We (Edwin and me) spent a week in the Dolomites from the 10 to the 17th of February. This was basically our family vacation so day long tours would not be appiciated by the rest. Besides that the snow conditions off piste where interesting to say the least. We where blessed with 20 cm of fresh on tuesday night but that blew away the next day due to high winds.
We managed to get in some interesting stuff in between the family trips and took some pictures to tell the story. Here they are:
Monday February 12: Upper part of the decent to Ornella. This one starts on Passo Padon and can normally be reached with a slight uphill traverse. This year however conditions where somewhat different.
Where the fuck did the snow go?
Edwin spotting some new lines...not really within our capabilities though.
aha there's the snow!
This does not look bad
Hard but grippy.
The line from below. Nice.
Tuesday February 13:
Lower part of the Forfesc run. Easy to reach from the piste. The day after the snowfall. Variable windblown snow with difficult blown in pockets.
Not bad but variable, check the crust.
Edwin double ejecter after finding a unexpected blown in pocket. We spend 10 minutes looking for his skis.
Scenic of the Sella masive from the piste at the end of the day. Piz Boé is the high peak to the right.
Thursday February 15:
Despite knowing that the conditions would not be great due to the low and difficult snow we decided to ski Val Mezdi. This is basically the Valleé Blanche of the Dolomites but in these conditions we were alone.
We had to walk the first flat part of the route as the snow was blown away.
Rifugio ? on Forcella Pordoi, Piz Boé to the left
Up till here we could manage on boots our skis. For the last part we needed the skins.
How creative![]()
Can I borrow your shovel please![]()
and there goes the snow![]()
Skis
Entrance couloir at least there was snow there. Breakable crust though.
The middle part was basically sidestepping between the rocks as most of the snow was blown away. Lower the coverage got better but quality was still breakable crust. Somewhere between halfway in your turn and the end you would break through or not...
The skiing may not have been great the view was!
Do I break through or not?
aahh snow again.
Ski with a view
Some sidestepping again
The decent through Val Mezdi was not great ski wise but it was a nice day in the mountains. A whole lot better than skiing around moving slalom poles on the pistes.
Thanks for looking.
Bookmarks