First the location.
The Dolomites are in north east Italy, due north of Venice and Trento & south of Innsbruck. They are actually part of the Southern Tyrol area and belonged to Austria until after the 1st WW when they were given to Italy as part of the carve up of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. The whole area is more Alpine (Swiss / Austrian) looking than Italian and the local people all speak both German & Italian as well as their local tongue of Ladin. Many of the street signs in most of the towns are also in German and Italian. It made me think of Lorient in Brittany where the street signs were all in Breton, French & English!
Where I Stayed
I stayed in a small village called Campitello, about 1 hour’s drive from the large regional centre of Bolzano Bozen and about 1km down the valley from the next village - the larger Canazei. Campitello is a lovely village and fantastic centre for skiing the area. It is situated in the Val di Fassa (Fassa Valley for you non Italian speakers) just below the Sella Ronda and Marmolada Peak – the highest in the Dolomites at 3,344 metres or 10,972 feet.
The village receives lots of snow and the beginner’s ski area is situated in town itself, but for all other skiers you need to take the gondola from the town centre up to the higher areas or catch a bus to any of the other towns in the region and access a gondola from one of them. Basically the ski areas are above most of the towns, but the towns are all pretty and the roofs and streets are covered in snow. The buildings all have lovely carved woodwork balconies and decorations. The walking trails are also accessed by the Gondolas and chairlifts in summer.
The villages in the valley are located at between 1000 & 1500 metres. The ski slopes are mostly situated over 2000 metres.
The temperatures while I was there averaged around plus to minus 3 degrees in the village and minus 6 or more on the slopes. I had to wear thermal leggings and several layers under my ski suit, but when the sun shone it could get quite warm!
Bolzano is also a lovely town with an historic centre. It is also the home of Otzi the Ice man – the fully preserved cave man discovered in the region several years ago. I allowed myself several hours in Bolzano on the way home, so that I could put my luggage in storage and visit the ice man museum. To my great disappointment they had closed the museum the week before for two weeks while they prepared a new exhibition, so I never got to see him. Instead I did the historic walking tour of the old town by foot and it is genuinely a pretty town. By doing the walk, I ran out of time to catch a bus to a fabulous nearby castle, but you can’t do everything! I will do photos of Bolzano as a separate blog entry because I forgot to put them in here!
My Hotel
Carnevale. I was in Campitello for the last week of Carnevale celebrations and they were different to the ones I saw in Viareggio & Venice but just as enjoyable. This year Campitello was different - they did not do their regular street parade, but instead did a big show on a stage built just for the purpose in the centre of the village. There was traditional music in fabulous Tyrolean costume, a humorous historical re-enactment of the area during the wars and a small procession of local floats including an early skier, a fake priest and his assistant going through the streets blessing people and of course the local hotel owners (including my hotel) presented their "house of life" - lots of fun plus a Tyrolean style sausage sizzle, kids in fancy dress and lots more. Sprinkling confetti everywhere is part of Carnevale. We saw the same thing in Florence, Venice, Viareggio, etc. the children in particular love it.
The Company
I booked on a guided ski week with Dolomites Ski Tours (DST), an Australian company run by Mario, who was born in Australian to Italian parents from this region. His sister still lives in Canazai hence he can set up business there because of family contacts. (Italians have lots of very strict rules about development and basically you can only build and set up a company and buy land in each village if you have family in the town – stops huge developers like Stocklands coming in and buying up everything and ruining it all. There are also strict fines and taxes if you change your mind from your stated plans. And it works – the villages still have that lovely Alpine feel – no huge modern monolithic hotels etc). I digress – sorry.
DST offers the choice of ski weeks where they provide the accommodation and you do what you like with assistance from them if required or Guided Ski Weeks where you are taken out each day by one of their ski guides – all Australians who speak some Italian (varies from basic to excellent) and live in Campitello or Canazei for the 3-4 months of the season (Dec/January – March). They have all worked for Mario for several years, were excellent in both their company and their professional approach to the guiding. I picked up the brochure at Falls Creek a few years ago and kept it in mind for this holiday. There are other guiding groups including another Australian company in the region, but DST were excellent.
The company provided transfers into Campitello (at cost), met you on arrival, and organised ski hire and ski lockers at the gondola station so you did not have to walk to and fro from your hotel in heavy ski boots carrying skis etc. It was lovely to just walk quickly and easily to the gondola station each morning, change your boots there, lock your walking shoes in the locker and be ready to go! And even better at the end of the day to come down in the Gondola, walk to your locker under the building and get rid of your boots and skis till the next morning! The company also included your ski pass in the cost of your tour. They also had very low key après ski drinks at a local bar each evening a few hours after we finished skiing – gave everyone time to shower / rest / walk round town / shop, etc before meeting up for drinks. In late Feb the people are usually around my age (40 – 60+ age group) as Australian kids & therefore the families are back at school. So basically après ski was not a booze fest but a very civilized time for a social drink and chat – very pleasant.
The people in the group this week were a very friendly lot, mostly from NSW but also a couple from Adelaide. I was the only Victorian.
The Logistics
All the Australians and New Zealanders in our group, all agreed that the best part of the “logistics” were the electronic ski passes. None of these stupid passes that you have to attach to your ski jacket that flap as you ski or ones that you hang around your neck and have to pull out to show some one every time you use a lift!!!! All the ski passes in Europe are credit card sized passes that you place in the left pocket of your jacket. They are electronically micro-chipped and you just walk through the turnstile and it beeps to let you through. It is designed to read through the jacket fabric, so you never need to touch it once it is in your pocket. It also means they do not need staff to stand and check the passes – a pain at the best of times. The turnstiles count the numbers of people passing through and just stop when each gondola has reached its limit of passengers, so you cannot have too many people on the gondolas. They resume again once the gondola has gone. The best thing about them is that you can go on to the website of the ski lift company, key in your pass number and it will tell you where you have skied, which lifts you used, the number of vertical feet you have travelled and the distance in kms that you have skied (roughly based on a calculation of the shortest distance as the crow flies between each lift). They still have towies monitoring the safety and loading of the chairlifts and gondolas etc, but the passes make things very simple and easy. They had the same system in Chamonix-Courmayeur.
We all agreed that the worst part were the queues. Unfortunately we caught the last week of school holidays for northern Italy (dates vary between regions here), Germany, Holland & Denmark, so the gondolas were packed!!!!!! Once on the slopes it was not bad, but the queues for the gondolas and some of the chairs were appalling, especially in the morning to get on the slopes and in the afternoons to head back to town. For those of you with long memories think of Falls Creek before Halleys Comet, ie when there was only the Eagle Chair or the Summit T-Bar to get you over the top. Now double the queue!!!! In addition the attitude of the Italian and German teenagers is aggressively pushy and not pleasant, but a few strategically placed elbows and poles can soon let them know what is acceptable. In the quieter parts of the season or on bad weather days, this would probably not be a problem, but we had beautiful weather all week, so everyone came to ski!
The other horrible part is the lack of order for getting on a gondola – there is no such thing as a queue and taking your turn. Once through the turnstile it is just a mad push & shove to the front of the loading area so that you can get on a gondola as soon as possible. For the small gondolas (8 – 12 people with seating) it is a real scramble. The towies just make sure no-one falls, but there is no such thing as controlling the queue! For the large gondolas (100+ people) the turnstiles let the maximum limit through and then everyone just mills around the two entry gateways and make a mad rush to get on as soon as the doors open. I found it was easier to wait for them all and then be one of the last on. Although you had to squeeze in, you at least had a window (the doors are glass? windowed at any rate) to see through and you were first off!
Chairlifts and pomas worked like home – you just sorted yourself into groups. However there were some lovely things about their chairlifts – they had several 6 seater chairs which moved the crowds quite quickly, but every chairlift regardless of size had foot rests for skis – so much more comfortable, and several chairs had pull down bubble lids that protected you from wind and snow. We all want them back home!!!! We didn’t need to use them this week, but we all tried them out once and they were so easy to use and would be fantastic on bleak weather days. Also there were a few interesting chairs that did a full 90 degree turn after you got on or before you got off, rather than the usual opposite. They felt quite strange, but worked okay.
Two other points: 1/ Helmets - These are compulsory for all kids under 14 years of age, and the great majority of older skiers also wear them. It is amazing how popular they are in Europe and most of the faster and best skiers in our group also wore them. They all said they were very comfortable, not too hot and well ventilated. I am not yet convinced because I hate hats / helmets of any kind but things may change! 2/ Snowboarders - There were very few snowboarders in Europe. I noticed this at Chamonix and the Dolomites and was told in both places that they are losing popularity very quickly in Europe! Coral & Heather you will be pleased!!!! This is for a number of reasons, although no-one is clear exactly why. I think it is partly because snowboarding is more akin to surfing and Australia & the USA have a strong surfing culture which crosses into snowboarding in winter. Europe does not have surf - full stop! Also the Europeans really like very smooth well groomed pistes (runs) and the snowboards carve them up too much. I am also told and agree, that skis actually give you more flexibility and are easier to manipulate on flatter ground between runs and on lifts etc. Whatever the reason, it was very noticeable that skiis were far more popular, even with young kids and teenagers.
The Skiing – Finally
The skiing was brilliant and more brilliant and fantastically brilliant and superbly brilliant, etc – get the idea??!! I was told Italians generally do not like off piste skiing, so they have millions of runs all groomed to perfection and going everywhere within the valley. There is however plenty of excellent off piste areas for those who do like it. Most runs averaged between 3 or 4 kilometres and we did a few at around 6kms. Note the longest run in Australia is about 2.5kms. Some of our runs back home would not even be considered a run over here -it would just be the link from getting off the chair to the start of the run or to another chair. All the runs, except the beginners area back in town, are classed as blue (lower intermediate), red (advanced intermediate) and black (advanced). We skied a mixture of all 3 levels. Even the black runs did not seem difficult. When first looked at they were steep, but once on them the skiing was great.
The other fabulous part was that all the ski areas along the whole length of the Fassa Valley are linked by either ski runs, ski lifts or in some cases the free ski bus. This means you have thousands of square kms of ski runs to explore and it would take weeks to do them all. We skied from one valley to the next. The nearest example I can give is as if we had linked the whole of the Bogong High Plains between Hotham and Falls with runs and lifts and then linked that area to Mt Buller which would give you so much more ski area. Don’t panic walkers & cross country skiers – I am not advocating that for home. I am just trying to give a picture of what it is like to have all these ski areas accessible by skiing!!!! I will show those of you who are interested the ski map when I get home, or you can look up the area on the web.
My favourite runs were Ciampac and the Men’s Downhill Course for the Italian World Cup (both black runs). Ciampac is a 6km run from near the top of one ski area back down to the valley bottom. It is classed as a black run and the closest I can say is it is like Little Buller Spur only much longer, the steep bits are steeper, the plateau bits shorter and there are curves and corners as well as straight sections. The Men’s Downhill is like a steeper version of Ciampac. It is the genuine downhill course. Tomba and the Olympic skiers ski the whole thing in approx 1.5 to 2 minutes and reach speeds well over 90 - 100 kph. We probably averaged 10 minutes to ski it and at one point we were skiing around 40 – 50kph. It definitely felt faster than when I ride my bike fast and it was a fabulously exhilarating feeling. My third favourite run was the 10km (yes it was 10kms) run down from the refugio on our overnight ski safari – see below. An easier, cruisy run that went through spectacular scenery and just went on and on – fabulous!
We skied in groups of about 5 – 7 skiers. The guides grouped you according to your stated ability, who you came with (ie kept friends together where possible) and how much skiing you wanted to do. For example there were two men aged in their mid 70’s who could both ski very well, but would only last the morning and preferred to stop skiing after lunch (if I can ski as well as them when I am 76 I will be very happy!). One of the women who had a bad knee (a result of polio when young) joined them for the first few days and then joined our group when she realised she could manage more skiing – but she often sat out a run, or finished a bit earlier than the rest of us. Unfortunately DST were short some guides this week as Mario the boss, had been knocked over by a client a few weeks previously and ended up with a broken collar bone that was taking a while to heal (he actually skied home - several runs – after the accident as he didn’t want to be taken to the hospital in the other valley – he is reputedly a brilliant skier!) and some of the other guides had various business affairs they needed to attend to; so we ended up combining some groups. The first few days there was the slow morning only group, the mid level group that I was in and the fast group who were all faster and more confident skiers than my group. However my group picked up so quickly that the last 3 days we skied together with the fast group as one large group with 2 or 3 leaders. I heard 2 of the guides chatting in the Gondola on the way home on the last day and he said how nice and unexpected it had been to ski with such a large group (9 / 10 of us) as we had all kept up and kept together and skied fast, so the guides actually enjoyed the skiing as well! I felt quite chuffed that I was part of such a competent ski group!!!
For the guided ski week, they said you needed to be at least advanced intermediate and they were right! Everyone skied parallel the whole time (not a stem to be seen), everyone attacked the slope – you did not have time to look and say oh no, I can’t do it, etc you had to go. On some of the steeper mogully slopes, I told the guides that I would wait till everyone else went so that I had room to move, which I did, but I found once I was on the slope that I just had to go or I would lose sight of them and not know where to go (there were often junctions of runs so you had to keep someone in sight so you knew who to follow and where to go). The guides would wait for you at the top of the slope, tell you where you were going, and where to aim for (eg left side of the slope, turn right at the restaurant etc) and then either wait for you at a difficult junction / point of interest or at the bottom. For some of the longer runs (4/5/6kms) they would often wait along the route to give everyone a short break – sometimes your legs needed it! But if you didn’t keep some of the skiers in your group in sight, it was easy to take a wrong turn – there were often so many runs and options. A few of the people in my group often said they followed me because my green was so easy to find!!!! I often followed a 68 year old lady, a lovely skier, who wore hot pink ski pants – because they were easy to see. When I say followed, we weren’t in a line like ski school – we chose our own route etc – you just had to keep a person or two in your line of sight. The guides also included a “sweeper” in the group, ie a 2nd guide who would ski at the back to make sure we didn’t lose anyone or to help anyone who fell.
We had very few falls I must say. I had everyone laughing the 2nd day, because the cloud came in for a little while and made the light very, very flat so you couldn’t see the surface of the snow at all. I was so busy looking for Peter, the guide, (who had suddenly turned a corner) that I didn’t see that I had reached the end of the piste and skied straight into a knee high snow wall that marked the edge of the slope and came straight out of one of my skis and landed flat on my face. The person following me of course did the same thing because she did not have time to see the wall either! Fortunately no injuries – just a very snow covered Pam and a good laugh by everyone concerned! The only other fall was on a mogul slope when I was trying to avoid someone who turned in to face me and I clipped the back of my skis on a lump of harder snow as I turned. A simple fall and once again no injuries. Given how much more skiing I was doing and how much harder and faster I was skiing than usual, I was very surprised and pleased that I did not have more falls.
I have to say I was average level for the group, which both pleased and surprised me as I thought I might be a weaker member of the group, but I definitely wasn’t and I kept up with everyone without trouble even on the steep and mogul slopes, in fact sometimes I even overtook people. It was really good to be forced to just go, as then you concentrate on the skiing rather than stressing about whether you can do it. My skiing improved out of sight over this week and it was a fabulous opportunity to ski with a group of similar level or better skiers, over a huge terrain and to really build up confidence. My leg strength also improved over the week. Runs that I needed to take a rest on early in the week, I skied without stopping by the end of the week. I was skiing black runs much faster and more aggressively than before, but with far more confidence and control!
We did not have any powder this week as it did not snow, but there are times when they have a big dump and there would be plenty of opportunities to learn and practice powder skiing – I am keeping that for another visit, as I didn’t really master it at Chamonix. I also definitely have a trip to Canada on the agenda as I am told reliably that that is the best place for good dry powder snow.
The only other thing about the skiing, is the scenery. While you are skiing these fabulous runs, you are surrounded by the peaks of the dolomites and the amazing rock faces. In nice weather, it is just blue sky, white snow and brown rock cliffs with picturesque little villages dotted in the valley below, and it is awesome! In bad weather I could imagine it being quite horrible and scary, but we were lucky. Several of the runs had little chapels on them and one fabulous run even had an historic medieval castle to stop and look at!! The run was actually a road down to the village in summer and the castle was on the old trading route from Venice to Austria. It was a lovely castle from the outside, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to explore the inside.
There were lots of runs down through the pine trees which would be more sheltered and would be the ones to ski in bad weather.
The guides tell a funny story – when Mario met his wife, many years ago now, Donatella who came from Campitello, and had been skiing since she was a child, did not own a pair of goggles and saw no need for one! – because the Italians do not like to ski in bad weather, so they never had need of them!! I have to say that I usually only wear goggles in bad weather, but we were skiing so fast that my eyes kept watering and I ended up wearing them on several sunny days!
Eating
This is a very important part of any holiday and DST looked after us all very well. As stated above, my hotel provided just bed and breakfast and they provided an excellent and typical European buffet breakfast – fruit juice, cereals, yoghurt, fresh fruit, various breads, cheese, ham, hard boiled eggs, jams and cake, and your choice of beverage. It was very easy to have a good breakfast and you definitely needed it for each day’s skiing.
We usually stopped for morning tea somewhere on the slopes. Morning tea was usually just a hot drink and toilet stop, but gave everyone 20 minutes to have a rest etc.
Lunch was always eaten at a restaurant, and the guides knew all the good places on all the slopes and in the different villages. There are hundreds of places on the slopes. Almost every run had restaurant or bar on it, so there was never a problem finding somewhere to eat. For the walkers – all these places are open in summer as well, as walking is the most popular activity in the area. We all usually just had one course at lunch time and it varied from soup to pasta to specials of the day. As we tended to split the bill, you soon learnt to order a reasonable meal or you would end up paying for a very expensive entree. Anyway you were usually ready for a meal by lunchtime! We usually accompanied lunch with a glass of wine / beer and lots of water. If the place was really good, a few people would order a desert. Lunch was usually very leisurely – we could spend over an hour each day sitting back and enjoying the meal and chatting. Every place on the mountain had spectacular views and because the weather was good, we always sat outside so we could eat and enjoy the scenery.
Some of the accommodation options included Dinner Bed and Breakfast. I am glad I didn’t take that option as the people staying there had to disappear promptly at 7.00pm each night so they wouldn’t miss dinner. They always said the dinner was lovely but huge and after the lunches we had each day, they didn’t always want such a big evening meal. Also it meant they never got to try all the other lovely restaurants in town.
I joined up with a lovely couple from Adelaide who ski Falls Creek every year (I will be meeting up with them this August so that we can ski together at FC), a guy aged 68 from Canberra and sometimes a group of 4-5 people from Sydney. We had dinner at a different place each night. The food was a mixture of Italian pasta dishes, pizza and German style soups and main dishes. Examples include goulash soup, soup with large German style dumplings (mushroom, spinach, or liver – all beautiful), pasta with venison ragout, the most enormous pork shin bones I have ever seen – usually two people shared one of these! Some places also specialised in fish and I had a lovely fish meal one day.
Local wines were very nice – the reds tended to be fairly light but were very fruity and easy to drink. The local white wine that I tried was lovely – like a really fruity Riesling. It was called Muller Thurgau. The bar where we went for après ski also served a lovely hot apple cider which I had several nights. One of the lunch places specialised in a homemade herbal based digestive (after dinner drink) and it was excellent. Gluwein was available in some places but was not as common as I expected.
Daily Routine / Hours of Operation
The ski week was designed around a full days skiing every day for 6 days (Sunday – Friday inclusive). So believe it or not I was up at 6.30am every day and met up with everyone at the Gondola on time every morning. It was a struggle, but I managed it! The first few days we met at 8.30am, but as the week progressed and the crowds got worse each morning, we pushed the start time earlier each day. By the last day we met ready to go at 8.15am. It was a struggle for me and I managed it but only just!!!! Amazing how good skiing can motivate you!!!!
By the time we battled the gondola queue and got up to the slopes, it was usually 9.00am (the gondola usually started between 8.00 – 8.15am). We then skied pretty solidly till 10.30 – 11.00am when we would stop for morning tea, then another solid hour or hour & half’s skiing before stopping for lunch between 12.00 – 12.30pm. Lunch usually went till 1.30ish and we were always back on the slopes by 2.00pm ready for another hour & half solid skiing. We usually finished the day between 3.30 – 4.00pm. One day we skied till 5.00pm.
It may seem like short skis punctuated by long breaks, but in fact we needed the breaks because we skied very hard. Because the runs are so much longer you spend far more time skiing and far less time in queues than in Australia.
When added up we would always get in about 4.5 hours skiing at least. Many people did that at home in Australia, but they often did it as a big rush in the morning or a full on afternoon. This way we did it over a more leisurely time frame and really enjoyed it. The regular breaks meant we never got too tired, which meant we skied better for the whole day. It was very civilised!!!
As said earlier, we would usually finish around 3.30 – 4.00 and then had free time until 6.30ish when après ski was on. The first few days I spent looking around the town, but half way through the week, the Adelaide couple invited me to join them for a quick drink when we got off the gondola, so I did that first, then went for a much needed rest and spruce up before heading back for the après ski. The guides joined everyone for après ski and it was a very pleasant civilised drink and chat with everyone before heading out to dinner around 7.00 – 7.30pm.
Most of us were in bed by 9.30pm, straight after dinner, as we were all tired by then and we knew we had to be up early the next day. I often read in bed, usually far later than I should have and usually ended up with less than 8.00 hours sleep which was rather silly of me -but it didn’t stop me – even sillier!!! Two mornings I got woken up even earlier - at 6.00am! – by a rather loud Italian guy in the next room who insisted on having a telephone conversation to arrange the days plans as soon as he woke up!!!!!!!! I could even hear the guy on the other end of the phone. Needless to say I was not impressed. A few thumps on the wall quietened him down, but didn’t stop him. – My only complaint I might add.
The only changes to this routine were the first Sunday when we had an early finish so that we could come down to watch the Carnevale celebrations in town. They were a lot of fun with lots of different characters to what I had seen in Viarreggio and Venice. The other exception was for the Overnight Ski Safari – see below.
The Scenery
I don’t even know how to begin. Every time I turned around a new and more spectacular view stared me in the face! This whole area beat Chamonix Mont Blanc and the area around Grindelwald, which is saying something! Maybe it was just the perfect weather and lots more snow? The Dolomites are part of the Alps and has jagged peaks and ridges, but is more famous for its dolomites - huge plugs of rock that stick up above the peaks and form stunning rocky outcrops that tower above the ski runs / walking trails. One chair lift just headed straight for the rock – you felt like you were surrounded by cliff face. A lot of the gondola stations are located on the peaks of these plugs and you ski off the back slopes, because the front of them are sheer cliffs. The rocks glow in the sun – the light and colour are fantastic – a photographer’s or artist’s dream!
Between the peaks are huge wide bowls or valleys that are wider than anything I have seen in Australia. The saddles, ridges and passes that separate each valley or ski area are spectacular.
I was there in the last week of Feb. and they had not had snow for 2 weeks, but there was still up to 3 metres of snow in the higher areas and the whole of the ski areas still had plenty of snow, even though it was beginning to disappear off the slopes around the towns lower down. The ski fields were truly a white wonderland.
The main feature of the area around Campitello is the Sella Ronda (round saddle) - it is a circular outcrop of several peaks. One of the famous skis in the area is to downhill ski right around the Sella Ronda in a day. It can be done. I went on the Ski Safari instead (see below), but given the crowds it was unlikely we would have achieved Sella Ronda all in a day anyway. Still over the course of the week we skied many of the runs that comprise the circular route
Scenery in the Dolomites
Overnight Ski Safari (cross country skiers and walkers take note)
One of the optional extras offered by DST was an overnight ski safari to the Lagazuoi Refugio atop Mt Lagazuoi (2,752 metres high); many kilometres from Campitello. The idea is that you down hill ski your way from Campitello across several valleys and take two short bus connections to reach the gondola at the base of Mt Lagazuoi. You then spend overnight in this refugio and ski back home the following day via a different route.
It is one of the highlights of the trip and one of the best things I have ever done. It is like a downhill version of a cross country tour. It would be possible on cross countries, but you would have to be able to ski competently downhill on your cross country skis and also manage chairlifts on them.
Mt Lagazuoi is a very prominent peak and was part of the battle front between the Austrians and Italians during World War One. It was a very tragic area as the Austrians held the high ground on top of the mountain and the Italians held the valley below and as no-one could really go anywhere, they had to sit out the front for 17 months between 1915-17 with no-one gaining ground and thousands of men dying from exposure and hunger. Over 400 men were killed by an avalanche. 1916 had one of the best snowfalls / worst winters in years with over 10 metres of snow falling, so think of those poor men trapped in canvas tents and tunnels they had dug into the rock face surrounded by 10 mtrs of snow for no purpose and no outcome at all !!!!!!!!!!
We left Campitello at 8.30am, but unfortunately struck the worst lift queues Anthony, our guide, had seen in 6 years of ski guiding!!! They were horrific. One queue alone took us over 40 minutes and another over 30 minutes. This set us back a good hour & a half, so we were behind the 8 ball all day. In addition we missed a bus at the first connection and had to wait an hour for the next one and at the 2nd connection the bus was so crowded we had to let it go and wait half an hour for the next one. The 2nd bus ride included 17 steep, narrow hair pin bends which the bus driver took one handed while talking on his mobile phone!!! This is very common in Italy. Still he was an excellent driver and he did a beautiful job of stopping suddenly and smoothly and reversing back slightly when we met a car at the apex of one these bends – very impressive driving from both the bus and car drivers.
The safari is a long way and you have to catch the last gondola up to the Refugio or you are stuck, so all these holdups meant something had to be compromised!!! Fortunately our group of 8 people all got on really well and we all happily agreed to basically give up our lunch stop and make a late morning tea break both mng tea and lunch, eaten rather quickly. This saved an hour. We also had to sacrifice the extra downhill skiing time we would normally get when we passed through the Civetta ski area. Usually the groups have time to do 2 or 3 good ski runs as they pass through this area, but unfortunately we didn’t – a shame as the runs and the surrounding scenery both looked fantastic – but we had to keep moving.
However, we did not sacrifice the highlight of the route out there – a ski through a narrow gorge that is absolutely spectacular and able to be walked and cross country skied as well. The track is very narrow, the walls of the canyon incredibly high and steep – at one point you can touch both sides of the canyon wall with each hand, it is so narrow. The walls are full of frozen waterfalls (Phillipa you would love it) and many ice climbers climb up them. In fact we saw an ice climber making his way up with ropes, crampons, ice picks etc. I may like adventure, but that is definitely not for me!. The rocks in the creek that runs alongside the track are huge and all had a huge white snow cap on them so they looked like big white mushrooms. The gorge is approx. 3 kms long and one of the most spectacular places I have been too.
The other highlight going out was the chairlift on the Fedare area not far from Lagazuoi. This area was a huge bowl shaped valley surrounded by steep rocky cliffs and seemed to go for miles in all directions from the lofty heights of the chairlift. I wished I had taken my camera out before we got on the chair, but I hadn’t realised how spectacular the ride would be, literally across the whole length of the valley floor. Unfortunately it was too awkward to manoeuvre the camera out once I was on the chair, so I have no pictures – you will just have to take my word that it was magical.
Fortunately we reached the gondola base in time to take the 2nd last gondola to the top. The gondola goes almost vertically straight up the face of the cliff front of Mt Lagazuoi and is a spectacular ride. Once there we walked another 10 metres higher up to the refuge, where we stored our skis and boots in the allocated area of the basement, put on the free scuffs they give you to walk around in for your stay, and made our way to the ground floor, where there is a bar, a dining area and a fabulous outdoor terrace area that provides 360 degree views of the surrounding peaks and valleys. It really was like being on top of the world. I spent ages outside taking photos and was close to giving myself frostbite on my poor toes only covered by my thin ski socks and the toeless scuffs. Still I made it back inside in time and warmed up with a lovely gluwein.
Up on the first floor were all the 2 bed bedrooms and the 3 shared bathrooms / toilets. There is one shower in the refuge, but as they have to cart all their water up to the refuge, they charge 4 euros for a shower and we all decided that we could do with out. We skied up there with just a small day pack containing, toothbrush and paste, a change of underwear and socks and that’s about it. I of course also had a book!!!! There are also two bunk rooms in the basement that sleep 8 or 12 people. Fortunately they were allocated to a rather large and noisy group of Danes and Germans, so we didn’t hear them once we got to bed. I shared my room with Florence a lovely American woman in her early 60’s who was great fun and easy to be with.
A very nice three course dinner and house wine is provided as part of your fee and also a full buffet breakfast.
One of the main highlights of the trip is to watch the sunset over the snow capped mountain peaks and it truly is a magnificent sight with lovely sunset colours and glowing clouds. You can also get up early to watch the sunrise which can be equally magnificent. I set my alarm for 6.00am, looked out the window, saw that it was a nice sunrise, but not spectacular, and decided that sleep was far more preferable so went back to bed for 45 minutes! The refuge provides excellent heating and very warm doonas. It is a long way from our mountain cattlemen’s huts / refuges on the Bogong High Plains.
After an excellent and civilised breakfast we set off to ski back to Campitello at 9.00am. First we detoured 150 metres to check out the tunnels dug out of the cliffs by the Austrians during WW1, but unfortunately there was too much snow blocking the entrance door and we could not get inside.
We then had the first of the 2nd day highlights – a 10 kilometre cruisy ski all the way down to the valley at the back of the mountain. We stopped en route to investigate a lovely little wayside chapel and some more frozen waterfalls, but the ski itself was the highlight. No where in Australia can you cruise at a comfortable speed downhill continuously for 10kms. It was fabulous. In addition the track is fully groomed each night and we were the first ones down, so making fresh tracks on the snow made the skiing magical. At the bottom of the run is a short chair and run which leads to the next highlight, a genuine rope tope pulled by horse drawn sled. It was very different and lots of fun, but a bit chaotic getting organised. The Danes had followed us down the mountain, so there was a large group getting towed. Basically the sled driver lets out several long ropes with knotted loops at equal distances along the rope on both sides of the rope. Each person grabs hold of a loop, so you are standing in pairs with the rope between you. Keep your skis straight. The driver hops up on the sled and the horses set off at quite a brisk pace. The tow goes for 1 or 2 kms and takes you along the flat valley floor (difficult to ski and very tiring to pole all the way) to a new valley where you begin the real ski home.
We stopped in a lovely town called Corvara for lunch at a 4 star hotel. The meal was excellent. Then on our way again, so we could beat the crowds we had encountered the day before. In the end looking at the slopes nearer home, Anthony decided that they were far too crowded and the lift queues would be too long, so we caught an 8 seater taxi (there are lots of them in this area) part of the way and had a few last skis to the gondola that took us back down into Campitello.
Overall the trip was an experience not to be missed – absolutely fantastic. Anthony said that one year, they got over a meter of snow overnight and 3 of the girls on that trip freaked and said they could not ski in fresh 1 mtr deep powder snow, so they had to stay there until a taxi could get through and caught a taxi for much of the way home. It cost them several hundred euro. We were very lucky to have such fabulous weather and snow.
The Refugio was full as it is a very popular goal for skiers. You need to reserve your place at least a few days in advance. I would imagine it is the same in summer.
On the road to Lagazuoi; the village of Settagotto, which had the most amazing wood carvings through the streets and on the buildings in town, then the canyon with the frozen waterfalls - note the ice climber, and the mushroom shaped snow covered rocks in the creek.
Views of the front face of Mount Lagazuoi. The gondola up to the refugio is circled in red. the gondola station is the lower building and the refugio is about 10 metres higher to the left of the photo.
At the Lagazuoi Refugio
Skiing down the 10km run - Pam at the start, the ww1 tunnels, more frozen waterfalls near the start, Anthony & Karen outside the wayside chapel, L-R Karen, Ed, Peter, Florence, Roger on the piste, the horse sled rope-tow.
Finally the sunset photos and the very last one is just after sunrise
Cross Country Skiing / Walking
There are several designated cross country ski areas in the Fassa Valley and lots of other opportunities to explore the area on cross-country tourers. The tour described above could be done on cross country skis, but you would possibly need to change part of the route to accommodate a downhill run that is too steep. It would also be nicer to do it over several nights with overnight stops in some of the towns visited on the way there and back and 2 nights up at the refuge.
This was a guided downhill week and DST is a downhill ski company, but there are plenty of mountain guides and cross country guides in the area for those who want.
There are also plenty of these refuges on the area, so there are tours that take in visits to several of them.
In summer, the resort is even busier than in winter, and if the walking I did around Montreux & Grindelwald is any indication, the walking in the Dolomites would be absolutely fantastic. The scenery is amazing, there are trails everywhere, and there are refugios and restaurants everywhere as well, in addition to all the little villages dotted up the valleys. There would be a mix of easy to hard walks and you could even do something like the safari described above but over several days. I am not sure about all the camping sites, but there was definitely a camping ground in Campitello. However, given the quality of the refugios, I think it would be far more pleasant to walk from Refugio to Refugio or town each day, have a lighter pack and enjoy more comfortable accommodation. The walking will challenge you enough.
So the challenge is on – who else is going to come to the Dolomites winter or summer? I really hope some of you get to experience this magical area.
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