PROs
Cons
- Very poor skibus service
Travel was smooth with an early flight to Venice and a taxi ride up to the resort. We arrived in the Sport Hotel S. Vigilio around 2pm, had a leisurely lunch and then sorted out ski hire and lift passes.
Day 1, Lusia: We took a (free) shuttle from the hotel to the local Alpe Lusia ski area. It's a small area with a claimed 40km of slopes. Conditions were perfect – blue skies and great snow conditions. While the area was small it had a nice selection of blue and red slopes which were perfect to get back the ski legs. The area also had a couple of snow parks, a little path through the trees and a timed slalom course to keep the interest going. The run back to the valley starts with a reasonably demanding red and is then a fairly steep black down from mid station. It was a lovely run down on the day but I could easily imagine it being sheet ice in less favourable conditions. A very nice start to the holiday :lol:
Day 2: Sella/S Chistina area: We took the skibus to Campitello to get the Col Rodella cablecar up onto the main Sella Ronda area. It was cloudy and very cold but visibility was ok. The skibus was scheduled to take around half an hour but actually took nearer double that :evil: . Then because we were hitting the lift later than expected, the queue was very long – it took a about 50 minutes to get up the mountain. A horrible start to the day :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: . However, once we got up the mountain the skiing was fantastic :mrgreen: . We made our way over towards Santa Christina/Ortesia. Some great skiing on near empty pistes. Alpha (black)and Bravo (red) pistes off the Monte de Seura lift were particularly good. Skied pretty much to the last lift and then took the Cablecar down (no ski option to valley) to discover that the last skibus had gone so a fairly expensive taxi ride back to Moena :twisted: .
Day 3: San Pelligrino ski area: As the weather was pretty poor, we decided to stay local and headed up to San Pelligrino. Cloud cover was very low and we had very poor visibility at times. Still managed to get up to the top of Cime Uomo and did the lovely Red down from there. Given the poor conditions, did not head over to the Falcade side and finished early. Back down in Moena, they were celebrating Carnivale with a fancy dress parade and a lot of loud music :shock: . It was mainly teenagers cutting loose but a bit of fun. Typically Italian, the town was still dead as a doornail by 10pm when I headed out for a post-dinner pint.
Day 4: Belvedere to Arraba: Couldn't face the skibus to Campitello again so bit the bullet and ordered a taxi. The journey to the top of the mountain took less than half the time of Day 2 :wink: . This time we headed anti-clockwise. It was a bright sunny day though again very cold. We spent some time enjoying the lovely Belvedere plateau before making our way as far as Arraba. After lunch there, we made our way back. The top section off the Porto Vescovo was chaotic with a steep pitch, well mogulled and extremely busy. Not much fun but only blip and an otherwise great day. :lol:
Day 5, San Pelligrino: Another bright sunny day :D . Skied on the San Pelligrino side for a couple of hours in the morning enjoying the lovely Red and Black of the top of the Cime Uomo before heading over to the Falcade side. Started with the 9km Inamorati ("the Lovers") piste :shock: . Very appropriate as it was Valentines Day :mrgreen: . While the scenary was beautiful, the run involved a lot of polling, especially for the kids who couldn't get up enough speed to get past the flat bits :roll: . After lunch skied a variety of the runs around this area – mainly relatively easy Reds which were great fun. Finished with the long Red run down to the San Pelligrino valley – a quite demanding run but very nice, especially as it was completely empty when we did it. Overall, a great day :mrgreen: . Soured slightly when we got down to the bottom to discover that the last skibus had left 20 minutes earlier while the lifts were still running – bizarre :shock: .
Day 6, Sella Ronda: For our last day, we booked onto a guided tour of the Sella Ronda organised by the hotel. The cost was €20 per adult and €10 for the kids (this included transport to and from the slopes). This proved the bargain of the week :wink: . Our guide, Claudio, was wonderful. The queue at Campitello was already very long when we got there at about 8.45 so Claudio simply turned around and headed further up the mountain to Pian de Fractaces where we walked straight onto a lift. From there it a wonderful tour around the mountains that included most of the Sasslong World Cup piste. Having a guide meant we didn't have to worry about getting lost or whether we were on schedule. We were able to take our time and stopped for coffee at the bottom of the Sasslong and had time for a leisurely lunch, possibly at Dantercepies – we were so much in Claudio's hands that I am not sure where we were. One of my best ski days ever and make extra special as both of kids completed the circuit comfortably - cue very proud Dad :mrgreen: . It completed a wonderful weeks skiing, helped by probably the best ski conditions I have experienced.
Overall, a truely epic week. The only downside was the very poor skibus service that made getting around the different ski areas a bit of a pain :roll: . The queues at Campitello were also long but at least this forced us to get our act together and get going early :wink: .
I would go back to this area in a heartbeat but would probably look to stay in a more convenient location, even though Moena is a beautiful little town.
p.s. Can somebody remind me how to post pictures and I will put a few up :oops:
This is a view from the top of the Sass Bece lift in the Belvedere area above Canazei.
A view of the river in Moena
a view back towards Sella and Sass Pordoi from Belvedere
A crowded piste down to Lupo Bianco lift above Canazei :lol:
Looking down from top fo Cablecar above 
Another view from above Arabba.
This is the initial pitch from Porto Voscovo above Arabba. It is a steep pitch, rated Red but probably more like a Black but because it is an essential link on the Sella Ronda, it gets a lot of traffic of all standards. Mogulled and busy, it is not that pleasant :x
On the long run down to 
San Pelligrino at sunset :D
View of the mountains near Corvaro
An old shephard's hut built into the rocks above Gardena.
My 10-y-o daughter and myself in San Pelligrino with Cime Uomo in background.