Cortina d´Ampezzo
Cortina d´Ampezzo is part of Dolomiti which is a very large ski area with 1200 km (!!!) of runs in 12 connected ski resorts. We decided to go there since it is supposed to offer one of the best skiing in the world. Another reason was that we have made shorter visits to Italian ski resorts before (Courmayeur/Monte Blanc and Cervino/Matterhorn), and we always liked skiing there.February 17: Took off from Skavsta airport to Venice Terviso airport where we arrived 40 minutes early thanks to Ryan air. Picked up a pre-booked Nissan Note and drove 2h to Cortina. Arrived to Hotel Larin around 22.
February 18: We were skiing in the Cortina Tofana (3245 meters) area all day. We started out from Socrepes. The weather conditions were perfect - a few degrees plus and sun all day. The area is famous for hosting the Olympic games in 1956 and we skied in many of the Olympic runs. The system is typical old ski-resorts style in the sense that some runs are quite technical and even red runs can be very demanding.
February 19: Again perfect weather conditions. We drowe to Corvara/Alta Badia - a very interesting 50 minutes drive on serpentine roads from Cortina. At the peak, we drove at 2105 meters at Passo Falzarego. The skiing was spent on completing the Sella ronda (counter clockwise direction). It goes around the Sella mountain group (3150 meters) and took us to many very nice runs from the four areas Alta Badia, Val Gardena, Val Di Fassa, and Arabba. These areas have typical Italian runs that are very wide and well prepared - perfect for laid-back skiing in Ray Bans :-). The round is mostly on red runs. The views from many of the peaks were absolutely spectacular!
February 20: Yet Another day with very nice weather. We decided to ski in Passo Tre Croci (Cortina), which is a short drive from our hotel. We first skiied in the runs of Cristallo (2930 meters). In the afternoon we moved over to Faloria (2362 meters). The whole Passo Tre Croci area is not very big but offers some very nice runs (typical Italian style). Some are Olympic runs from 1956. However most of the area is modern. Several nice restaurants and ski bars are available. At the tops of both sides the views are breath taking. 
February 21: We drove some 45 km to ski in Valdaora, Plan de Corones/Kronplatz. The locals told us "it is just a hill - no mountain", but with its 2275 meters it is certainly a very high hill. We found some nice runs, including a 4950 meters long black run with 1296 difference in altitude. We also skied the runs of St Vigil. When we agreed to ski from the top of Kronplatz to the first edge, Elena questioned if there are any edges on a hill. Later we agreed that there are no edges on a perfect hill.
February 22: We decided to spend the last day in Venice, which is located some 30 km from Treviso airport (so a 60 km detour for us). Unfortunately we lost an hour in traffic jam, but finally arrived to Mestre, where we parked the car and took a train to Venice St Lucia train station. From there we walked to St Marco's square and spent time in the surrounding quarters. Took off back to the airport at 17. Simply a very nice and relaxing day as tourists. Sitting at the airport writing these lines, we conclude that it has been a very nice trip. Dolomiti is certainly an impressive ski area that we could visit again. Then we would try one of the other resorts, probably one on the Sella ronda, which was the most interesting day of the week.
Click the title "Cortina d´Ampezzo" to see more pictures from the trip.
