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I visited the Dolomites for many years, but never in the winter. Each summer I imagined how they must look covered in snow, how all the towers would be surrounded in white. Finally, I spent my first winter in the Dolomites and was even more impressed than in the summer months. As a skier, it is paradise.

Replace all those green, flower covered hillsides discussed on the other pages and insert snow. All the terrain not usable in the summer months becomes prime ground for winter fun. The intricate nature of the range provides for interesting ski terrain; mazes, labyrinths, couloirs and of course the big open faces and bowls. It is a fantastic range for ski touring. But for the visitor it gets even better.

Here is a little known fact courtesy of DolomiteSport: On the north end of the Dolomites, serving as the Austrian border, is a distinctly different mountain range accessed primarily from Brunico, the Val Aurina and Anterselva Valley – the Zillertaler Alpen. With characteristics of the Colorado Rockies, higher peaks than the Dolomites, colder temperatures and very real glaciers – this range provides the visiting skier with even more options for ski terrain. Nowhere have I ever seen this range mentioned outside of this area. Yet it is comparable to the Swiss and French Alps complete with high mountain multi-day tours, gargantuan terrain that is colder than many of the areas in Europe allowing for… powder.

Depending on the day and the conditions, one range will be better given the weather. Brunico, sitting right in between the two mountain groups, is the perfect town to be based so as to take advantage of the best conditions.

Like all of the summer sports, where days can be long, packs light and meals fabulous, the winter months are no different. The mountain huts are open in the winter as well. And, they are quite possibly even better than the summer for the crowds are fewer and everyone arrives via ski touring. Sit inside in the warm, cozy dining rooms or get lucky and bask in the sun outside on the hut’s decks.

The Experience

In Europe, people ski, people really ski. It’s just what you do. I’m always amazed at just who I see out skiing. I have had grandmother’s breaking trail, I have seen 70 year old women front pointing and swinging ice tools up to icy summits and I have seen ski rando racers going up and down peaks at breathtaking speeds.

Last winter a great friend came to visit from the US. On his first day out we parked the car at a popular backcountry area and started packing our stuff amongst literally dozens of people in the parking lot. Suddenly he realized that all of the people were going to the same place as us – to ski a major summit on a day with winter storm warnings. He was both intimidated and mightily impressed at the same time.

Hours later, sitting at the hut with our best day of the year under our belts, he admitted to having an attitude about crowds being bad, but after seeing how friendly and generally psyched everyone was, he better understood the Euro ski mentality. People live to ski and they LOVE it for the experience and lifestyle. It helped that he was drinking a weissbier and eating a knödel at the same time.

When to come depends on what you want to do. If you prefer day trips and skiing powder then January – March might be best. But if you want to tour and ski some of the bigger peaks, then late March through the end of April is best. Spring is ski tour season up until the end of April when the Huts begin to close before re-opening around June 20.

In recent years, winter has come late to the Dolomites. Snowfall has been light in the winter months and then it all comes in March and April. Being a very rocky mountain range, the Dolomites need depth or skis become rock skis very quickly. The big mountains need depth to cover the crevasses in the glaciers. Luckily it all works out, but a check in with local Guide’s Offices are recommended.

In terms of avalanche conditions, all the usual backcountry rules apply. They are mountains, there is snow – it gets dangerous. If you don’t “get it” when it comes to determining conditions, don’t go alone – get a guide (info in sidebar). This site is not an education on any sport, just motivation to go.

One special note to the region is that the Zillertal Alpen are a notoriously dangerous range in the winter and early spring. Wind loading on ridge tops is the primary concern, massive avalanches regularly occur.

Couloirs

The nature of the Dolomites is that they form gullies, and in the winter these gullies fill with snow. They are everywhere, from wide, even sided couloirs to vertical seams of snow. In making mental notes of which to go back and ski, you’ll never remember them all, there are just too many. If names like Val Scura, Holzer Couloir (Canale Holzer, Holzer Rinne) and the Val Staunies sound familiar, you have been paying attention to the extreme ski videos. These are perfect lines for both gawking at and skiing.

Perhaps the most famous of all the couloirs, yet it is not a couloir at all, just a massive, long canyon, is the Val Mesdi in the Sella Group. A sort of backcountry piste like Chamonix’s Vallee Blanche, the Val Mesdi is an unforgettable ride down an impossibly long corridor with towering spires above. I imagine it is a little of what big wave surfing is like as one can open it up and ride up and down the sides without concern for running out of terrain, it goes on forever.

The Piz Boe tram line above the Passo Pordoi accesses several of the choice lines, including both the Holzer Couloir and the Val Mesdi. Ski one, then make your way around the Sella Group via chair lifts and right back to the Boe for another ride up and another couloir down. Lift serviced backcountry skiing extreme couloirs. You can run laps.

In April, the Val Mesdi is host to the Alta Badia Dolomites Freeride Competition. This bit of lunacy has skiers pointing their ski tips at the finish line from the steep entry at the start. Nutty. Meanwhile, in the village of Corvara far below, spectators watch live video on big screens of backcountry ski racing while eating bratwurst and drinking beers. Europe…!

The Lifestyle

Ski touring season has a distinctly different feel than the rest of the year. The mountains and huts are filled with people all doing the same thing, a sport that is very fun and social.

As a result, the social scene is as much a part of the experience as the skiing itself. If you do a multi-day tour and spend nights in the huts, you are guaranteed to meet some very fun people.

The evenings are long and there is much to talk about. Inside the huts are sounds of people laughing, many languages being spoken, beer glasses clinking socks and dinner dueling for most dominant smell. For the visiting foreigner, it is normal for stories back home to be as much about the huts as about the skiing.

Ski Randonee Racing

With the massive popularity of ski touring in Europe comes the growth of competition from within the sport. Ski randonee racing. In Europe these races are common and are often held at night, combining groomed ski runs with off piste skiing. Arguably the most famous in the Dolomites is the Sellaronda, a race that circumnavigates the Sella Group above Corvara and Canazei. The race is at night with skiers using massive headlamps. The first time I witnessed the event I was shooting it from one of the passes, the racers came to the top, ripped off their skins and plunged into the darkness below. I was impressed. These are serious athletes, not just skiers out to ski for fun. The sport itself is so popular in Europe that it has it’s own magazine and there is a movement to make it an Olympic sport. It certainly seems worthy as it is brutally difficult for being both aerobic and technical.

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When building your itinerary and booking services, such as hotels, guides or huts – please utilize our DolomiteSport Network which offers a handpicked selection of what we know to be some of the finest services, accomodations and resources in the Italian Dolomites.

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