Skiing in the Dolomites, Italy.

Selva is a long roadside village in a spectacular setting at the head of the Val Gardena.  For many years   this area was part of Austria, and it retains a Tirolean charm.  The local language is Ladin.  The valley is famed for wood carvings, which are on display (and sale) wherever you look.
There is nothing more magical than a mountain panorama during winter and the Dolomites Mountains certainly fit the bill.  They are easily some of the most picturesque in all of Europe.  So good, in fact, I would like to keep the hotel and resort a secret. Snowmaking  and grooming are top class.  It  was a first for Phil to ski  down a black run which was a ribbon of  snow snaking down a grassy hillside.  Sad the camera failed to record this.  Phil also enjoyed the "James Bond" red run down to Ortesei.

We stayed at the Hotel Continental, a mountain gem.  A very comfortable hotel, The Continental  is well sited at the base of the  Danterceipes bubble (just a 2 min walk from the boot room in the hotel's basement) which whisks you up into the Sella-Ronda area, or you can ski down a ski-track through and into the village, to take a ski lift up and over and further down the valley to other huge ski-ing areas.  You can ski home at the end of the day to almost outside the boot room (go through the ski tunnel to the baby slopes).  Great friendly staff, really lovely rooms which are modern (heated bathroom floors) but still with the traditional Tyrolean touches.  The welcome was very warm from the Linder family, our room much larger than expected (they had given us an upgrade without asking).  The hotel does lie    at the top of a steep hill about 10 - 15 mins out of the town centre but we enjoyed the  walk after shopping and felt very fit at the end of the week.  You do not have to walk up with skis at the end of the day - there is a short chair the Costa bella which takes you to just above the Danterceipes from the village.


A local ski instructor, Robert, showed Phil, Clive and Tony the beauty of the  Dolomites - guiding them on ski safaris.  The excursions started every day at 8.30 a.m. Monday to Friday and finished at 4 p.m. taking "the boys" to the best Dolomites spots.  Marmolada - Sellaronda, Gran Risa - Santa Croce, Ciampac - Val Jumela,    Cortina - Lagazuoi and Grande Guerra.

For advanced skiers who can ski fast it is a wonderful way to discover the amazing landscape.

The Grande Guerra route takes in the mountainous border between Italy and Austria which was one of the bloodiest battlefields of the First World War.  It's right that we should remember the Great  War and tell our children about it.  Such pointless brutality must never be repeated.  100 years ago this outstandingly beautiful mountain panorama was the setting for the   highest and bitterest war in modern European history.  For 3 years the Austrians and the Italians battled it out in the mountains along a 400 mile front that stretched from the Swiss border to the Adriatic.  In the middle, the ski runs   of the Dolomites were the setting for some extraordinary acts of carnage and courage.  Both sides built fortifications into the mountains and packed tunnels  with huge amounts of gelignite to blow each other up.  Soldiers, who in peacetime were mountain guides, performed astonishing feats of climbing in order to rain grenades and sniper fire down on the enemy below.  The battlegrounds of the White War sloped at  an average 30 degrees and were set at altitudes of up to 3,350m.  The Italians in particular were ill equipped and    short of supplies, and the winter was their second and equally dangerous enemy.  In the winter of 1916, the temperature at altitude dropped to -40C.  Some
eight metres  of snow - three times the average - fell here.  On White Friday, Dec. 13th 1916 around 270 Austrians died in a massive slide on the 3,342 m Marmolada; in all, along the whole of the front, 10,000 troops on both sides died in avalanches that single day.  The slides were either triggered naturally during a sudden thaw or, according to some reports, set off deliberately to bury the other side by firing shells into the weakened snowpack.

In Malga Ciapela the boys skied 1,000 m down the Serrai di Sottoguda - a narrow canyon dotted with frozen  turquoise waterfalls.  It's got little to do with the war, but if you've never seen ice-climbers at work, this is where to watch near-vertical ascents up the cleft walls.

 

 

Whilst the boys were off skiing with the above group Pauline and I had booked a weeks skiing instruction at the local ski school.  Leo, our ski instructor, spoke excellent English and taught the best technique we have ever seen.  I now know how to "float" on skis.

 

On our last day Leo guided Pauline and I around the Sellaronda.  The Ladins have always called it this, from the time when there were a  few mud tracks and no ski lifts.  The Sellaronda is the world famous ski tour among the 4 Ladin valleys around the Sella mountain group.  During this ski tour we passed by the Val Gardena, Alta Badia, Araba and the Val di Fassa.  It took approx. three and a half hours to ski the arancione - orange route.  A merry-go-round for skiers set against a background of woods, rocky peaks and expanses of snow that is no exaggeration to call extraordinary.  You are advised to start the circuit as early as possible, no later than 10 a.m.  And you must reach the last Pass by 15.30 p.m.  We covered 13.518 metres on ski lifts.  Skied 23.100 metres of ski runs.  Total: 36 km and 618m.  Not bad!  It can get a bit busy on some sections (a bit like the M25).

 

At the end of a punishingly long but glorious blue-sky day on piste, the cathedral-sized rock faces of the Sella Ronda have turned a delicate and delicious shade of rose pink in the light of the setting sun.

 

A dramatic helicopter rescue took place in Selva during our week's stay.  The Ciampinoi cable car was halted after a tree fell on the line in 80m.p.h. winds cutting the power supply.  200 skiers were rescued and nobody was injured.  Amazingly the lift was working again the next day.  10 out of 10 to the rescue teams involved.

 

This is all about la dolce vita.  "The sweet life"

 

If you want to enjoy "the good life" with some excellent ski-ing, food, shopping and all in a stunning environment, then Italy should be on your radar.

 

And did I mention the star of the show, the Dolomites themselves?  Stunning, stunning views everywhere you turn!  This has been my second visit, most likely there will be a third and a fourth......