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Advanced freeride mostly means skiing its iconic Dolomites couloirs.
Advanced freeride in the Dolomites means above all, skiing their famous couloirs: Cortina d’Ampezzo offers a wide variety of steep couloirs, as do the Sella massif, the Marmolada and many others.
In addition to the famous itineraries such as Val Mezdi or Val Lasties, the Sella Massif offers dozens of routes, some of them really extreme. The Tofana massif, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, and the Marmolada massif are two other paradises for steep off-piste skiing. If you are an advanced off-piste skier and want to try steep couloirs, rappels or snow cornices to overcome: Freewheeling’s guides will accompany you to discover the steep in safety.
WHERE TO STAY
A good suggestion is to find accommodation in a very central place in the Dolomites: if you don’t mind a short drive, Selva di Cadore is equally distant from Cortina d’Ampezzo, Marmolada and Pordoi. If you prefer not to use the car, we can start our ski tour from Arabba in the direction of Sella and Marmolada.
CUSTOMISED PROGRAMME
For advanced freeride in the Dolomites we only guide small private groups (max. 3-4 people): the itineraries are chosen according to the lowest technical level of the group. When we talk about advanced freeride, it’s about a wide range of difficulties: from short and steep couloirs, where falling down wouldn’t be dangerous, to complex itineraries where the rope is required or where we have to deal with a no-fall zone. Depending on the snow conditions and your technical level, we will take you to the best places!
WHY FREEWHEELING DOLOMITES
In general, for any type of request, but even more for unconventional requests, we strongly believe that speaking directly with a guide will make your day special: most of the time it will be exactly what you were looking for. When you write to us, the first person to read your email is an IFMGA guide from our small group.
EQUIPMENT
The transceiver (A.R.T.V.A), probe and shovel are mandatory and will be provided by us (included in the price) if you don’t have your own. The helmet is also compulsory. In case we need harness and crampons, they will be provided by us. At this page you can read What to bring.
Sella couloirs and Marmolada
HOLZER AND JOEL COULOIRS.
These 2 couloirs are classic steep couloirs with easy access from the Pordoi cable car: the Holzer has a north face, while the Joel has a south face. Both are very narrow and skiers have to slide sideways in some sections, while the gully is not wide enough to make a turn.
The Holzer doesn’t require any climbing, but after the first fairly wide section, the couloir gets much narrower. The skiers have to stop on a small flat spot and do a rappel. The rappel allows you to cross an icefall. In normal conditions, the length of the rappel is about 20 meters. In some seasons, the snow level inside the gully can get so high that the whole icy part is covered and abseiling is avoided: hard to believe!
To get to the start of the Joel couloir, skiers have a short but steep hike up to a saddle. It takes 10 to 25 minutes to get there. It depends on how deep the snow is. Anyway, the first footprints here would be the first tracks down the other side of the saddle! The gully is very steep, due to its exposure, it’s very important to tackle this route only when conditions are good. If we see that the snow at the entrance is too hard, we will surely decide to go back and ski something else!
HOLZER:
Approach from the lift station: 0 meters.
Descent: 1100 meters.
Gradient: max 50°.
JOEL:
Approach from lift station: 80 meters.
Descent: 650 meters.
Gradient: max 45°.
PIZ MIARA, VALON DE MEISULES AND VAL DE LITRES.
Piz Miara: This advanced off-piste itinerary is one of the greatest in the Dolomites and requires good mountaineering skills and safe snow conditions. The highlights are a long approach, a long descent (with lifts) and an endless couloir where the snow is often excellent. From the Pordoi lift station we have to ski all the way across the upper flat plateau of the Sella massif; this approach will take more than 2.5 hours, despite the short altitude gain. The descent starts from the big summit cross of the Miara peak, the first obstacle is often a cornice that we have to break or cross with the help of the rope. The gully is wide enough to make nice turns, but the obstacles aren’t over yet: we have a long rappel down a vertical rock face. After that the terrain is still steep and a hidden couloir is the only way to cross another vertical wall…
Val de Litres: Another great advanced freeride route! This time the approach is much shorter and doesn’t require the use of skins, but don’t underestimate the difficulty of this itinerary. It’s easy to get lost and the consequences can be really bad. Again there’s a rappel, but this time it’s a very narrow passage on the snow, much friendlier than Miara’s! These 2 runs can be some of the highlights of our freeride weeks: you can have a look at these 3 links:
Freeride ski safari dolomites.
PIZ MIARA, VALON DE MEISULES.
Access from the lift station: 350 meters, 2h30.
Descent: 1050 meters.
Gradient: max 45°/50°.
VAL DE LITRES.
Access from the lift station: 60 meters, 20 min.
Descent: 1100 meters.
Gradient: max 40°/45°.
MARMOLADA SADDLE.
This proposal combines two long descents, one on the north side of the Marmolada, through the glacier, and the second on the steep south side. For this, there’s a skin climb of about 1 hour and a tricky ascent that leads to the tiny Marmolada pass. But let’s take it in order! The itinerary starts with the long Marmolada cableway that leads to the top of the Marmolada. From there we’ll descend along the glacier, a long ride in very open terrain. After about 750 meters of pure fun, we find a passage over a rocky ridge to move on the extreme right side of the glacier. Now it’s time to switch to ascent mode. For about 1 hour and 30 minutes you will be in the cold shade of the high walls above the glacier. The last part to reach the fork is very steep and it is necessary to carry our skis on the backpack and to climb with crampons and an ice axe. This effort will be rewarded when we reach the end of the climb, looking down on the other side of the descent that awaits us! Finally, the sun warms our bodies, but before we start skiing, there’s an abseil that will lead us to the snow. The descent is epic: 1200 meters of freeride on a magnificent terrain: after the first steep section, the slope becomes more gentle, allowing skiers to relax and enjoy the view. At the end, a forest road will take us back to the bottom of the valley.
MARMOLADA TRAVERSE NORTH-SOUTH.
Ascent: 400 meters.
Descent: 1950 meters.
Gradient: max 35°/40°.
Cortina d’Ampezzo couloirs
VALLON DE RAOLA.
Far away from the resort, this great run goes down a never ending couloir. The slope is never extremely steep and it is great fun! Due to the approach to the couloir, this itinerary belongs to the advanced freeride in the Dolomites section: to reach the entrance of the gully we have to ski a long traverse from the top of the last chair of the Tofana resort. This section must be taken seriously: the traverse is above huge cliffs and this is definitely a no-fall zone, even the snow stability must be carefully evaluated. At the end of the traverse, just at the pass where the north side gully starts, we find an ancient building, it’s mind blowing to think that during the WW1 people could live up here, even in winter, at almost 3000 meters, between vertical walls, covered by snow, in the cold, under meters of snow!
After a well-deserved break, we start our incredible off-piste run, which will end in a remote valley called Travenanzes. The return is a bit tiring, while we have to push ourselves along a cross-country circuit to finally reach the bus stop where the bus will take us back to Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Ascent: 0 meters.
Descent: 1500 meters.
Gradient: max 35°/40°.
BUS DE TOFANA.
With the cable car “Freccia nel Cielo” we reach the slopes in the shadow of the walls of Tofana di Mezzo. Here we climb with skins for about 45 minutes until we reach a large arch. The characteristic hole can be seen from afar. It is the entrance to this magnificent route.
This time the ascent is from the north side, while the descent is on the sunny side. Skiing in the sun often means choosing the right time to start, when the snow is not frozen but soft enough for a great ride. The slope is quite steep at the beginning. It passes close to the Rifugio Giussani and continues under the majestic mass of the Tofane Pillars. At this point the skiing becomes more relaxed and we can make some wide turns. We reach the Dibona refuge. After a good refreshment, we continue in the woods to rejoin the slopes. If you want to spend one week riding in the Dolomites, we usually visit Cortina and its runs during an hotel based week.
Ascent: 200 meters.
Descent: 1050 meters.
Gradient: max 40°.
COULOIR OF THE COLUMN.
The name of this itinerary is due to the singular rock pillar which is located along the descent. This aesthetic line is visible from the bottom of the valley and the attraction for the freerider sight is almost overpowering! Surely this line cannot be skied at any time in the season but requires a good layer of snow at lower elevations, where we will have to ski among the bushes to find our way down to the town. The gradient is never extreme but at the end of the couloir, the itinerary turns left, above high cliffs, another no-fall zone! From the Tofana cable car we have to ski down the groomed and soon leave it for a short but steep climb, sometimes the crampons are useful.
Ascent: 100 meters.
Descent: 1100 meters.
Gradient: max 40°.
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