Our Dolomites advanced level trip explores more technical ski objectives in the most scenic range in the Alps, on a day touring week based in San Vito di Cadore, near Cortina. The area has amazing scenery, offers many steep and intricate routes threading between the imposing limestone towers, and there is a huge variety of options within easy reach of our hotel. 

Trip Info

This is a challenging week, exploring some of the steeper and more intricate classic tours within the region.  The Dolomites are unique mountains in Europe, if not the world – vertical walls overlook beautiful valleys, summits and bowls that provide amazing backcountry ski routes.  The range offers a huge choice of itineraries, and fantastic hospitality; with typical local dishes and great classics of Italian cuisine always accompanied by excellent wine. We will make use of a group minibus (and the local uplift) giving us total flexibility to reach the best touring venues each day, to suit the current weather, conditions and group aspirations.

Suitability

This is an advanced level trip. To take part you should be at Fitness Level 3/4 and Tech Level 3/4 (see our Fitness/Experience guidelines below). This is a faster paced trip than our regular Dolomites week – we aim to ski steeper lines, and tour into steeper and more technical terrain. Solid ski touring experience is required to join this tour, as well as experience using ice axe and crampons.  For reference, Ski Club of GB Gold off piste ski standard is required for this trip.  The week involves 5-7 hour days with some steeper skinning involving kick turns and boot tracks up steeper terrain on foot, with 500-1300m of climb a day, so you can expect to be skinning for 3-4 hours a day.  Type of ascent: depending on the exact tours selected during the week, there is some uplift potential, as well as some days of 100% skinning, all at mid altitude.

Guiding ratio

One IFMGA guide skiing with 6 clients, or occasionally 2:7, with one Aspirant guide joining the team too.

Included in price

• 6 days of guiding
• All guides expenses
• 7 nights accommodation in San Vito di Cadore, including breakfast and evening meals
• Local travel (in a minibus/group vehicle) during the trip to complete the itineraries

Excluded from price (see factsheet for extra cost estimates)

• Uplift
• Lunches and drinks
• Flights and transfers to San Vito di Cadore
• Insurance
• Ski equipment hire

Accommodation

Our base for the week is the amazing, family run 3* Fiori Dolomites Experience Hotel in San Vito di Cadore, 10km south of Cortina D’Ampezzo. The hotel offers an excellent buffet breakfast, an afternoon snack buffet, comfortable rooms, and a wellness area with a sauna and steam bath etc. Rooms are provided on a twin sharing basis, but if you wish to book a single room please let us know and we will confirm availability.  We will dine in a different local restaurant each evening. The restaurant choices have been curated by our local guide, Andrea, and offer a great variety of modern and local traditional cuisine. Hotel details can be found on our Accommodation page.

ABTOT Protected

This trip is protected by ABTOT – Alpine Guides Ltd, Membership Number 5394.  For further information, please visit our Financial Protection page.

Subject to weather and snow conditions, the plan is as follows. Please note that this is a sample itinerary only – on trips like this, itineraries are always subject to change as the current snow, weather and avalanche conditions need to be taken into account. This is an essential part of safety planning for all backcountry skiing, so please be ready for changes as part of your trip.

Saturday

You should arrange outward travel to Venice Marco Polo Airport, to arrive mid afternoon latest in order to catch a transfer bus to San Vito di Cadore.  PM Evening Briefing. Your guide will run through kit checks and safety routines, as well as hand out any rental equipment, before going on to discuss the current weather and mountain conditions and how these affect our plans. We’ll have maps and guidebooks of the area to show you, so if you’ve any further questions or last minute requests, then this is the ideal time to bring them up.

Sunday to Friday

Day tours in the Cortina and surrounding area, including:

Passo del Cristallo

1300m of ascent. This ski mountaineering excursion takes us to one of the most beautiful passes in the Dolomites, in the heart of the Cristallo Group. A long excursion on typically beautiful snow, with a distinctive section to tackle with skis on your backpack.

Creste Bianche – Cristallo

700m of ascent. A famous traverse of the Cristallo group. The climb, though not particularly long, is quite challenging due to the numerous kick turns on steep terrain. The descent is on the opposite side and is a full 1,400 meters long.

Canyon and Forcella Marmolada

500m of ascent. The Marmolada needs no introduction. For this trip, we’ll use the cable car and, after skiing the canyon, we’ll climb to the Marmolada pass with a final steep section. 1700m of descent!

Forca Rossa del Pelmo

1100m of ascent and descent. Many claim that the northern slope of Pelmo is the coldest place in the Dolomites, and we agree. The snow stays cold and dry even in spring along this long, smooth slope in the shadow of the gigantic Pelmo.

Forca Granda Lagazuoi 700 m D+, 700m D- (photo)

700m of ascent and descent. An intricate loop around Mount Lagazuoi with an interesting and unique character, on slopes of all aspects. The crux of the tour is a well skiable couloir hidden by the Dolomitic walls.

Val Setus – Sella

500m of ascent. The Setus Valley is one of the most distinctive places in the Dolomites: a long, steep gully in the heart of the Sella massif. The approach is via a cable car and a two-and-a-half-hour crossing along the Sella plateau. 1200m of descent.

Ra Seleta – Faloria

1000m of ascent and descent. A less frequented tour, but splendid for its variety of views and aspects. The view from the small summit remains one of the most spectacular in the Dolomites.

Muntejela de Sennes

1300m of ascent and descent. A long journey through the heart of the Fanes-Senes-Braies Natural Park. This excursion will start from the valley floor and reach the sunny, wide slopes above the Senes Refuge. A long, enjoyable descent will make us forget the effort of the climb!

Saturday

AM, early start to catch the bus back to Venice Airport and flights home.

Your meeting point and base for the week is San Vito di Cadore in the Italian Dolomites. The most convenient way to reach San Vito is to fly to Venice Marco Polo Airport, then take the Cortina transfer bus which stops in San Vito, just 10km south of Cortina. Return travel should be arranged on the day after your final nights accommodation.

Flights and transfers

• Fly to Venice Marco Polo Airport. Suitable flights are available from the UK with Easyjet from Gatwick and there are also indirect flights from various other locations.
• There are approx 8 transfer buses to San Vito di Cadore each day (and also returning to Venice at the end of the trip), leaving throughout the day.  Book tickets on the Cortina Express website – https://www.cortinaexpress.it/en/

Alternatively, hire a car from any airport – driving times to San Vito are 2hrs from Venice Marco Polo and Treviso airports and 3hrs from Trieste and Verona airports.  NB you must hire a car with winter tyres or snow chains – as you will be crossing high mountain passes in winter, where special equipment is compulsory.

Further information and travel links can be found on our Travel Planning page.

To enjoy this trip you should be comfortable operating at Fitness Level 3/4, and Ski Tech Level 3/4:

Fitness Level 3
You do 3-4 hours cv training/sport per week. At this level you are happy doing a 5-6 hr hillwalk, 40-50ml cycle or 3-4hr mountain bike ride without being totally exhausted. If you are into challenges – then the thought of doing a road sportive, or training to do a 1/2 (or maybe even a full) marathon, wouldn’t seem too ridiculous. On foot: you should be able to do the full Langdale Horseshoe: Langdale – Pike of Stickle – Angle Tarn – Bow Fell – Crinkle Crags – Pike of Blisco – Langdale in a day without finishing up exhausted. On skis: you can skin uphill at 300-400m/hr for 3-4 hrs a day (ie 8-1200m of ascent each day)

Fitness Level 4
You do 4+ hours CV training/sport per week. A 70+ mile cycle ride, or 20+ mile hillwalk on a weekend would hold no fears. If so inclined, you might be the kind of person who has done longer road sportives/challenge rides, a ~3.30hr marathon or other similar endurance events. Keen hillwalkers who happily knock off 3-4+ munros in a day also have this kind of fitness and endurance. On skis: you can skin at 400m+/hr or could handle 4-6hrs skinning a day. (ie 1000-1400m+ of ascent each day).

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Tech Level 3
Confirmed Off Piste Skier. You can put down a reasonable set of tracks in powder, but difficult snow types – eg heavy wet snow, crusts, poor visibility or 40dg slopes – can all cause problems (though you can cope with them safely, if not elegantly!) *Equivalent to Ski Club of GB Off Piste Level: Purple – Advanced*
Likely to say: ‘I’d like to handle difficult snow/steep slopes more confidently in better style’
Our Advice: Off piste coaching still useful. Intermediate off piste weeks are at your level too. If you want to get into ski touring, try a touring course or intro level ski tour. If you’re an established ski mountaineer, then intermediate level tours are generally suitable.

Tech Level 4
Advanced Off Piste Skier. You can put turns in through heavier snow and on icy 40dg slopes, but difficult breakable crusts and skiing a fresh track off piste in zero visibility are still somewhat challenging! *Equivalent to Ski Club of GB Off Piste Level: Gold – Expert*
Likely to say: I’ve been skiing ten/twenty years – I’d like to do your ‘……’ tour.
Our Advice: You will enjoy our advanced level trips, but don’t overlook the touring skills and physical fitness needed as well. Mileage is the best way to improve your ability level.

To view all of our Ski Fitness Levels and Off Piste Technical Levels, please visit our Ski Ability page.

If you need to top up your fitness for this trip, please see our Ski Touring Training Advice page.

Off Piste Ski Ability Levels

To join this trip, you need to be skiing at Tech Level 3/4 or higher on our 5 point scale. Use the descriptions above and the following video to help work out your current off piste ski ability level.

Day Touring Equipment List

Just remember, every extra kilo on your back knocks 10% off your enjoyment on the descents – so try and keep the weight down!

Technical Clothing

• Waterproof Jacket – preferably lightweight and breathable
• Overtrousers/ski pants – preferably with side zips
• Fleece mid layer or equivalent
• Spare fleece or lightweight insulated duvet jacket
• Socks – specialist ski socks or a warm loop lined pair of mountain socks
• Wicking thermal top – not cotton please…
• Thermal leggings or ski pants
• Thin inner gloves
• Warm ski gloves or mittens, if you suffer from cold hands
• Warm hat

Personal Items

• Water container – at least 1 litre
• Personal medications and blister kit – regular meds, zinc oxide tape, compeed and painkillers etc
• Ski goggles
• Sun glasses – CE rated 3 or 4 with side protection
• Sun and lip cream – factor 30+
• Wallet, passport and insurance docs

Technical Equipment

• Rucsac 25/35l – try and avoid ones covered in too many features, just ski and ice axe attachments required
• Ski mountaineering boots
• Skis with touring bindings – lightweight pin binding setup required. Heavy freeride setups not suitable. Older style bar/rail bindings (Fritschi Freeride, Marker Duke etc) not allowed – please update your kit!
• Ski strap – to keep skis together on your rucksack if we need to carry them
• Ski poles – with good size 5cm+ baskets (telescopic poles are not needed)
• Climbing skins – they come with the skis if you hire your kit
• Harscheisen (ski crampons) – they come with the skis if you hire your kit
• Metal snow shovel – must be a full metal shovel (plastic blades don’t work in real avalanche debris!)
• Avalanche probe
• Avalanche transceiver – must be a modern digital model (older analogue models are now obsolete)
• Harness, with 120cm sling and locking karabiner
• Crampons – bring them if you have them
• Ice Axe – bring if you have one
• Ski Helmet – lightweight ski touring or backcountry model preferred.  Wearing a helmet is compulsory on descents and may be needed on other parts of the route depending on conditions

Your guide will have all other safety kit, first aid and survival equipment.

Recommendations and Advice
Visit the Knowledge Base section of our website, where we publish an annual review of the years best new skis, boots and touring equipment, plus a range of other interesting tips and recommendations. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please get in touch!

Purchasing Equipment
Backcountry UK in Otley offer an excellent ski touring boot fitting service, one of the best ranges of ski mountaineering equipment in the UK and top notch advice.

Hiring Equipment
Please visit our Equipment Hire page for recommended hire shops in your resort, and Alpine Guides hire equipment price list.

For this trip you must have specialist travel insurance providing medical, emergency search/rescue and repatriation cover for off piste skiing and ski touring, as outlined in the trip itinerary. We also strongly recommend that you purchase cancellation cover, in case you’re unable to attend your trip due to personal circumstances or injury. Please arrange your insurance as soon as your trip is confirmed to run.

Further details can be found on our insurance info page.