Marilleva 1400 and surrounding areas mid-December?

Hey all. Recently joined this forum (as well as the EU) after a lifetime of skiing 200 kinds of ice in the NorthEast US, and I'm really looking forward to some open runs on and off-piste. Can I get some recommendations and feedback (good and bad) from anyone on Marilleva 1400 and the surrounding areas (as we'll have passes to the other mountains as well). Likes? Dislikes? We're scheduled to arrive the 13th of December for a week. Some advanced and some intermediate skiers in our group and a night or two out would be most welcome. Thanks!!

I enjoyed a day down at Madonna when i was staying in Tonale early January last year - there was a free bus (if you had booked the appropriate ski pass) a few times a week at least, don't know if they do the same in the opposite direction but i would have though it likely - the bus droppped us of at the bottom of the Gondola up to Marilleva 1400.

The runs locally were fairly nice and the link over into Madonna was pretty quick, can be very busy thouhg. We found the black run back down into Marilleva rather fun, especially when a bit quiter and a mad woman desparate for the end of day beer leading us down!

Enjoy

Dave

Haven't been as early as December but have stayed in Madonna (once) and Folgarida (twice as it was so good) in early March and had brilliant holidays. Marilleva has a snowboard park and I think they have now put in a gondola link all the way down to the valley floor to link with the rail route. We found the whole Folgarida/Marilleva area really friendly and very good value. Madonna is more upmarket but has some great runs. There is certainly a bus to Madonna from Folgarida and one to Passo Tonnale - not sure about links from Marilleva though. Have a freshly made pizza at the top of Monte Spolverino - they are the size of a steering wheel and delicious! You'll know you have found the right place as you can hear the thumping music as you approach on the chair lift!! The whole area is great for beginners to experts. Have a great holiday - I shall think of you when I am in Lech that week.

Looking forward to both the fresh pizza and that first beer at the bottom of the last run of the day. It will have been 8 months since my last time on skis and I'm going through fits of withdrawal (not to mention the pre-season fitness routine that is killing me so far). Too many off-season pints, I think...

Good stuff and keep it coming. I'm going through the process of now deciding whether to fly BA to Verona and catch a shuttle direct or the cheapo's to Bergamo (where I would have to train it up). Cheap is certainly not always better, and this trip proves it. It works out to a 20 pound difference and much easier with BA/Verona (I'd be happy to review details with anyone who needs advice on the same trip). We will have the passes for Madonna, so we hope to hit that up at least for a day or two, but any suggestions for out of the way places for a drink would be most welcome as well. I find the family-run huts always provide the greatest adventure. :lol: Enjoy Lech for us as well though and let's hope for a universal powder dump in about 3.5 weeks time. :!:

Hi Head Addict,

Marilleva 1400 is a great resort. Loads of good challenging pistes and if you are prepared to snow shoe some great off piste. Madonna and Folgarida are both linked in to Marilleva; in fact, Folgarida and Marilleva are really like one resort.

The best pistes are Folgarida Nera, Marilleva Nera and TreTre in Madonna, two of which have world cup races on them. If it dumps then there is great off piste down through the trees from the Orso Bruno refuge(which is a great mountain restaurant) at m. 2180 you pop out the trees at about m. 1200 on the access road to Marilleva. One of our mates is a snowboard instructor/guide there and I will put you guys in touch if you are interested.

In Marilleva there is a good Pizza/pasta place called La Scandola and down in the valley in Piazza S. Marco in Magras near Male there is an awesome gastro restaurant called Conte Ramponi Tel 0463.901989

To be honest I think that mid December is probably a bit early to be 100% of good snow but I’m going out 16th Dec - 9th January-So fingers crossed.

We have a nice 3 bed house there that we rent if you haven’t sorted accommodation and decide to go out, PM message and I'll send details.

Have fun!

I'd like to just give a quick review of our trip to Marilleva 1400 and the surrounding areas (including Madonna di Campiglio and Folgarida). First the good: Snow was unbelievable. At least knee-high powder off-piste (where we were yelled at by the Italians to have our passes taken away). Apparently the Italians are afraid to ski off-piste... (and you'll know why if you view their "blacks"). Also, the views were beautiful. Weather cleared out after the first two days and left us with some stunning views of the Dolomites. Not the "proper" Alps, but beautiful indeed.

Now for the not-so-good parts: Flat as a pancake!! Aside from one good piste on Mount Spinale that we weren't allowed to run for apparently no good reason (despite the beautiful conditions it displayed from the gondola), the terrain has been flattened out to nothing and then the snow flattened and groomed to a pulp on top of that. I was primarily skiing with my soon-to-be brother-in-law who is a level 4 instructor from Canada and if I was bored, you can imagine his displeasure with the terrain... Maybe it was just us, but it seems people where more interested in saying (and photographing) themselves "skiing" in Italy then actually skiing! In order to get to some of the "black" runs you had to run a Nordic course first to avoid all of those steep, scary sections where someone might actually have to ski! This disappointment holds over to the lodging and overall accommodations as well. It seems they have done nothing but add some high-speed chairs since the 1970's when all the hotels and trails were designed. I can give details to anyone interested, but I would say that if you are a beginner it is great for you, just don't expect any service from them. If you want anything challenging to ski, then don't bother. Oh, and what is up with people stepping on my skis constantly in the long lift lines (not usually the Italians, I can at least say that, but seriously the skiers code I grew up with was nowhere in site for most of the punters on the slopes and we almost came to blows more than a few times).

Can't wait to explore some real mountains soon...