Dolomites base?

[Snowjive2]

DH and I once did a great DIY ski trip to France where we stayed in a small non-resort town (Briancon) and drove up each day to ski in a different nearby resort (Serre Che, Montgenevre, Puy-St-Vincent, etc).

We’d like to do the same in the Dolomites but don’t know the area well enough to identify a suitable town/village as our base. We did a week in Selva long ago but about all we remember is that the Dolomites are stunning and the Sella Ronda has a lot of flat sections!

This board seems to have lots of people who know Dolomite skiing well. I’d be really grateful for any suggestions for a suitable base town/village for us.

We’re good skiers (ski any terrain, happy to self-guide off piste and insured to do that). We enjoy skiing pistes but like to spice it up with glades, bowls, etc where available and when conditions allow. We’re retired so this trip would be a couple of weeks in mid-Jan.

Anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

The obvious one is Cortina but that would be more £££ than most of the villages on the Sella Ronda itself.

Alleghe, Kronplatz, San Pellegrino are all off the main loop but relatively local.

Val di Fassa is probably one of the cheaper options and offers both Sella Ronda and off Sella Ronda options.

That’s very helpful @randomsabreuse - thanks so much. I’ll start investigating. We are not looking for luxury in terms of accommodation - in Briancon we had a Pierre e Vacances studio which boasted a single chair!

We also stayed in Selva but then tried Colfosco which we really enjoyed. We skied the Hidden Valley which was good fun. A horse drawn sleigh pulls everyone for a short distance to get to the lift up!
Quite a few years ago now but the scenery was stunning and there were plenty of red runs.

@stepfordwifey thanks, the horse-drawn sleigh sounds great! I’ll check out Colfosco and the Hidden Valley (haven’t heard of it but it sounds very intriguing)

We’re staying in Corvara end of Jan, great local slopes (perfect for beginners and early intermediates) and directly on the Sella Ronda. Very close to Colfosco. We chose this destination after recommendations from the Snowheads forum.

Colfosco, Corvara, Arabba are all on the main Sellaronda circuit and have great access. We like Alba di Canazei which is cheaper but has 2 big gondolas giving access to lots of slopes if you're decent skiers.

I can recommend a lovely family run hotel there if you fancy?

Val di fiemme - Cavalese? Lots of reasonable accommodation and plenty to do in the evenings too. Pampeago, Bellamonte and Obberegon all great for skiing.

www.visitfiemme.it/en/more-info/fiemme/towns-and-villages/cavalese

Many thanks everyone for your recommendations. I’m looking into them all but think we’ll probably look to base ourselves in/near Arrabba as it has bowls and glades - if the snow’s decent there should be lots of good lines.

Fab. Arabba and that whole area is lush. We've never had a bad holiday there and the snow making facilities are excellent in case of poor weather!

Other cheaper locations that are connected to Sella Ronda via cable car are: Canazei and Campitello di Fassa.

We've just booked Arabba after falling in love with the Dolomites last year. We were in Selva last year so have gone for the opposite corner of the SR to mix things up.
Arabba has good access up to the glacier I think, plus we can hopefully get to Corvara/Colfosco for a day. I'm also hopeful we can make it over to La Longia one day. We LOVED that run, but it's really accessible from Selva- may be a stretch from Arabba.

It’s very easy to do the whole of the Sella Ronda in a day - we first did it when dd was 6.

Getting to and from la longia is a faff tho - we did it from Alta Badia (corvara) and I was slightly concerned we wouldn’t make it back over the passes - January will be v short ski days! If you have a car there’s easy parking in ortisei so driving there/back is potentially a better option - we do that for Alpe de Siusi so we can get more time there! Actually if you have a car get a day in Kronplatz too - there’s a couple of insane long (10km?) blacks but also some glorious long reds and blues!

if you didn’t do the runs from top of Badia plateau to San casino (blue 9/11) they are glorious! And do go to S.croce- small but very pretty.

i Am hoping to be able to try the lift between cinque torre and cortina this year…I like the idea of skiing to cortina rather than driving (although will still need taxi to Falzarego)…

I love the dolomites!!!

We did the SR last year (once each way round), but I do wonder if La Longia is a step too far from Arabba.
We won't have a car, so it's ski or nothing! But there's more than enough to keep us busy. We didn't get to the glacier last year, or the hidden valley, which I think should be doable from Arabba.

Yes I think it is too far unless you are very strong skiers! We did it with a couple of intermediate skiers from corners and I wasn’t sure we’d get back! I would do it from Arabbs but we’ve done sella both ways in one day (not even stealth boast :-)))))) - unless you are an equally strong skier I wouldn’t try it from arabba! Although you could set off early on the sella, get to Santa christina then decide if you have time…

Hidden valley definitely doable from Arabba - head to corvara, go up cherz chair and to san casiano that way! If you are going well when you get to falzarego cable car don’t go straight up - ski down to cinque torre, do the loop round the back back to cable car then do hidden valley.

I think you're right about La Longia - it would be a stressful day! And, thinking about it, we probably won't have time. We'll do SR twice all the way round (once each way), Hidden Valley one day, glacier one day, have a lesson in the morning on day 2, so will stay local that day and that only leaves us one day to play with. Plenty on the Arabba side of SR to keep us busy without needing to go over to LL.
Whilst I loved that run so much (we did it 3 times in succession!) and I loved the run back to the bottom of the funicular too, it felt like a bit of a faff getting up to the start of LL, even from Selva, so getting there from Arabba would be even more faffy (and I know I'd be stressing about getting back at the end of the day).

But good to know about the Hidden Valley. Thank you!

Try going to Alba - go clockwise from arabba to the Belvedere bowl then go down the cable car and up the other side! And definitely do cinque torre if it’s open…will report back on practicality of skiing to cortina after new year!

Yes you can easily get to Marmolada from Arabba. One of my favourite runs in the world.

Jumping on this thread and watching with interest.

We're considering the Dolomites for the 24/25 season. We usually ski Les Arcs at Easter, but the Dolomites would be an additional trip at Christmas or New Year. Though I'm happy to consider swapping them around if general conditions dictate.

We are a family of 4. DC are currently 10 and 12. 12 yo is very confident abd capable in the way that 12 year old boys are. 10 yo is a capable but lazy skier (will snowplough at any opportunity). I'm reasonably confident (mainly reds and blues) and DH is the least confident. He likes cruisey blues. So we need somewhere that fits all our needs (hence why we love Les Arcs)..

I often ski alone in the mornings when the DC are in ski school, so that's my opportunity to challenge myself, and then ski with everyone in the afternoons where we tend to stick to areas where there's a cruisey blue for DH but that the DC and I can nip off for something steeper here and there that meets at the same point.

We'd love to do the SR, too.

Apres wise, somewhere with a bit of liveliness in the evening, a nice bar where we can sit and play cards and the like. No need for us to be dancing on tables.

We'll not have a car.

Thank you!