Marmalada & Armentorla

I am heading to Dolomites next month and staying in Vigo di Fassa. I am keen on checking out the Marmolada glacier. Does anybody have any views on whether it is worth the effort? It seems to involve a fair few lifts.

Also, some of the group are keen on Armentorola piste - this is the long piste that you need to take a taxi part of the way up and get dragged along by horses on the return journey :shock: . It seems a very long way from Campitello. Anybody made the journey? I don't particularly want to be under too much time pressure. How long should it take to get over? We would all be reasonable good intermediates.

Hi,

We have just returned from Canazei.
We had a great time.
We skied to Marmolada glacier, however due to poor snow until today it was very icy and also windy. In opinion of all trip participants not worth the effort.
The long run with horses at the end is the fabulous Hidden Valley run that starts from the top of Lagazuoi and ends in Armentarola. It is definitely worth the effort.
We have also very much enjoyed Ciampac-Buffaure area accessed from either Pozza di Fassa or Alba that can be easily combined with beautiful Catinaccio area in Vigo di Fassa. This is close to Campitello and served by ski buses. If you go to Catinaccio you should try Baita Checco mountain restaurant clsoe to the top station of the cable car which serves delicious food and is considered by some to be the best refugio in Dolomites. BTW: we had a dump of snow that started yesterday afternoon and continued when we were departing for the airport at 9am today. You should have great snow conditions on the slopes! Already jelous :(

Thanks for the info Biki. Can I ask you:

1. Do you think the Marmolada might be worthwhile on a fine day? It does seem like quite a palaver to get up to the top and then effectively one long run back down :roll:.

2. Did it take you long to get over to the Hidden Valley? It seems like a very long way looking at the piste map, especially as I would have kids with me - able to manage the skiing all right but the stamina might be an issue on a very long day :oops:.

3. I take it you did the Black down from Buffaure to Alba. How difficult would you rate it?

The Baita Checco restaurant is doing a sunrise special on Feb 15th. Cablecar up at 6.45, breakfast in the restaurant and then 1st tracks back down before the cablecar opens for normal business. It sound good so I might be tempted despite the very early start:shock:. http://www.baitachecco.com/en/trentinoskisunrise/

Hi Wanderer,

The views from Marmolada are spectacular, but the journey long and potentially treacherous.
The weather might be fine in Vigo in the morning, but the winds could pick up later on around Arabba and you might get stuck in the next valley and face expensive taxi journey back to Vigo.

I would recommend Hidden Valley, especially if travelling with children, as it includes among other attractions a horse drawn lift on the way back -)
However I did it from Cortina, which along with Alta Badia resorts, offers the easiest and quickest access.
This time, while staying with UK tour operator in Canazei, I come across an organised guided coach trip to the foot of Lagazuoi, from where a cable car takes you to the top where an 8.5 km Hidden Valley run starts. It is much easier and more sheltered than Marmolada runs hence more suitable for children. It does contain some flat sections though, borders beware! It is skiing all the way back to Canazei. Due to distances vehicle journey there is the only sensible option. The black run down from Ciampac to Alba is lovely :D They made it a bit easier for this season by widening and smoothing the most difficult sections. Many people I've seen treated it as one long downhill race!
Baita Checco does it anytime for us :-) Thoni, the run down to Vigo is superb!

Well I did manage to tick both of these boxes on my recent trip -).

The Marmolada does take quite an effort to get to from the southern end of the Sella Ronda. However, we still got there comfortably by lunchtime. There are 3 cable cars required to get to the top. There was a longish queue for the bottom one but the others are queue free and pretty well coordinated so once you get one the first one, it is pretty much non-stop to the top. The views from the top are truly wonderful and from there it is a very long, steepish but wide red down. Once down from there is was pretty long trek home again but easily doable in a day provided the weather does not close in on you. It was worth doing but I probably wouldn't bother repeating. If you are hungry, the restaurant is at the top of the 2nd cable car not the very top.

The trip to Lagazoui was even longer but again we got there in time for an early lunch. The views are spectacular but I was a bit disappointed with the run down. It was a relatively narrow path for long stretches and icy in places. Despite this it was still good. The horse tow out is a real novelty but a bit of a faff loading up.

Our trip was not without incident however. My daughter had a minor fall just before we got to the top and had a bit of a wobble. With the administration of lots of sugar and a leisurely lunch break, she recovered but we had lost a fair bit of time. Combined with some awful signage on the way home meant that we missed our last connections and only got as far as Arabba. Had a couple of beers there before our expensive taxi ride home.

Glad to have made the trip but, again, would not probably not bother repeating - certainly not from the Val di Fassa area.