Sellaronda, on skis in the Dolomites

It’s the circuit of the Sella mountain group, going over four passes: Pordoi, Sella, Gardena and Campolongo, and going through the four Ladin valleys: Fassa (Trentino), Gardena (South Tyrol), Badia (South Tyrol) and Arabba (Veneto). A carousel of slopes, medium difficulty, with occasional options for more advanced runs, all connected by modern ski lifts. The tour can be comfortably completed in 5-6 hours, even by the less experienced skier. The Dolomiti Superski ski pass is required.

The whole day on skis is spent above 2,000 m, where the views of the splendid Dolomites are truly breathtaking. You can begin the tour from any of the four valleys. The important thing is to set off no later than 10.00 a.m. From Val di Fassa there is a choice of starting points: Canazei-Belvedere and Campitello-Col Rodella. You can make the circuit in either direction, and colour coded signposts will guide you round, orange for clockwise and green for anti-clockwise.

If you set off from the centre of Canazei, take the "Belvedere" cabin lift to "Pecol"; here you can get the cabinway "Toé" that leads to the starting point of the Sellaronda tour, in both its directions. Otherwise, once arrived in "Pecol", you can go up to the panoramic "Col dei Rossi" (2,832 m) - an amazing point to see Val di Fassa - that can also be reached taking the modern "funifor" from Alba di Canazei. From here you need to go down again towards the "Toé" top station, to start the actual Sellaronda ski tour.

Setting off from Campitello di Fassa, you should take the cable car from village up to "Col Rodella" at 2,485 m and follow the directions from there. It’s particularly important to reach the last pass by 3.30 p.m., in order to be back in time. If the weather is bad (heavy snow or strong wind) some lifts may be forced to close.