Also doing dolomite superski in February, any euro pals got the scoop on what's good there? I'm worried I'll be stuck on blue groomers the whole trip, wanna do more advanced stuff.
I guess it depends where you'll be staying.
I live close to Cortina, so I've been going up there mostly. Any run that's more advanced in that area is 100% weather dependent.
There are some runs coming down from Faloria that are great but if it's not a sunny day or if there is no fresh snow, it's a cold icy nightmare. I tend to avoid going up there honestly, because if it sucks, it really sucks, like no fun, and I prefer to take things easy during my snow days. Tofana is slightly less weather dependent, but the runs aren't as advanced. All of Cortina is pretty mellow honestly unless you seek out the really difficult stuff.
For me, the best area is the one up by Cinque Torri. There's a parking lot near Pocol past Socrepes (Socrepes is a fucking shitshow hell, do not park there unless you need to, you will be boxed in by angry men in fur coats dropping their brats off at ski school in their Lamborghini Urus all day long and wish you were dead) where they put in a new gondola last year that goes directly from the parking lot to the Cinque Torri area. From the base there you can keep going up to the top. There's a run that goes down the backside up there that's super fun (although pretty mellow). You can keep going up to the bowl from there which is fun and very beautiful, but it's not 100% snowboard friendly. There are some older lifts that spit you directly into a downhill area (there's nowhere to strap in) so you need to keep on your toes. Then to get back there's a long flat section where if the conditions are anything less than perfect or your board needs some wax, you'll be sweating trying to get back to 'civilization'.
I don't know anything about the backcountry up there because I've never had ideal weather when I was with people and when it was open the few times I was there alone, so I didn't feel like it was smart to go out there.
You can end up very far from your car if you're not smart. I had someone in our group who decided to have 'a few more runs' at the end of the day and they ended up on the complete other side of the mountain and finally found a taxi which cost them €150 to get back to the parking lot.
Or you can just take the gondola that goes from the Cortina center parking lot (where you buy the ski passes) and figure it out on your own. You can get pretty much everywhere in the area by planning a route except Faloria and Missurina, so if you decide to go up on that side, you're pretty much there for the day.
But Dolomiti Superski is several mountains so if you're not going to Cortina this will not be useful at all, haha.
Topic: Snowboard Appreciation (Read 53802 times)