 Poster: A snowHead
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Has anyone been? What's it like? I believe its not that snow sure. Where's best to go for early intermediate?
Thanks again
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Fabulous scenery. What resort in the Dolomites to you have in mind? Is La Plagne/Les arcs off the menu?
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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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Don't know which resort - just looking and keeping my options open. La Plagne/Les Arcs is still a possibility. Going back to Les Deux Alpes is another possibility.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Haven't been for a long time but the dolomites are spectacular, completely different from the Alps. Not all that snow sure and some resorts not all that convenient but Cortina is a superb resort.
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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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If the snow conditions are OK the Dolomites are fabulous, but I have not been there for 20 years.I f you opt for Selva, San Cassiano, or Canazei, the famous Sella Ronda is an absolute "MUST", about a 30 miles tour round the mountains - nothing like it any where else!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Madonna di Campiglio.
Called in couple of years ago, they had been a whole month mid season without new snow but had kept the pistes fine.
Spectacular pink mountains against blue sky and white snow - scenery unlike any other Ive seen.
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jb1970...I went to Sant Caterina and had a really great time. Not only the skiing was good but great people too! It was a couple of years ago and the snow was really good, plenty of sunshine and great nights out (not too late as I am a keen skier!). I have been to LDA about 5 years ago but nothing to compare to the charming Italians....the French are a bit rude and the wind blew for a couple of days meaning that we could not ski higher up were the snow was best...go for it, Canazei is great too....this is were me and my pal will go in 2006.....have a good one. 
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jb1970, There is quite a lot of information in this forum on the Dolomites/Sella Ronda. It is a favourite of mine and I have no hesitation in recommending it to you.
Personally I would and have stayed in Arraba and have always wanted to try Corvara as a base as well - if you do a search of this forum using Arabba as the key word you will get quite a few links to previous postings in topics.
CP
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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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We were in Canazei at the end of March/start of April. Amazing deals on hotels and lift passes as part of the Dolomiti Superski promotion.
Lifts are fantastic; the Sella Ronda is worth doing. If you go flat out you could probably do it in a half a day. Does have a dodgy reputation for snow. Lots of artificial snow but when we went the sun was beating down so it was too warm to work.
As it was the end of the season it was not busy and the pistes held up although often you would be skiing next to brown and green grass. Often it was slushy. Going that late we took our chances. We were confident because we had read of the excellent snow making facilities – we hadn’t thought of the scenario of it being too warm for the cannons to work but things worked out.
We loved it as a large group with kids. The lessons were hopeless for those that had lessons. They were up and down a little button lift for about four days and despite having passes for 1,200 km they only ever did the same run again and again. My six year old went downhill from the previous year when she had lessons in Serbia. The instructor had no sense of fun and could not relate to children – strange from a woman. She was very strict.
I would like to go again some time when there is lots of snow. We were lucky - it snowed after our second day but it hadn't snowed for ages before. There was no snow down in the valleys so it was a bit weird - felt like a summer holiday until you got up high.
We stayed in the Hotel Faloria in Canazei. Would definitely recommend it for food and spacious rooms. A nice family run hotel.
Much of the area used to be part of Austria. Some parts feel quite Germanic - it doesn’t feel terribly Italian. In Selva they speak German I believe.
When we did the Sella Ronda Arraba and Selva both seemed like good bases. No idea what it is like when it is busy but out of seasons we were absolutely spoilt for choice for lifts - they were everywhere and most modern - perhaps Arraba was less up to date than elsewhere but it looked like they were building new lifts there.
Did the Marmolada glacier – I liked it – there were lots of bits of stone and rock on the piste further down. Not sure if this was due to the time of year or if it is like that all season.
Read teh poiste map - I thought Ihad read everywhere was easy - loads of blues allegeday etc but traumatised my two children the first day when we went to the top of Belvedere and had a nightmare getting them down. Mainly teh problenmm was ice but as long as you can traverse confidently breaking down steep sections you will have a great time.
Let me know if you need more info - I think I have a file still with links to info.
Search teh Guradina holiday website under "blue heaven".
Good luck!
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ps - apologies for long essay
pps - apologies for all typos - esp near the nd - must go to bed!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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A group of us intended to go last January with the guide Zeb Roche to ski the steep off-piste in the Dolomites for a week (I wrote about Zeb before - has done loads of extreme things, such as parapenting (paragliding) off the top of Everest).
Since we knew the snow was unreliable and the steep couloirs between the pinnacles are rocky, we went first to Zeb's home area (the Haute Maurieenne) intending to have Zeb drive us to the Dolomites in his van, after a couple of days of skiing on our own, if there was enough snow.
There wasn't, so we are going to try again next season, this time in March.
The idea was 3 nights in Arabba, one night in a mountain hut and 2 in Cortina.
The Good Ski Guide calls Arabba the Italian Argentierre.
However, one big difference, nobody skis the serious off piste! Zeb told us the first time he skied the area he thought there must be dangers he wasn't understanding, since they were making the only tracks. So he asked the locals: No, they said, It's fine - Italians just don't ski that kind of thing!
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