two as we went somewhere different every day ) that was in germany with a rickety old lift that took about 40 minutes to get to the top and only like 2 runs ???? i dont know exactly which bit of the dolomites yet as thats in my dads control of aranging all that for my birthday Little Angel

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

You need to Login to know who's really who.

FORZA ITALIA

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I have been following this thread with interest and think that the Sella Ronda area might be the best chance of giving my non-skiing Mrs an enjoyable holiday and my 20 somethings the chance to switch from boards to skis. Where is the best venue for beginners and non-skiers, with a particular emphasis on everyone being to meet up for lunch? I would be quite ???happy to forego my skiing interests to get them all motivated in a good venue. Any thoughts.

You'll need to Register first of course.

harriet, sorry I meant the Dolomites...just curious to see which resorts people go to

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

DavidYacht,

If you can ask all of them to meet at the restaurant next to highest station of the Tofane cable car. Seeing the wide valley of Cortina Ampezzo in a sunny day is priceless.

The highest point of Dolomites is Marolada which can be reached by two cable cars from Malga Ciapela but I do not know if there is a restaurant at the top though. One can ski from this 3342m peak down to Malga Ciapela.

There is also a cable car at the top of Passo Pordoi to go up Piz Boe but again I do not know if there is a restaurant at its top. No piste run indicated there so I suppose a restaurant should be available.

Lagazuoi cable car top (start of Hidden Valley) has no restaurant.

After all it is free

saikee, Has the refuge Lagazuoi not got a restaurant? I thought it was a restaurant aswell as a refuge. When we visited in June, it was low season so it wasn't open. But thought it might be in the ski and summer season.

Christopher, there is a restaurant at Lagazuoi, just above the cablecar station, but Rifugio Scotoni is a better place to stop.

saikee, there is a restaurant at the top of Sass Pordoi and at the top of Marmolada cablecar.

Here they all are:

Rifugio Lagazuoi

Rifugio Maria al Sass Pordoi

Rifugio A. del Lago (Marmolada)

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

And now for some picturesque mountain restaurants, some of my faves:

Rifugio Scotoni, Hidden Valley

Baita Daniel, Seceda area, Val Gardena

Utia de Trausines, above Corvara

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Thanks everybody for all your help with info regarding lifts, villages, accommodation ect, I,ve just booked in Corvara, last week March. I cannot wait! Very Happy

snow reports

If you have own transport going there in late Mar should enable you to access the various areas with less risk of the snow closing the passes.

Each of the 12 areas of Dolomites has its own piste map which you can request during your visit. The common sketch of Dolomites in every area piste map does not provide the sufficient details but it is good to show the relative positions and the concentration of lifts.

DaveMcSki, have a good one! Very Happy

You know it makes sense.

luigi,

Nice pictures!

Is it possible for SH like DaveMcSki to drive to Scotoni to try the meaty BBQ lunch or the horse drag of the Hidden Valley if her wife finds going up a cable car and skiing down the long red run too much a challenge? Somehow I feel the Hidden Valley could be very enjoyable for them.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

luigi, you missed the one at the top of 5 Torri: best hot chocolate I've ever had.

A snowHead

saikee, You can buy (about £7 in the UK from Stanfords) a "proper" piste map of the Sella Ronda area. It is a normal map (contours, roads,crags etc.), with pistes overlaid on top. One side 1:25000 scale of just the Sella Ronda itself, the other side 1:50000 scale of a much wider area. For anyone used to being in the hills with proper maps it is much easier to navifate than from normal piste "maps" which are not-to-scale drawings.

A snowHead

DaveMcSki thats the week im going too!!!!! look out for some kamikaze english Laughing

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

harriet, I dont have rear view mirrors on my skis! Very Happy

You need to Login to know who's really who.

RobinS,

I must admit being puzzled by the amount of local area maps, doubled as the ski map, sold at some shops around Dolomites when the proper piste maps are free.

Visitors don't need to have a ski pass to get the official piste maps which are generally left outside free to anybody at the ski pass offices and some gondola stations. I was never refused when I went to a new area and requested a couple of piste maps from any of the ski pass office.

What it amazed me was for the first time I could get a "poster" size piste map from Arabba ski pass office. I have one fixed to a partition wall at work. The posters were not folded but in a straight gross sheet free to anybody visiting the Arabba ski pass office.

An "official" ski map always has a 3D map showing all the runs and lifts of that area as well as the plan. The only trouble is to carry one for each individual area and that becomes confusing when I did the World War I skiing tour which passes Arabba, Cortina, Civetta and Alta Badia.

Despite the attempts by every resort to economize by reducing the size of the piste map those produced for the Dolomites are still the best and among the largest in the Alps.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

luigi, Nice photo. I've only been there once a couple of years ago but plan to go again this year. Only a week on Saturday and I'll be back in Arabba Very Happy

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Done the Dollies three times; simply superb every time. I haven't been to 3V yet; I am definitely going this season and it will have to be pretty special to surpass the Dollies.

After all it is free

I think the big difference is that the Dollies are towns amd communites that are as busy in the summer as they are in the winter. The 3V are purpose built. I love driving around the Dollies in a car. The towns are in the valleys, with churches, real bars and people etc. It also means the pizza place doesn't have to cover their fixed costs in a 12 week period so the food costs are incomparible.
There's also no comparison with service. In the Dollies you're gonna likely get a locql worker in a family business with a bit of a pride. Not a gap year dude or dudess who is either hungover or 'stoked'

Austria offers something similar with ski Amade ect.
If I were in my 20s it would be the 3V. In my forties
The Dollies everytime.

Although the Dollies have the best snow making in the world, it is lower and sunniet. Late skiing - April is a risk and can be slush everywhere except for the few pistes above 2500m

I wonder how much the skiing experience in the Dolomites has changed since this thread was first posted almost a decade ago?

I imagine the lift system and snow making have improved massively. It’s only 3 years since my first visit and those features were already strong by then.

Although infrastructure across the 3V has also improved since 2010, I sense the change has been slower. They started the noughties from a pretty strong base though. Overall costs have risen relatively more than standards of service, in my experience.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I notice I posted on this thread 10 years ago. What I didn't say was the Sella Ronda is mostly very easy, broad pistes. If you want some more challenging pistes stay at Arabba. There is some exceptional, steeper off piste skiing, especially steep gullies, but you really need a guide to find it.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

There is (was?) a book in English and Italian "Freeride in Dolomiti" by Francesco Tremolada, with 100 routes described and with photos.
Above is the famous Val Mesdi, the most skied off-piste route which cuts across the ring of the Sella Ronda, starting at the Pordoi cable car: ski straight ahead, crossing a gully (with other routes going off right and left - and you can see a steep, narrow gully you can walk up to above the left hand route) walk up ahead for a while, then skin up left, heading for the left-hand end of the mountain cliffs ahead, (or instead skin straight on up and ski left along the foot of the cliffs) and Val Mesdi is just over the top, (or the gully I mentioned back down to the left). But really you need someone to show you (and obviously don't do it alone). If you cross the first gully and climb up further to the top of the mountain ahead you can ski briefly over the back to the left left, then climb up a bit left and there are a couple of wonderful gullies which rejoin the Val Mesdi a short way down (see below, you can see some skiers in the valley bottom and the skier is Horizon). And there are a number of other amazing routes you can walk to from the Pordoi cable car.
But I hope it is obvious you really need a guide. You could try booking the guide who wrote the book!

Fabulous picture, @snowball - but I won't be looking for a guide. wink

I love the wide and well groomed pistes with great restaurants..... It does seem that a lot more of us have been going to the Dolomites - in my case because of the SHs birthday bashes. The only reason I've not been in summer is because I had my own place in a beautiful corner of the French Alps. Now that I don't, and once Covid permits, I'll definitely be heading to the Dolomites in summer, probably on an e-bike tour as my health no longer allows me to do any significant uphill under my own steam.

You know it makes sense.

Hi Pam. The Dolomites are fabulous in the summer with lots of well marked footpaths, some right up high, starting from mountain passes you can drive up to.
These were taken in early July (In the first, the group of rocks directly ahead above the cliff is the back of the Cinque Torri, where we were heading. You will recognise the location of the second, above pistes you will have skied in the winter, near Passo Gardena where we parked. (You can see where an off-piste route breaks through the cliffs ahead (I think it's the Val Mesdi). The third is around the corner from Cortina (heading North East). We rowed on the lake (Lago di Braies) which is North of there.)

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@pam w, plenty of lift uplift for Bikes in the Dolomites. We were due there lastbJune and are due to go out mid June (fingers crossed), delayed from last June. I've an emtb, which I adore, but I'll be sticking that on the lifts.
Routes for all abilities, and youtube is a joy for seeing what is available.

A snowHead

Yes, mosts of the main lifts are open by late June and some earlier.

A snowHead

Jumping in here. Where would you say is the best location to stay in the Sella Ronda for access to the widest selection of slopes and off piste?

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

It depends on exactly what you are looking for. And at what level of challenge.
I would say pretty much all of the Sella Ronda gives good access to piste skiing but some towns / villages give better access to different types and extent of skiing via various offshoots. Corvara to the valley I call Edelweiss (not sure if that’s its correct name), Selva / Val Gardena / Wolkenstein to the Seiser Alm / Alp di Suisi area. Arabba and Canazei to other valleys / areas that go off at a tangent (for example across to the Marmolada). All a matter of what else you are looking for

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Roman Abramovich skis in Courchevel. George Clooney skis in Cortina.
Pretty much says it all.
3V - Mcdonalds. Dolomites more Pizza Express.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

If you want more challenging pistes and the Marmolada stay at Arabba and you are also well positioned to go to the Pordoi cable car for steep off piste routes, or to drive to Cortina and Cinque Torre.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Really interesting thread, and some stunning photo's - I've never skied the Dolomites but it's on the list to do soon. Not sure the thread needed to be done as a Dolomites vs. 3 Vallees comparison, especially as the OP starts from a position of... "As with regard to 3 Vallees I wouldn’t mind not going back again." Maybe it should have focused on being a 'I think the Dolomites are under-rated because..." - which he references later.

That said, that's just me being picky! Like I said some interesting comments and lots of useful info!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I think I have read a comment on another thread in the last few days. Three Valleys in your 20s with more spare cash (even if it doesn’t feel like you have more spare) and Dolomites in your 40s when it’s more relaxed and less frenetic.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t do the Three Valleys at other stages in life, nor the Dolomites either. But each have there own attractions to different people at different times.

After all it is free

I've skied the 3 valleys perhaps 8 times and the Dolomites only once. However, I've been to the Dolomites perhaps a couple dozen times. I like both. They are very different. To me the 3 Valleys offers excellent skiing, good summer walking and a single. worthwhile Via Ferrata. The Dolomites offers OK, but mainly not very challenging skiing, a lot of very good Via Ferrata and IMHO the best rock climbing in the world. So every winter I spend a 3 or 4 weeks skiing in the Tarrentaise (Les Arcs mainly) and a couple weeks in the the Dolomites during the summer. The pleasures of being (mainly) retired Smile

@pam w, you really do have to go in the summer, but try and avoid the Italian holiday around August 15 when it gets rediculously busy. The footpaths are very well marked and a popular activity for many tourists is to get a lift up fairly high then take a gentle stroll to a restaurant for lunch. Some footpaths such as those around Drei Zinnen are very busy. Indeed one busy August we couldn't even get into Misurina due to the very heavy traffic volumes.

I thought this really exemplified the difference between the Dolomites and the 3V:

In 3V, if you ski off a lift and anything gets in the way of you sailing gently, gravity driven from there into the gate of the lift of your choice, it will be marked down as an issue and the problem shoveled, bulldozed or blasted into shape come the Summer.

On the 'Sella Ronda' which is the big ticket route that everyone knows and is determined to do... in both directions, there was a gentle blue run down towards Arabba. About 2/3 of the way down U would reach a barricade of yellow crash pads and signs telling you to remove your skis. "Surely we're not there yet are we?" As you crossed the road, skis in hand, U would wonder why there was no snow bridge over the road, like there would be in the 3V on such a major high profile route, or for that matter like the one U could see just up the hill to your right. Then, as U rejoin the piste, U think "hmmm, perhaps I'll take a moment for a coffee in this conveniently located snack bar?"
Having shelled all of €1 to €1.50 depending upon your choice of preparation and given a few free crisps on the side for good measure, U have a moment, as you nod to skiers passing by, to ponder the quality of life and realise that whoever owns the snack bar probably has rights over the land and the last thing they want is for everyone to zip past at 30mph ignoring them.
The thing is, in the 3V, a round of coffees has such an economic impact that you'll not be stopping unless it is inarguably coffee time! Whereas in Italy, each coffee stop is just a chance to enjoy the moment, a good-natured welcome warm-up for the next one... until it's lunchtime of course.

That snack bar isn't there now: they finally settled a deal and built a chairlift over the road. There are plenty of other little idiosyncrasies remaining though, the service is just as friendly and the coffee is still just as cheap.

I love the 3V for its professionalism, sophistication and efficiency.
I love the Dolomites for the chilledness, friendliness and lunchiness.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Help!!

Italian Dolomites and French 3 Vallees – a few more personal comparisons

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Resort Reviews and Trip Reports