FreeWheeling Dolomites

ski, climbing, via ferrata and guided tours in the dolomites

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Italian Dolomites
in Winter

ski touring dolomite

The Dolomites are a great adventure terrain for whoever feels up to winter challenges such as skiingsnow-shoeingice-climbing,  Whatever your chosen activity, these landscapes are themselves a good enough reason to come here from any part of the world. Complement this with good food, friendly folk and great services for families and you already have the perfect destination for your next holiday.


The so-called “Guida Alpina” (mountain guide) is professionally certified to take people up in the mountains. This section lists several of the activities we can enjoy together in the Dolomites. The suggestions attached to them are just a small sample of what the Dolomites can offer.

Here the possibilities to make our dreams come true are endless. Every activity comes with this certainty: our magnificent landscape, really unique in this world.

We can come up with a customised plan fitting everyone’s wishes and skills.

One of the most famous descent of Cortina d'Ampezzo: Bus the Tofana at the foot of Tofana di Rozes. To get to the sunny side there's a challenging traverse across a natural hole in the rock.

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Echoo
We spent a week skiing with Fabrizio Dalla Rossa on the freeride ski safari and it’s safe to say it was the best week skiing I have ever had. Fabrizio took us to great restaurants, runs and hotels, I would recommend to anyone looking for an adventure!
Molly Tinker
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Some of the most popular activities in the Dolomites

Where to go in the Dolomites in Winter

The Dolomites span an area around 16,000 square kilometres wide. Every one of the valleys has something to show and deserves a few days. So, how can we choose the best place to satisfy your needs?

We point out a few choices below:

If you’d rather combine artculture and mountains, go for the Brenta Dolomites or the Catinaccio group. Being close to the cities of Bolzano and Trento is definitely a bonus.  

Would you rather on and off piste sking? The Sella group valleys are the most impressive. Val di FassaVal BadiaArabba, MarmoladaVal Gardena they share the largest number of connected lifts in the Dolomites. 

Do you prefer to stay away from the lifts instead? Choose somewhere between Val PettorinaVal FiorentinaVal Zoldana and you won’t be disappointed, especially if you are fancy for ski-touring!

Do you want to join wilderness with slope ski and shopping? Of course Cortina d’Ampezzo is the answer!

Summit not to be missed

A single Dolomitic icon has never been established, due to the endless amount of peaks, spires and incredibly vertical cliffs. Below is just a very limited selection of the most photographed and symbolic mountains, which you should visit in the winter.

  • TRE CIME
  • MARMOLADA
  • CINQUE TORRI
  • TOFANA DI ROZES
snowshoeing at the shade of the Three Peaks of Lavaredo

TRE CIME (Three Peaks of Lavaredo): they sit on the Dolomites’ northern side, within the Sesto Dolomites natural park. They look like 3 huge pinnacles rising up over 500 metres from the scree slopes. They are made of dolomia rock, slowly and constantly modelled by the glaciers sitting on top of them during the various Ice Ages. The northern faces were eroded to such an extent that are now one of the greatest overhanging cliffs in the world (West Peak’s north face). During the winter the crowd which usually hike at the base of them is gone and the car park near-by Auronzo hut is reachable just by walk or, alternatively by a fun ride on a ski-doo. Besides the three peaks, the entire group consists of a few other peaks. Once covered by their white dress they became a ski-touring and snowshoeing paradise.

best marmolada freeride

MARMOLADA: the Queen of the Dolomites and its 3,348 metres are the highest peak in the area. Its most characteristic feature is the only remaining Dolomites’ true glacier on the northern side and the most perfect limestone cliff on its southern side. This huge mountain count a number of different peaks: Punta Rocca (3309 meters) is reached by a gondola, from this point there are almost 2000 vertical meters of powder which are skiable totally away from the slopes! Punta Penia (3343 meters) is the highest Marmolada peak, it’s reachable only with a long ski-touring trip. It’s better to tackle this journey in the Spring, when the snow is more stable and safe.

5 towers freeride

These are found just a a few hundred metres from Falzarego Pass, just above Cortina d’Ampezzo. The close ski-slope represents an easy access gate to this labyrinth mass of towers (the tallest of which is around 200 metres high). The best way to visit this monument is in fact  by skies or snow-shoes. The skiable forest in the 5 towers area is one of the best option for free-ride during the bad weather days. 

freeride cortina bud de tofana

The Tofana, with its impressive size, dominates the landscape and can be seen from far away. From Tofana ski station it’s possible to ski down Bus di Tofana. This free-ride itinerary which counts 1500 vertical meters gap, pass just below the massive south face of Tofana. In the early Spring, it’s possible also to reach the summit  of Tofana di Rosez, with the skies on your feet. This would be one of the best achievement you can think about in the winter Dolomites

el gigante 02

It’s rare to catch sight of this mountain without a cloudy hat encircling its summits. The Tofana, with its impressive size, dominates the landscape and can be seen from far away. Its excellent solid rock makes it a well known climber’s destination. However, its long via Ferratas are the most successful attraction among the enthusiasts!

When to go? Weather and general observation.

The Dolomites’ climate is typically Alpine, even if somehow made milder given their location on the Alps’ Italian (southern) side. Indeed, the high summits shield the very cold northerly winds coming from Russia and northern Europe. The Dolomites range in height from a minimum of 1,200 metres (valley bottom) up to 3,000 metres (Marmolada is the highest elevation at 3,343 metres).

ski touring easy and beauty Dolomites

Temperatures

In the Winter the temperatures are fairly rigid, they clearly decrees with the rise of the altitude. More in details, in January and February at an altitude of 2000 meters, the temperatures show average minimum around -8°C and maximums around -2°C. February is the coldest month within average -5°C; during this period at 2000 meters it often happen to register  minimum temperatures around -20°CMarch records minimum temperatures close to February (-6°C), average maximum is above 0°C due to a relatively significant amount of sun.

Rainfall

With a rainfall average of 125 millimetres during the three winter months (or equal number of centimeters of snow), winter is definitely the most dry season. The average count of winter snowy days is 18. Within a snowfall average of 40 cm, December is the most dry month of all.

Weather changes

Due to their very geographic location, between the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, the Dolomites are dominated by 2 opposite weather systems: in fact it’s pretty common a sunny day in the northern side of the range while a storm is hitting the Southern side and vice-versa.  Generally, snowfall in the Dolomites occurs when South Atlantic low pressure push humid streams toward the Dolomites. This is the reason why the southern peaks get a higher amount of snow rather then the norther peaks. Pale di S. Martino, Lagorai, Civetta and Marmolada are the snowiest peaks in the Dolomites.

So if Southerly storms come through, snow would fall in the southern Dolomites while on the other side of the range a relatively hot wind will blow. The “Stau” is the name of this wind which is provoked by the lost of humidity and heating of the original air-mass.  If northerly winds take over, it would snow on the north side while the hot wind will hit the south side. In this case the wind it’s named “fohen”.

Nevertheless, we are witnessing substantial shifts in weather and niveological conditions as a direct result of climate change. We tackle this issue head-on in our article Climate change and ski mountaineering.

 

When to go

In the Dolomites the winter season usually starts around the 8th of December (Italian holiday). Even though the lifts can be open earlier if the snow is already on the ground. In the unlucky case the snow would not fall, the Dolomiti Superski area will be fully operative by Christmas time at the latest, thankful to the artificial snow. To spend Christmas time in the mountains is a dream shared by many, that why this is the most crowded and therefore expensive.  For the ones who’re fancy for snow-shoeing or ice-climbing the crowd wouldn’t be their problem at all!
January is a low-season month, so the prices as well as the people are decreasing a little bit, giving to the luckiest the opportunity to enjoy the snow at its best. More over in January the chances to find a good
snow layer are higher rather then December. As well as in February, this month is peferct for the ski-safari.
February is the coldest month, this guarantee the best quality of powder snow. Besides that, the day light  is longer and the sun makes people feel much warmer. The ice-climbing season is usually running all over February, till the beginning of march.
The snow condition in March can be very similar to February, but less crowded! In this period is not unusual to ski half of an itinerary on powder and a second half on spring snow, just fire! March and February are perfect to organise hut to hut ski touring tours. 
April is when the lifts generally close. The day it can change depending from Eastern holidays but usually it’s around the 10th. April is the best time to reach the highest Dolomite peaks by ski touring and ride down on a spectacular spring snow!

Accomodation

The Dolomites started gathering visitors more than 100 years ago. This allowed for a long, consolidated tradition around hospitality and accommodation. Generally speaking, you won’t find many large tourist establishments but rather small hotels, apartments for rent or rural tourism well integrated in the villages they are located in. We must note that accommodation standards here are very high. You can safely book a 1-star hotel and not fear about cleanliness, hygiene and the way the will look after you. Often, accommodation is recently refurbished and modern. There are clearly differences between the valleys. The one with the most modern services are Val Badia, Val Gardena, Val Pusteria and Val di Fassa.

Mountain huts

Learn the essentials about Dolomites refuges — location, services, and types — to make your adventure comfortable and unforgettable.

A men is waking with the snowshoes n the night, Fuciade hut is on the back

What to do if the weather is bad

We can definitely take advantage of bad weather to relax our muscles in one of the many spas. These are often inside hotel structures, however they are open to the public. A special one is the new thermal complex QC Terme Dolomiti in Val di Fassa.
For the ones that can’t stop getting their sweaty hands on some holds, we can suggest a few indoor climbing walls to carry on the practice.

Brunico: heliks.it
Bressanone www.vertikale.it
Dobbiacco: www.nordicarena.it
Sesto: www.sesto.it
Canazei: www.valdifassaclimbing.it

Moreover, you can look at cultural stuff, particularly the intense modern history of these places is the main subject of a number of museum Expositions.
Messner museum: www.messner-mountain

Bolzano archeological museum: here you’ll get the famous ice-man, Otzi.
www.museo-archeologico

Many are those museums which tell the dolomite story about the First World War:
www.cortinamuseoguerra.itwww.museomarmoladagrandeguerra.com

Each of the 5 Ladin valleys counts a number of dedicated museums.
www.museumladin.it

In this region, many are the Medieval castles which now are open to the visitors.
www.burgeninstitut.com
www.castellodiandraz.it

In your racksack

Here is a summary of equipment and clothing we recommend you need. For more information, see this page: What to bring.
It is thoroughly recommended to get the rucksack weight down as much as possible when taking on multi-day treks in the Dolomites and going from hut to hut. The pack should be between 30 and 45 litres, here is a list of what to bring:

CLOTHING

  • 1 or 2 underwear (these can be washed at the huts)
  • One pair of light, long trousers
  • Waterproof trousers
  • 2 technical t-shirts (short-sleeved)
  • 1 long-sleeved t-shirt (better if Merino wool)
  • Windproof fleece
  • Waterproof jacket
  • Gloves
  • Hat

PERSONAL CARE and other items

  • Rucksack waterproof cover
  • Sleeping liner (for overnight stays at the mountain huts)
  • Soap, toothbrush, toothpaste
  • Small, compact foldable towel
  • Ear plugs
  • Sun cream, lip care
  • Sunglasses
  • Cash
  • Head torch
  • Water bottle

TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT

  • Suitable footwear: rigid, waterproof boots for mountaineering and activities on snow; semi-rigid trekking boots or shoes for via Ferratas or long-distance treks (with or without ankle support depending on preferences)
  • Rock climbing: climbing shoes, harness, helmet, chalk
  • Via Ferratas: helmet, harness, ferrata gloves, via ferrata set (with carabiners and screamer). This equipment is handed out by the guide and has to fit in your rucksacks.

Suggested outdoor equipment stores

The Dolomites are well equipped with many outdoor shops packed with gear for the outdoors, via Ferratas, trekking and mountain biking. Here is a list of shops with a good gear selection:

climbing equipment