Winter Sport for Everybody – Trentino Dolomites

A holiday in Trentino regenerates, frees the mind, relaxes. There are over 800 km of pistes for lovers of Alpine skiing, 500 km of trails for cross-country enthusiasts and districts with ten state-of-the-art fun parks for snowboarders. Other open air sports are also possible, like Nordic walking and snowshoeing, the latest in winter fitness, and then ski touring, ice skating, ice climbing and sleddogging.

 

WINTER EXCURSIONS ON SNOWSHOES

Excursions in the mountains are also possible in winter. All you have to do is put on ‘ciaspole’, the local name for snowshoes, and choose one of numerous pathways in Trentino. Snowshoeing is an activity everyone can do, from the youngest to the oldest, and it offers a splendid opportunity for exercise in the open air. You don’t need a lift pass, special equipment, or any experience because physically it’s just like walking. All that is required is a blanket of snow on a forest road in the mountains, or on a path in the woods, to enjoy a wonderful outing in the snow-clad countryside.

Not to be missed the snowshoe treks planned by the Alpine guides and the excursions in the moonlight with dinner in a refuge and return by torchlight, organised in the main resorts. Where? Weekends are proposed on the Altopiano della Paganella, in the Adamello Brenta Nature Park, on Monte Bondone in the Viote plain, and also on the Altopiano di Brentonico with nocturnal outings called «Wandering under the stars». Snowshoe excursions also around Pinzolo, in the Adamello Brenta Nature Park, some lasting 2 days and sleeping in a mountain hut. Walks in the Paneveggio Nature Park, included in the programme «Not only skiing», in the San Martino di Castrozza district. Easy itineraries are signposted in the Panarotta area, with the lovely Fravort – Gronlait traverse and on the Folgaria, Lavarone and Luserna plateaus along the trails of the First World War. Daily excursions are held in Valle di Fiemme and in Valle di Fassa. Lastly, in the largest mountain chain of eastern Trentino the «Lagorai Nature in Freedom» programme offers a calandar of weekly excursions with overnight stays in mountain huts and minitrekking.

 

NORDIC WALKING, OR WELL-BEING IN THE OPEN AIR

Nordic walking is the new way of keeping fit in the open air in the winter season. This activity is practised in areas where the snow has been beaten (for example by the side of cross-country trails or close to mountain refuges) and many excursions are organised by the Alpine guides. Nordic walking is a new and exciting way of moving around the natural environment using special poles that enable you to exercise 90% of your muscles, reduce physical effort by 30% and consume 46% more calories than in ordinary jogging. Thanks to the instructors of this new speciality in Trentino, it is easy to learn the proper posture to gain the maximum benefit. The ingredients of its convincing recipe are simple: unspoilt nature and enchanting panoramas, the ideal mix for regeneration and feeling fit.

 

 

EXPLORING EXCITING SKI TOURING ITINERARIES

Ski touring is a sport that allows you to reach summits and uncontaminated places on skis and traverse mountain slopes and chains accompanied by the silence. With skins under the skis to prevent you slipping backwards, you can climb to the top of mountains and then take off the skins and ski down.

Ski touring is practised almost anywhere in Trentino. There are some cult trails like the Sellaronda (the tour of the four passes in Val di Fiemme); the ascent to Cima d’Asta in the heart of Lagorai; in the Brenta Dolomites starting from Andalo, Molveno and Madonna di Campiglio; the tour of the Valbona Lakes in the Giudicarie valleys; the Maddelene in Val di Non and the area of the Tre Valli and Passo San Pellegrino.

ICE SKATING AND CURLING

One of winter’s most enjoyable and healthy outdoor sports suitable for everyone, both young and old, is ice skating. Nearly all the tourist resorts have an ice rink or an equipped centre, where you can also hire skates.

In Trentino there are 9 ice stadiums; in Canazei, Cavalese, Andalo, Folgarida, Pinzolo, Trento, Folgaria and Miola di Piné and many lakes. You can also ice skate in the evening after dinner.

In Baselga di Pinè, the Ice Rink Pinè hosts an internationally famous artificial ice stadium that attracts a considerable number of tourists every year, as well as great champions training for important competitions.

In Cembra, in the valley of the same name, a modern ice stadium has recently been opened where you can practise curling, the sport that aroused so much interest in the recent Olympics.

 

IN THE DOLOMITES WITH HUSKIES

Sleddogging gives you the chance to enter the stunning Dolomite environment on a sledge drawn by husky dogs. This is possibile on Passo Campo Carlo Magno, near Madonna di Campiglio. Periodically courses and excursions are also organised on Passo Bordala, Vigolo Vattaro, the Folgaria, Lavarone and Luserna plateaus, Viote del Bondone and the still unexplored Lagorai.

 

ICE CLIMBING ON FROZEN WATERFALLS

In winter the focus of climbing in Trentino switches to a great number of waterfalls that freeze during the cold weather and turn into attractive walls for enthusiasts of the ice axe and crampons.

It is possible to ice climb, with the help of Alpine guides, on the Vallesinella waterfalls in Madonna di Campiglio, on the Nardis and Pinzolo waterfalls and on the Vallorz waterfalls in Val di Sole. In San Martino di Castrozza an ice tower is erected in the village. In Cavalese it is possible, once a week, to climb a natural frozen waterfall illuminated by spotlights. The real paradise of ice climbing, however, is Val Daone, in eastern Trentino, where there are as many as 140 waterfalls. Val Daone has gained importance and fame among ice climbing experts because for the last six years it has hosted one of the World Cup events. The World Championships are due to take place here in January.