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Hi everyone, Andy here from The Ski Gathering. In March of 2024, I was delighted to visit the Dolomites for our first ever Ski Gathering in Italy. When our survey in 2023 produced such a clear result, I set to work almost immediately sourcing a great hotel in a great location to give people what they had overwhelmingly asked for (in a word "Dolomites").
Heading out of Innsbruck Airport in my hire car, I was both excited and anxious to see what I would find when I arrived at the resort of Corvara. Within 40 minutes I was on the Brenner motorway and had crossed the border from Austria into Italy, a border that has a fairly fascinating history but more on that later. My journey was poorly planned in a sense because just as the roads got twistier and the driving got trickier I lost the light, however, I could see that the spectacular scenery that I'd been promised wasn't likely to disappoint. Passing through several resorts such as Kronplatz, Badia and La Villa, I eventually reached Corvara - the home to Sporthotel Panorama and our inaugural Dolomite Ski Gathering. The mountains were lit up like Christmas trees as the piste bashers went about their nightly work. I remember thinking to myself "There has been a lot of snow here, and I can't wait for daylight".
Corvara as a town also occupies a particularly strategic position within the Dolomiti Superski. On Corvara's doorstep are the local slopes of the Alta Badia area, and yet by simply crossing the road (which you can do thanks to a ski bridge) you can set off around the slopes of the famous Sella Ronda circuit.
| Ski Area | Piste Length | Total Pistes | Blue Runs | Red Runs | Black Runs | Snow Parks | Longest Run | Snow Making Capacity |
| Alta Badia | 130 km | 53 | 23 | 24 | 6 | 2 | 4.5 km | 90 % |
| Dolomiti Superski | 1,200 km | 450 | 240 | 180 | 30 | 30 | 10.5 km | 90% |
| Ski Area | Base Altitude | Highest Point | Vertical Drop | Total Lifts | Gondolas | High Speed Chairs | Chair Lifts | Drag Lifts |
| Alta Badia | 1,320 m | 2,778 m | 1,458 m | 53 | 5 | 8 | 25 | 15 |
| Dolomiti Superski | 860 m | 3,342 m | 2,482 m | 450 | 97 | 46 | 225 | 80 |
Exactly why did I pick Corvara? Firstly, the helpfulness of hoteliers and accommodation providers is crucial to the success of these holidays. In Michael and Maria, I felt that I had found wonderful people with whom it would be a pleasure to work, and their slopeside hotel looked like the perfect venue. So why on earth should I be anxious on my arrival I hear you ask! In a nutshell, because I'm out of my comfort zone. Our other holidays happen in resorts that I know like the back of my hand, but I had every confidence that this area was going to be incredible, and I couldn't wait to get to know it better in the coming days.
Back briefly to that fascinating history that I mentioned (feel free to skip this paragraph if I'm getting too nerdy!). I was in an autonomous region known as Sud Tirol, a region that was ceded to Italy in the aftermath of the First World War.
100 years is not that long though in the grand scheme of things. Its population are not simply Italians, and I had been told to expect a wonderful combination of influences from both sides of the Austria-Italy border.
In the hotel Maria explains to me that children here learn three languages from kindergarten (Italian, German and the local Ladin dialect), the road signs look to be very complicated, but that's because most towns have three names, and this makes the area all the more fascinating for me. The prospect of following the Great War trail on my skis is awesome (much of the front line was where we now ski) and I can't think of anywhere else in the world where I could satisfy my cravings for hundreds of kilometres of piste and historical geekery.
I now had a few days in which to give myself a crash course on the ski area (without the actual crashing, hopefully). It wasn't realistic to think that I was going to master the Dolomites in a week. This is after all the largest ski area in the world, with 1,200 kilometres of pistes on one lift pass. However, I was hopeful that, with a combination of my own research and plenty of picking of brains locally, I had chosen the right areas to explore. Anything I didn't get around to would just have to wait for next time, which hopefully won't be in the too distant future!
Wow! I opened my curtains to see the mighty Sassongher mountain that dominates the view from almost every angle. This set the tone for the near-vertical jagged peaks that I would be weaving in and out of in the coming days. The second thing I noticed is just how much snow there was, despite some people warning me that the third week of March was late to ski in the Dolomites. I was instantly impressed to see pistes that were the full width, the thick snow on some of the rooftops, and a general feeling that it was still winter. In a season that will once again unfortunately be remembered as "not a classic" Corvara looked to be doing very well indeed. I discussed this with Michael who told me that they hadn't had a bumper year but the conditions I was witnessing were perfectly normal for that time in March. With towns at 1500 and 1600 metres and so much skiing above 2000 metres, this part of the world has an instant advantage over many European resorts. Michael also reminds me that they are known as the champions of snowmaking - the reason that they can be so confident of an early December start every winter and the consistent presence of the World Cup before Christmas every year with giant slalom races in La Villa and the famous downhill in neighbouring Val Gardena (or Gröden if you prefer in German or Gherdëina in Ladin).
In town, there are three main cable cars, the Col Alto heading off in the direction of the other resorts of Alta Badia (La Villa, San Cassiano and Badia), the Borest that will take you to Colfosco and beyond to Val Gardena, and the Boe that links in to the Arabba ski area.
Anyone looking to do the Sella Ronda circuit will be able to jump onto it within minutes, irrespective of whether they wish to do it clockwise or anti-clockwise (which is better? It depends who you talk to!).
Our Ski Gathering venue, the Sporthotel Panorama, is slightly above the town and very near a blue run and a chair lift. It couldn't be easier for our guests to head out and get their ski legs back in on the wide cruisy blue runs that dominate the hillside behind the hotel. The Arlara chairlift gives easy access and the runs are generally long and wide and served by a modern and efficient lift network.
On the advice of Michael from the hotel, I set out early with an ambitious plan as I knew it would need several hours if I was to avoid getting stuck at the end of the day.
I headed straight for Armentarola on blue run number 9, where I was hoping to find a bus to transport me quickly up the high mountain pass to Falzarego. Within 30 seconds of unclipping my skis I had been ushered into a minibus to fill the last seat on that vehicle, and we were on our way.
Was this a wise decision, having already spent money on a ski pass to spend a further 8 euros on road transport? You bet your bottom dollar it was! This was a classic bucket list day and I had heard so much about the legendary Hidden Valley run that goes from the summit of Mount Lagazuoi - a stronghold that was fought over in the First World War and even has tunnels and fortifications that are visible to this day. I didn't just ascend the pass to do this one run, though, as I also had lofty ambitions to dip my toe into the Cortina d'Ampezzo ski area. The resort has been on my radar for a while and will only get more popular as it is set to host the 2026 Winter Olympics.
From the summit of the pass, I clipped back into my skis and set off on what is known as the Super 8 circuit. Looking at the map before arriving in the area, I never imagined that I would reach Cortina, but I found all of the links in this vast ski area to be smooth and efficient.
Unlike more recently created mega ski areas, many of which have been thrown together as a marketing gimmick, Dolomiti Superski has been in existence for over 40 years.
The Super 8 in Cortina is a wonderful circuit that centres around the Cinque Torri - five enormous stone pillars that rise up from the ground majestically. Words simply cannot describe the views from every stage of this circuit. The slopes are immaculately maintained, and at the summit of all main lifts you'll find a restaurant that wouldn't be out of place on the streets of many European capital cities. There is some serious money here, and I quickly realised I wasn't going to find a simple cheese sandwich easily for my lunch!
By 1:00 p.m. I found myself back at the summit of the pass, and it was time to start making my way back to Alta Badia. If you don't like heights, I'll be honest, you're going to hate the Lagazoui cable car! I'm so happy to have done it, as the hidden valley didn't disappoint. In fact nothing could have prepared me for the beauty of this area. My breath was well and truly taken away by the incredible views of stone pillars and frozen waterfalls, and in a more practical sense by a long winding red run that snakes its way down for what seems like an eternity.
After about 20 minutes, I was feeling that we must be almost at the valley floor. It was at this point that I spotted the only restaurant in the hidden valley, the Scotoni Refuge, and realised that I was only about half way down! As the gradient subsided and the craggy rock faces gave way to forestry, I reached the end of the piste and my transport back to Armetarola. I'd read about the horse tow, and it really does exist! To get out of the valley around 30 of us held on to ropes and we were towed out by two beautiful horses. I'd recommend this experience to anyone, but you'll need three Euros in cash as the elderly gentleman in charge of the horses made it clear that he does not (nor does he intend to in the future) accept credit cards! What an experience. I pick my way back to Corvara through the chopped up late afternoon snow with my muscles screaming at me to hit the sauna! It was a ski day that will live long in the memory.
It is fair to say that I knew very little about the Marmolada area before I started researching this trip, but it soon became one of the parts of the Dolomites that I was most keen to see. When a bluebird day came around, I didn't need to be asked twice to join some of our lovely guests on a trip to the glacier that sits below this mighty 3,342m peak. The first few runs from Corvara take you on part of the clockwise Sella Ronda circuit in order to access the quaint town of Araba, a town that I became quite taken with during my time in the area.
It immediately feels different to Corvara, not better or worse, just different. For me this variety only adds to the charm of the area as so many of Europe's large ski resorts look the same whichever way you turn. The wide cruisy blues, the classy shops and the fine dining restaurants of Corvara are replaced by a town that feels far more rustic, pizzerias with meals starting at just 7 euros and a network of lifts and pistes that feels like it is pitched at the more experienced skier.
The steep-sided valley is host to many long and steep black runs, most of them accessed from the high point of Arabba at Porta Vescovo. I came back to these at the end of the day just to finish my legs off and ensure that my thigh muscles would scream at me for days to come!
In the morning though, we took a straight-line approach and headed for the glacier, along with hundreds of other people who predictably had the same idea on a glorious weather day.
The lift system coped well and is largely very efficient, with the obvious weakness being a two-man chairlift, that can't be avoided if you wish to access Marmolada from Arabba over the Passo Padon. I can't help but imagine that such a key part of the infrastructure will be upgraded sooner rather than later. Once up and over the pass we cruised the beautifully prepared Padon 50 red piste all the way down the valley, following a meandering river past tucked-away eateries and grappa huts into the tree line above Malga Ciapela — the gateway to the mighty Marmolada glacier.
A three stage cable car whisks visitors up to the viewing terrace and the start point of the glacier ski pistes, but an hour-long stop at the top of the second stage was perfect in order to both acclimatise and to visit the excellent Great War museum.
I never considered just how much of the war was fought at these altitudes, although in many ways it makes sense considering the strategic importance of controlling the high ground.
Austrian and Italian soldiers fought in the snow and ice for two years before 1918 only for neither side to make significant gains — the artefacts given up every year by the glacier all contribute to the story and the fantastic museum really just underlined to me the futility of attritional warfare. After reminding myself that I was there to ski, we headed up to the highest point and with the air noticeably thin I gasped, both to catch my breath and in awe of the view. This is the highpoint of the Dolomites and the entire range is visible from the terrace above the cable car top station. In fact, you can even see all the way to the Otztaler Alps in Austria. Having clipped into our skis, we set off down the wide red Bellunese piste, the longest run in the entire Dolomiti Superski at 12km, carving turns on perfectly prepared snow and occasionally popping off the sides into reasonably deep powder. Once we had passed the beautiful Lago di Fedaia it was important to not miss the left turn to the Padon chairlift that was critical in getting us back to Arabba. To miss this commits a skier to a long round trip to both ascend and descend the glacier again, and as much as I would ski that piste every day of my life given half a chance, on this occasion we didn't have the time to repeat it!
In many large ski areas, the signposted circuits are often a damp squib with too many people following each other and more time spent on lifts and travelling than on actually enjoying the slopes.
That isn't the case with the Sella Ronda (literally meaning the circuit of the Sella mountain range) and over the years the circuit has been developed so as to remove most weak points and bottlenecks.
Skiers pass seamlessly from one valley to the next following either the green (anticlockwise) or orange (clockwise) circuit and, whilst you do occasionally dip down into the towns, the skiing is mostly above 2000m making it very reliable. I managed to get to all parts of the circuit but over different days, and am therefore probably not best placed to judge which direction is better. My initial feeling though was that the clockwise circuit offered more challenges and more time on the skis, whilst the green route may be better for anyone preferring a more relaxed pace and longer breaks. I can't wait to explore further on my next visit but already did enough to know that I love all of the different areas within the Sella Ronda, from the aforementioned steep and challenging pistes in Arabba, to the wide runs above Canazei in the Val di Fassa that are perfect for huge carved turns, the famous slopes of the Val Gardena or the sunny confidence building blue runs that lead from the chocolate-box resort of Colfosco back to our perfect base in Corvara.
Just ask! We are always only too happy to help, so what you would like to ask please do just get in touch.
Last Updated: 23 May 2024
