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Smashing day in San Pellegrino

15th March 2012, by Chris Gill

Great views, long pistes at San Pellegrino

After a long and busy day on the Sella Ronda, it was a delight to explore one of the Val di Fassa’s local ski areas on Wednesday. And I found a gem in Passo San Pellegrino, near Moena. What’s more, it delivered pretty decent snow conditions – the pass being at 1918m helps.

Most Brits probably won’t have heard of San Pellegrino, or its unlinked neighbour Alpe Lusia that form the Trivallee ski area. Neither are resorts as such, more lift stations with parking and a few amenities. Visitors are usually local families on day trips. But there is about 100km of good intermediate slopes combined that can easily occupy a day or two, and which impressed me with their length. Another bonus is that they are all covered on the Dolomiti Superski pass.

The first thing that struck me though was how quiet and relaxed the whole place felt. There were no queues and the pistes were blissfully empty at times. San Pellegrino is best savoured on a sunny day as we had, when the views are spectacular and the open, exposed slopes are pleasurable to ride. There are runs on both sides (north and south facing) of the valley, but those on the northern side of the pass offer more variety and some lengthy vertical.

A highlight of the day was to be able to ski the home run without masses of people screaming down it. It’s a steepish, treelined red run that was great fun.

Quiet and gentle San Pellegrino slopes

Earlier in the day, I took a very long run down from Col Margherita (2515m) to the village of Falcade (1150m). The lower section is marked black for a short distance, but merits only steep red status really. This fine run seemed to go forever, and the returning chairlifts were some of the longest rides that I have encountered – that does not mean that they are slow, old chairs either; most are modern quads. Lower down it became a narrow track that was amazingly well prepared – the village and surrounding hillsides are brown now (see the photograph). With the continuous dry weather this week, it may not be open for much longer though.

There are a few good huts in the area, and Rifugio Gigio Picol served up decent meals at very reasonable prices. In fact, I enjoyed Kaisersmarren at half the price that I have seen it in Austria (5.30 euros). A full plate of spaghetti bolognaise will set you back just 6.50 euros – cheapest yet, I reckon.

The two parts to San Pellegrino are linked at one end and I thoroughly enjoyed a blast down the Cima Uomo slopes to round off the day. Most were deserted by then and nicely softened – not too slushy, despite the constant spring sunshine over them. All are gentle cruises.

Tomorrow we’re prepped for another long day, taking in the Marmolada glacier. I hope it’s sunny again.

Falcade may look brown, but there is snow on the run down – honest.

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• dolomites
• editor
• val di fassa
• san pellegrino

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