After three dry beginning of the winter, this season 2017-18  we should not complain. People have ski toured in the Dolomites since mid November, on December 12th we had a good snowfall unfortunately followed by strong wind from the north up high. This week we have had more sunny days with north wind, the Sass Pordoi cable car opened yesterday (my “beep” at the gate is the first of the season!) and we broke trail towards the classic Val Setus, one of the most beautiful ski traverse of the Sella massif, and we found a pretty good snow cover with hard pack snow on the downhill, and bullet proof hard pack snow on the steep couloir, so it’s better to be up it if fancy to ski down as you can’t make any mistake. The famous Val Mesdì was skied yesterday as well, in Cortina d’Ampezzo the Bus de Tofana run has been well skied in the last week, and the ski touring activity has continued along the classic itineraries of the Cadini di Misurina and Passo Giau area.

Off-piste skiing in St Anton am Arlberg. Valluga south.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday I went skiing in St Anton am Arlberg, where the snow conditions are just great. The snow base is very good also down the valley, the cold snow, no wind and the low temperatures of these last weeks have delivered  5-star off-piste ski days to the locals and the few tourists so far. We skied Valluga in amazing conditions (the second team of the season up there), we were then the first of the season to ski down to Malfontal on great powder.
Now it looks like Santa Claus will bring us some snow here in the Dolomites with 3 days of delay … keep fingers crossed.
Best wishes for happy holidays to you all!