Together, as the Super Dolomites Safari, the parts made a magnificent whole. Over 1000 kms on skis in a week, one or two major off-piste runs every day. Dozens of villages linked by ski runs serviced by cablecars, chair lifts, pomas, skidoos, Ratraks, helicopters and taxis. There was never a wasted moment and our luggage travelled by road.
Marion Murri Australian/Italian ski instructor and Thredbo resident met Jon Milford (Perisher ski instructor) and me at Bolzano station and drove us to the Hotel Florian at Seis/Siusi through villages that were old before Captain Cook set sail for Australia. The hotel, decorated in typical southern Austrian/ Northern Italian style has wood panelling, pictures and painted armoires everywhere and is equipped with spa, sauna and gym. The restaurant served food to die for but then so did most of the other places we stayed on this safari.
Jon had flown in from Byron Bay, I'd come
from the States and we were blown away by the scenery. The Australian Alps it most
certainly is not and neither are the Dolomites anything like the open plan American
mountains. The steep valleys here are crowned by sharp toothed pale rocks that glow pink
to red in the setting sun and golden in the early morning.
All around us were seemingly impenetrable rock cliffs yet we were to find out that many of the cracks were skiable chutes even if getting there involved either a climb, being roped in or dropped off by helicopter. Not all the skiers were 'experts' and a second group stayed mostly on the pistes and reportedly had a ball cruising at mach speed, because after all, this is Italy, home of Ferrari, Maserati, Tomba...
One ticket covers the Dolomite ski area's
457 lifts and 1050 kilometres of marked runs then there's the off-piste as well. Off-piste
doesn't necessarily mean powder, it means whatever is out there, crud, ice, spring mush,
wind packed snow and powder if it has recently snowed or remained in sheltered chutes in
between the rocks.
Signs and names in the area are written in both Italian and German, even our guide Francesco answered to Franz. A certified mountain guide as well as a ski guide Francesco danced around on even the trickiest crud leaving us to follow as best we could in his tracks.
Our route took us away from Seiseralm to Campitello on the first day where we were towed by skidoo to a small restaurant high in the Duron Valley for a lunch of minestrone or pasta and beer. In the afternoon we actually took one lift twice for the fun of it but mostly each run was a different lift in a different place until we arrived at the Albergho (inn) Maria Flora at the Sella pass 2243m.
It's amazing how skiing all day in the fresh air, followed by a great dinner with wine can tire you out. Insomniacs anonymous book here for the best sleep you've had for years.
The next days were more of the
same, great skiing, great eating and great company. Day two was the Pordoi area and Val
Lasties off- piste. Day three was Arraba, Passo Fedaia and the Marmolada glacier.
Francesco broke a binding on the off-piste approach to the Passo Fedaia
restaurant/bar/mountain hut and borrowed a pair of skis while we had another superb lunch
of gnocchi with gorgonzola and cream. The glacier has been a skiers paradise since the
1930s when the climb up took five hours, now several cable cars take you to the top for a
breathtaking panorama of wide open ski-anywhere slopes extending to the French Alps. To
brave the off-piste a guide is essential, as it was, we crossed open crevasse terrain with
blue ice sheets shining in the sun but the snow was, of course, cold and excellent to ski
on. Lower down Francesco led us through high rock walls over a frozen water course and
back to Passo Fedaia for schnapps in chocolate cups.
We moved on to the Hotel Passo Giau, luxury at 2236m.
The restaurant is a favourite with nearby Cortina d'Ampezzo's rich and famous and on our
second night the local gastronomic club had their monthly dinner. We feasted on four
courses, beautifully presented, accompanied with wine and crawled into bed vowing to catch
the golden dawn over the jagged peaks behind the hotel. Some of us made it.
The Cristallo area of Cortina occupied us for a day, including a chute that we were roped into.
Each day was even better than
the last, the scenery changed constantly, you'd turn a corner to a completely different
view. Trapper's Home for lunch was memorable, it consisted of a frying pan of Spaghetti
Arrabbiata for 10. Corvara is also favoured by the trendy rich and Trapper's Home on the
slopes at around 2000m is a great people watching place, the owner wears leather chaps and
cowboy boots and keeps his Harley Davidson downstairs, despite his preferences the food is
authentic Italian. Skiing past a castle and chapel on the downhill course at Val Gardena
brought home the difference between the olde world and Australia. Lunching up high above
the Edelweiss Valley our guides Francesco and Marion pulled out the binoculars, pointed
out the Val di Mesdi on the opposite side of the valley where we'd skied the day before.
The 'midday valley' is a natural sundial, at noon the sun shines directly down the centre
of it. Another chute, further to the right, the Val Setus, caught our guides' attention
and was discussed at length in Italian and they said if the weather stayed fine we would
ski it on the last day, access being by helicopter. It looked impossibly steep and narrow.
A real
mountain hut at Passo Gardena was our home for one night. Popular in summer with climbers
judging by the signed posters of famous mountaineers on the walls. The hut was basic but
cosy with everyone eating at long tables and joining in each other's conversations.
Riding in the helicopter was a treat, only metres away from the cliffs, the pilot turned 360s in narrow chasms for the most exciting views and dropped us off on a high plateau, one of the highest points around.
A gentle ski to a vee shaped valley which was filled with powder snow, despite it being weeks since the last big snowfall and not a soul around aside from our small group. Being roped up was (almost) old hat by now, over a rock band and into more powdery snow on a firm base. We descended several thousand metres between 10 metre high rock walls to the valley below.
Cruising the often, man-made slopes was also a blast,
wide, beautifully prepared and long, the miracle of snowmaking was very much in evidence
in the Dolomites.
The miracle of nature that is the Dolomites is worth seeing and skiing and together with the laid back, fun loving Italians and their fabulous food and wine, it all makes the Super Dolomite Safari a winner.
Details: Fly to Munich, easy connection train to Bolzano from within the airport.
Contact Marion Murri, Mountain Magic Travel, Po Box 199, Thredbo, NSW 2625.
To see more of Margot Seares' work check out the CIA Gallery.
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| Last Updated: August 21, 1998 |
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