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ALta Badia guides out of Corvara run what they call their Weekly Program.Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Profane
http://www.altabadiaguides.com/eng/W...age_8_953.html
Register by 7pm the day before. Itineraries look promising; I have no experience with this.
Now we're talking. Thanks.
My wife and I got into a guided group (4 of us in total) the night before in Val Gardena. We went with Ivo Rabanser from Gardena Guides and did a traverse of the Sella Massif from Pordoi to Val Setus. Decent price from what I recall.Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Profane
Thanks again for all the info. Been here for two days. Skied Schemmalm yesterday with some friend from Germany which was fun. Reminded me of a Tyrolean A Basin. So chill and reasonably priced with beautiful views. Wine is €1.60 per glass on the mountain. Dolce vita!
Today we skied the sellaronda counterclockwise and sent some time exploring side lifts. Had a few good off piste turns above Arraba and out of this world views. The expanse of the terrain here is hard to wrap my head around. 490+ lifts all connected. You get on top of something and every ridge line as far as you can see has a lift or tram or gondola running up it.
Will get out for some touring tomorrow. Maybe Marmolada or something near San Pelligrino. No two ways about it, the Dolomites need snow right now. Fingers crossed for later this week.
Nice. Enjoy. Yeah, ridiculous how cheap good wine is. Beautiful place.
Where are you sleeping? Like it?
Staying at Hotel Gran Mugon. It is a pretty sweet place with a friendly family that runs it and an onsite Michelin star restaurant, but a bit removed from town. I'd be bored if I were here solo, but it is great with a friend or SO. Solo room + breakfast at the restaurant is less than $70 per day. The food here is some of the best food I've had in recent memory. They make everything here from scratch- yogurt, jams, pastries, pasta, gnochi. It's really impressive.Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Profane
If you eat dinner here they ask for your order at breakfast, then prepare a 4 course meal for you that is ready when you are back from skiing. It costs 20 euros for dinner, but you can get a package if you book the hotel direct.
Edit to add- the family is very into skiing and ski touring. They've been a great resource for local info on where/ what to ski.
Wow. Just wow. Thanks.
How do you get back and forth to skiing?
We rented an AWD diesel Volvo V90 wagon with snow tires in Milan that we've been driving around. The hotel has a free shuttle service, but they also know where you can park 20 feet from a gondola for free and then be on your own schedule.Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Profane
Couple shots from today- Attachment 225002
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Nice.
I'm trying to avoid a car, which is obviously a major expense. But, if you tell me that I can stay in a hotel and eat five star for about 100 a day, with a shuttle, that is cool. I'll figure it out from there.
That's Arraba in the third pic, right?
Arraba is very centrally located for some great off piste skiing, but.is is very small, like a lot of the area towns. It has one busy apres bar and a couple quiet ones. It is easy to get to a place like Selva Val Gardena, much larger, more choices, and and a guide office. It's a better bet if you are rolling solo and calling audible. I was with a guide so basing in Arraba worked well.
Yep, thats Arraba!Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Profane
The car isn't too bad. I booked 2 weeks out and got it for $400 for a week. Pretty good chance if you booked way out you could get it for 1/2 that price.
Edit- $480 all in.
If it's your first time renting in Italy, be prepared for a higher fee than that. Did you add on stuff? Second driver? GPS? Then, there's a 21% VAT tax on the bottom line after all that. It adds up. Then there's that pricey EURO gas.
More like $479 USD all in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Profane
Attachment 225018
Still not terrible splitting the car with a friend.
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Edit- it's a Hertz rental with a AAA discount code applied.
Nice.
We rented a Fiat Qubo Trekking last year in April: 13 days out of Milan cost us NZ$ 220!!!
Italy rocks.
Skied the Mesdi today. Was awesome. Blown away by the access and the terrain here.
Crowds are pretty mellow right now too.
Attachment 225133
That's nice, but how's that five star dinner?
Thanks for posting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevo
Did you go it alone in Val Mesdi or hire a guide?
I imagine the crowds will continue to diminish as March approaches. Have a great last few days and please post more.
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No guide, just a guide book.Quote:
Originally Posted by hafjell
So good. I've eaten at some of the more acclaimed restaurants in NY and San Fran for work dinners. This is some of the best food I've had anywhere and it's 1/3 or 1/4 the price or what it would be in the US.Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Profane
Skied pow at San Pellegrino all day today. So damn good!
Why does no one in italy ski powder?!
The two of us systematically tracked out an entire ridge similar to prima cornice at Vail over the course of 6 hours. We went from chute to chute to chute. No one else skied the area all day. It was incredible. Will post some pics and vids when I get a chance.
Off to another great dinner. I'm beside myself.
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Were you skiing the Freeride Park off Col Margherita?
Take the snowmobile/sleigh ride to Rifugio Fuciade for dinner if you can get a reservation.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevo
I'll be in Selva the last week of March. I'll be busy with friends and family, but would love to get out on a tour with anyone who happens to be around.
Going to miss you by a few weeks. I'll be poking around Wolkenstein 2nd and 3rd week of March.Quote:
Originally Posted by I've seen black diamonds!
Kevo - glad you're enjoying your time there. It's a special place.
I'll be in Corvara March 12-23. Let me know if you want to tour or hit specific couloirs.Quote:
Originally Posted by GBB
Because you are skiing the equivalent of out of bounds terrain when you do that in most of Europe. Not that there is anythi h wrong with that, you just need to know you are in potentially uncontrolled terrain, and an injury could cost you a few thousand dollars rescue. Europeans just ski between the 'boos like they are trained to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevo
Jezuz.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevo
You're doing all this from a book?
Well, yes, Bunny, that and his brain.
That's witty.
This book- Ski Touring and Snowshoeing in the Dolomites: 50 Winter Routes https://www.amazon.com/dp/185284745X?ref=yo_pop_ma_swfQuote:
Originally Posted by Benny Profane
Along with some local knowledge from the family that runs the hotel and a bit of adventuring to places that look good from the lifts/pistes.
Yeah. We are scared of the OB, unlike the fearless backcountry skiing machines called Americans who dig a pit every 100m although you have a decent avi report in Europe and can apply the reduction method on 99% of all ski days and slopes.Quote:
Originally Posted by hutash
The same heroes who ski meadowskipping lines when they slay the OB gnar at Thompson pass in AK.
That's also the reason why people drop in the couloir cosmique at avi level 4 and 1m of fresh on the first day after a storm or Engelberg is tracked after 3 hours and you can't freeride any big resort anymore.
And that's why Europeans always speak of skiing Powder when they cross tracks every 10m because we learned that from those adventureous US inbounds travellers.
We would rather like to spend 500-700 bucks a day for a guide when the whole Alps are mapped in neat 1:25.000 ski maps and books, obviously. But not everyone of us is a dentist who only has two weeks of holidays and can afford a guide for skiing of the lifts. That's why we ski between the boos all the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Benny Profane
But yeah when I compare the stuff here to what's being sold as a "guidebook" in the US your question actually makes sense.
:rolleyes:
Lighten up, Francis.Quote:
Originally Posted by subtle plague
For this non-dentist, could you recommend a 1:25,000 map for the Dolomites other than the Tabacco #7? Something with more focus? Something along the lines of this: https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=ech&...stamp=18641231,,,
These are pretty good.
https://dav-shop.de/category.aspx?id=10000069
But they cover only a part. I haven't skied much in italy but there should be Italian equivalents.
And I didn't want to come across as a douche but I was slightly surprised when I saw that people actually think people in Europe don't go off Piste.
Dude, thanks for the map tip! I've been on the DAV site and missed that. A friend explained how the Swiss are producing extremely high quality maps, while other nations won't prioritize it.Quote:
Originally Posted by subtle plague
I think hutash was implying, the casual, Bogner one-piece wearing vacationers, not the European back-country or freeride skiers. Lots of American skiers, especially mags, understand and respect the role Euros have played in pushing the limits of steep skiing and ski mountaineering. File under: Chamonix.
(And my bashing the Bogner wear is confirmation of my low self-confidence. I secretly want to own and wear this: https://www.bogner.com/en-us/ski-ove...avy-86942.html
No worries. My comment was more ironic than pissed. :)
I don't really know about Italian maps, but the French ign ones are horrible compared to the Swiss and dav ones. Austrian standard maps (non ski touring) are good but not as awesome as Swiss which are the best maps ever.
For the Swiss Italian border and French border I try to use them as well because the Swiss are very thorough when covering their country....
Cheers.Quote:
Originally Posted by subtle plague
Obviously some of the best extreme skiers come from Europe, and they have set the standard for years, but you have to admit, that the vast majority of European skiers (and that includes Americans skiing in Europe) ski between the 'boos. It never ceases to amaze me how much fantastic terrain remains untracked weeks after a storm in Europe, even extremely easily accessed options. Try and find untracked pow in the Jackson side country even a couple of days after a storm.
Just look a ski shops in Europe and compare the huge numbers of carving skis vs fat board compared to the US. I am not saying euros are rad skiers, they are fucking amazing and I pee my pants a little at seeing the lines they ski, it just seems it is a different proportion of on/off piste skiers.