Follow my adventures while living in Italy with my husband and our two dogs Moose the whippet and Ruby the Australian Terrier. It's sure to be full of fun, frustration and cultural confusion.

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Ski Field Review - Obereggen



Joe and I had our first day skiing of the season on Sunday at Obereggen. I thought I would do a quick review of all the ski fields we ski at to 1) help us keep track and 2) be a useful resource to anyone thinking of skiing in these parts.

So Obereggen.

Where is it?
In Italy, the Dolomites, half an hour from Bolzano (that's right kids, we left Bolzano and drove for only half an hour and were at a ski field).
Joe, at Obereggen, Dolomites behind him (note: this was not taken on Sunday but in March)


Size?
Obereggen is massive (48km of ski runs), it sprawls across I think three valleys.  Here is the ski trial map.



Difficulty?
It's a great intermediate ski field with lots of blue and red runs, all lovely and wide and groomed regularly. I think there would be some great off piste skiing (especially some lovely tree runs under the lift line) if the snow was good (see snow conditions for what it was like when we were there).

Snow conditions?
It's early in the season still so there wasn't really any powder to speak of. That said the dolomites have an amazing extensive snow making programme making it an excellent early season destination. All the runs were covered and almost all of them were open. However the lack of fresh stuff meant that skiing off-piste was not really worth your while. Joe and I did a small foray into the trees but this was just to have a bit of fun than for the amazing skiing to be had. Note: Joe and I have skied here twice before, once on the last day of last season when it was hard as rock (and very fast, incidentally) and once in March when there was lots of sun and soft, spring snow. We enjoyed it in all the conditions.
Me, skiing on a sunny day in March (not on Sunday)

Weather?
Overcast but clear in the morning, cloud started coming in in the afternoon killing the visibility in the west (?) side of the ski field, it also got cold then.

Facilities/Food/etc?
Obereggen is like alot of ski fields in Europe in that it has restaurants all over the mountain. There is great coffee to be had and Joe and I shared a delicious "farmers pasta" for lunch. This is a local peasant dish that can be found in pretty much any pub where you get a creamy tomato sauce with a bit of mince/sausage, some mushrooms and maybe some capisicum. Very wholesome and filling. At the end of the day we had a gluhwien at the "Tipi" a bar at the base of the field that's a giant Teepee. Bonus, the gave us mini ritter sport chocolate bars with our ski passes.

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