J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Wanderer

The video of the guys in the narrow and extremely steep gulley was scary. Definitely not for me :oops:

verbier_ski_bum wrote:The snow conditions are shaping up nicely although less so at lower altitudes so a ski-in/ski-out can be a problem if possible at all. But other than this and dangerous avalanche conditions due to weird weather, skiing is not much worse than at this time last season.

........... and this week's winner of the Optimist of the Week award is Verbier Ski Bum:lol:

shortstack019 wrote:Is it worth getting a car or is public transport easy enough, especially if we are not in walking distance to the slopes? I've tried to find the shuttle schedules, but again without much luck! With booking so last minute, we won't be in the middle of town, where ever we end up.

Thanks again for everyone's input :-)
Amy.

Unfortunately, one of the downsides of the Dolomites is the bus service. It really is pretty poor - not very frequent (and a result often very crowded) and starts late and finishes early - even before the lifts stop in some areas:twisted:. On the other hand, once you get onto the Sella Ronda, it is possible to navigate to pretty much any of the main areas - as somebody already said, treat it as the M25 and use it to get where you want :roll:.

I suspect getting around by road can be quite slow so possibly not a great option anyway :roll:. Having said that we did have an experience on our last trip where we had a guide (and his minibus). When we got to the cablecar in Campitello, the queue was quite long so our guide just turned around and travelled on up to Pain de Frataces which had direct access to 2 chair lifts directly onto the Sella with no queues at all saving us a load of time :mrgreen:. Not an option in poor roads as it was a reasonably steep and narrow road up there. I certainly wouldn't fancy it in snowy/icy conditions :oops:.

Only seeing this post now. I would rate this area very highly for mixed ability group. Very decent skiing area. However, it is Switzerland so be prepared for high prices. Also, if not going half board, it is advisable to book restaurants especially at weekends and busy times.

Ally

You can add me in for Dolomites (Vigo di Fassa) on 14 February

and St Anton on 14 March.

Thanks :wink:

Most of the hire shops offer storage. It might be worth checking to see if its free if you rent from them. Also check with your accommodation - they sometimes have deals with one or other of the shops for free storage for guests.

BTW, do you even need storage if you are close to Nassereinbahn?

Tony_H wrote:

Wanderer wrote:I am firmly of the view that winter tyres are an essential piece of kit when travelling to ski resorts.

However, I am travelling to the Dolomites in February and cannot get them from any of the car hire companies in Venice, despite the Italians introducing new regulations requiring cars in the alpine areas to be properly "equipped" :twisted:. It would appear that having chains meets the legal requirement.

I feel I have no choice but to take a very expensive taxi transfer instead. Its very frustrating :evil: :evil: :evil:.

I rented a car at Munich a couple of years ago and drove to AUSTRIA. The hire company said winter tyres were a chargeable extra when I went to pick the car up, something ridiculous like 30EU a day so I said I would stick with regular tyres. Low and behold, all the rental cars had winter tyres fitted to them anyway, so it was all a massive scam to get you to pay extra!!!! And that was AVIS!!!!

Tony
Munich will now generally give you winter tyres and I think any charges are usually relatively low so its not a problem. However, the Italian car hire companies do not seem to get the need for them - possibly as they are rarely needed further South :shock:.

Be careful assuming that winter tyres will always be provided even if you don't pay for them - I seem to remember reading (possibly on here) about a guy who refused to pay for winter tyres and the carhire company went out of their way to find a car without them for him :twisted:. I think it was a fancy car but the guy was crapping himself for the duration of the trip in case he did any damage :oops:.

The last time I was in the area, I stayed in Moena and skied the local mountain Alpe di Lusia as well as the San Pelegrino/Falcade area. The Lusia area is small but quite nice for a few hours - a small number of reds and blues with a pretty demanding red/black down to the valley. San Pelegrino/Falcade is a more extensive area and plenty of decent slopes to keep you occupied for a full day. Both areas tend to be very quiet.

I think Buffuare is quite near to Canazei and may well be on the local ski bus route so should be pretty easy to access. I did hear some good things about Predazzo but didn't get there. Know nothing about Carezza.

If you have your own transport, there may well be merit in checking out some of these areas. However, it is probably 40 minutes drive from Canazei to Pelegrino so you would have to consider whether the travel is worth it.

I would not recommend bothering if you are using public transport. The longer distance buses are infrequent, crowded, slow and finish early. We skied the Falcade area one day until the last lift and then came down to find that the last bus had left more than 30 minutes earlier :evil:. We had to phone for a taxi to get us back to the hotel in Moena - about €20. Probably would be more like €60 back to Canazei :roll:.

I think you have plenty in the Sella area and wouldn't get too caught up in trying to get to other areas. A lot of people stick with completing the full Sella each way and neglect are the lovely skiing that the Sella connects you to :wink:.