Alta Badia
The Dolomiti Superski region is one of the world's most successful. Taking 25% of the Italian market it's 50 or so ski areas spread across a dozen valleys have been working together for nearly 40 years now, since the early years of commercial computer usage allowed them to create a common lift pass. Even today, while a few areas do offer more than its 1,080km (725 miles) of piste on one pass, few are as flexible, usable in any part of the vast system for even just part of a day.
The huge ski area includes many famous name resorts, and its Sella Ronda circuit, which continues around the giant Sella Massif for some 23km, with valleys like Fassa, Badia and Gardena radiating off it, it may be the world's second biggest lift-linked ski area with about 500km of inter-connected runs.
It isn't the cheapest lift ticket in Europe, indeed its one of the most expensive in Italy, but at least there are hundreds of millions of Euros ploughed back in to state of the art new lifts and extensive snowmaking each winter, now covering most of the slopes.
This winter Cortina d'Ampezzo has a new quad chairlift "Roncato/Socrepes" on the Tofana slopes which replaces the old lift and increases capacity on the route to 1,800 peoples per hour.
In the Kronplatz sector a new 10 passenger gondola "Gipfelbahn" on Brunico's side of the ski mountain is area's second with heated leather seats and a massive 4.000 people per hour capacity.
In Alta Badia the new "Pre Ciablun" quad chairlift will connect the "Arlara"-summit station with the "Braia Fraida"- intermediate station and a second new quad, the "La Rüa" chairlift replaces the previous triple chair with a transportation rate of 2,200 people per hour.
Val Gardena has an impressive new funicular lift "Rasciesa" bringing a dramatic improvement on the old single chairlift – one of the few that had still been operational - above Ortise. It connects the area to the "Seceda" lift's mid-station and to the toboggan run back down to Ortisei and can transport 800 people per hour.
Finally in Valle Isarco a new six-seater chairlift "Rossalm" in the Plose sector replaces an old lift and increases passenger capacity on the route to 1,700 people per hour.