When we talked about skiing in the Alps with 10 Australian cousins there was only ever going to be one place we were going – back to the Dolomites! After a great trip with them to Corvara three years ago we opted this time for Selva di Val Gardena (Wolkenstein in German) in the neighbouring valley. The resort is bigger than Corvara, with more going on in the town, and yet is also on the famous Sella Ronda. It also gave us access to the lower valley with Ortisei and Alpe di Susi.
We went the second week of December (13th) and excellent early season snow meant great conditions on the whole. We booked through two different ski operators Inghams and Crystal and flew into Verona for the 2 hour+ transfer up into the Alto Adige region. Both operators were excellent with good communications, helpful pre-trip calls etc., and plenty of staff in resort for any questions while on holiday.
We stayed really centrally in Val Gardena at the excellent Stella Hotel, one of the oldest in the valley although thoroughly modern inside. Its location was perfect with one lift a matter of feet away and the main Ciampinoi gondola only 100 yards down the road. As always in December in the Dolomites there were zero queues, in the town or on the mountains. You could ski back to within 50 yards and the well equipped and fully heated boot room had a lift into the next door ski shop as well as to the street. What a treat every morning to have warm boots, helmets and gloves!
One of the main reasons for switching to Selva from Corvara was to offer a bit more ‘action’ for the 20 year olds and we had three excellent bars/clubs in easy reach – the Stua, the more germanic Krohnstube (with its giant 4 litre pitchers) and infamous Luiskeller, the self-proclaimed ‘best apres ski bar in the Alps’! There was a also a good choice of restaurants, cafes and shops along the bustling main street.
The Stella was a great choice as apart from its location it was extremely comfortable with well designed and spacious rooms and excellent wellness spa centre. Room views on one side were of the brand new black run coming down into the village near the Ciampinoi lift. The bar and lobby area worked well and was very comfortable. We were on half-board, as is the case in most Dolomites hotels, and the food was exceptional, and so too were the staff. Breakfast was a lavish buffet feast with additional wide ranging a la carte options and dinner was a 5/6 course affair changing each day.
We had a variety of diets including gluten free and vegetarian and they had their own menus – we had found on previous occasions that Dolomites catered very well for different diets. Each evening was a new adventure including with, on top of the main menu, the likes of: a Ladin (the local region) tapas evening, Seafood evening, Open Kitchen, a cheese buffet and pudding extravaganza. It was outstanding food, with a very good local wine list and a very comfortable evening venue.
The location of Selva on the Sella Ronda, and at the head of the Val di Gardena, meant that it is well placed to head in any direction and explore to the extremities of this part of the Superski Dolomiti domaine. At least one of the party completed a Sella Ronda circuit each day with the usual discussions on whether clock-wise or anti-clockwise was best (for the record I prefer clock-wise).
Branching off from the Sella Ronda circuit we made a trip north up to the famous La Crusc. The church and associated walking hut (Rifugio Santa Croce) stand underneath the massive cliff of the Santa Croce mountain although the day we were there you couldn’t really see. However the kaiserschmarrn (fluffy pancake with sugar and jams) in the hut was as good as ever.
On a bright sunny day a group headed up the Marmolada (3,343m) and skied down the glacier and the back to Araba – there were stupendous views from the top of the ‘Queen of the Dolomites’.
The Val Gardena World Cup Downhill race was taking place on the famous Saslong slope above San Cristina so this meant a few detours heading to Col Raiser and the wonderful 11km La Longia run down into Ortisei. What a wonderful piste that is from Seceda at 2518m down to the atmospheric town and largest centre in the valley, Ortisei/St Ulrich. We took to opportunity to cross the town, not a great connection in truth, and head up to the Alpe Di Siusi, a high Alpine plateau similar to the one above Corvara. This sparsely developed area offers quite a variety of runs, mainly blues, and is pretty spread out, Poor conditions meant we didn’t see it at its best so will need to return. The expedition ended at Saltira where we caught the famous ‘magic bus’ through the woods – it s was an old cash-only coach with snow-chains making its way quite swiftly along a heavily snowed road in the forest. We ended up at Monte Pana above San Cristina so then it was a quick hop back over to Selva.
We certainly took advantage of some fine weather and the excellent (understatement) of mountain huts (huttes) to eat very well at lunch. First up was Utia (hut) Sole with delicious canerdeli and crafuncins (half-moon tortelli) plus a black slope/path down to the loos!
We had a brilliant Seafood lunch as the famous Comici (also home to the fire extinguisher grappa dispenser) – it might seem strange to opt for seafood here in the mountains but the owner is the main distributer for this part of the Dolomites so it is as fresh as.
We had a particularly good venison ragut at the Dantecierpies Mountain Lodge and the famous Jimmys (this time in the mist) had excellent ravioli and Ladin meat & cheese platter. Last but not least there was a meat feast at Baita Vallongia with huge pork knuckles. Once again the mountain huts hit the spot every time, great local food in excellent locations at generally reasonable prices.
All in all an excellent weeks skiing in the loveliest of spots. We thoroughly enjoyed Selva di Val Gardena and will be back – there is so much more to see and it seems to tick all the boxes when we look for a skiing holiday.
Speak to us about skiing holidays – in the Dolomites, in the Alps or across the pond in North America.
by TMS