Sellaronda ‘Orange’…

With a 9:50am start this morning, it was another cracker day and our intention was simply to explore the opposite direction we went yesterday, maybe stop for lunch in Corvara and then turn around and come home. That was not what happened. We got to Corvara and then despite it being a late start and having been told it would take 6 hours, we decided to keep going and do the Sellaronda Orange (anticlockwise).

Off we go again!

What is this ‘Sellaronda’ you ask? It’s one of the world’s best known ski circuits (in fact this whole area is UNESCO World Heritage listed) and it has been on my bucket list for a long long time. It is a 35km circuit around the Gruppo Sella - the sheer rocky mountains you can see in the background of our photos - through four different valleys of ski areas. You can ski it clockwise or anticlockwise - hopefully we will do both eventually this trip.

Top of Dantercepies

As was our original intention, we set off towards the pretty village of Corvara. We got there pretty quickly, and so decided not to stop there but to continue on a bit further. We got on the Boe gondola, a very long and very very steep ride up to the top of Piz Boe at 2,224m. We decided we would stop for morning tea due to the spectacular Piz Boe ‘lounge’ facilities - this was no ordinary rifugio. The modern Scandinavian-look building, straight out of a Bond movie, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking a breathtaking view, it was pretty incredible for what was essentially a snack bar/cafe. Of course we had to have our usual strudel, chocolate cake etc plus macchiatos all around. It was a good thing we had a good fuel up, as we decided that since we’d made such quick progress, that we might as well do the whole Sellaronda.

Piz Boe Lounge

I love it when people take flattering photos. Thanks.

We left the Piz Boe and descended in to Passo Campolongo, up another chairlift and then we skied down into Arabba. This is where we will be staying next week, and I managed to spot our hotel from the lift. Then we caught a lift that went downhill, to take us across a road - it felt very weird, never done that before! Also we were pretty much halfway around the Sellaronda by this time.

Up a few more lifts and gondolas of all shapes and sizes and some lovely scenic skiing to Passo Pordoi and the scenery began to look familiar as we arrived at Sass Bece, where we had lunch yesterday, Since we’d already eaten there, and it was only just after 12pm, we decided to keep going as we knew there were many more rifugios just over the hill. We chose one about halfway down the hill towards Pian Frataces, racked our skis/board and wandered across the deck and inside. It looked pretty busy, there was quite a queue for the self service area, but then we saw the cute little restaurant at the very back which looked pretty empty. Since we had time and needed a bit of a rest, we chose the restaurant - and what a superb choice it turned out to be! We ordered up a couple of proseccos and a LOT of water as we were all very thirsty at this point. Fat bread sticks, a bread basket and a selection of dips - tuna, olive and…whipped butter (of course!) arrived at our table. Sean decided on a pasta carbonara, and Cameron and I shared (yes we’ve got this down pat now) a salmon pasta. We chilled out and enjoyed the old-style Alpine decor and the views outside while we took our time over lunch.

Lunch!

By the time we finished lunch it was just after 2pm. We didn’t have far to go and Sean is familiar with the route now. I say Sean, because I have no idea due to my lack of directional sense which Cameron seems to have unfortunately inherited, so she has no idea either. Having said that, after skiing down to Pian Frataces, I did recognise the crepe place from yesterday as we looked down from the Pradel-Rodella gondola. I am slowly getting the hang of the various gondolas of all shapes and sizes - square, circular, skis outside in racks, skis inside stuck in slots in the floor (mine don’t fit!), skis inside in a weird round coat-rack thing, standing up, leaning up, sitting down - you only have a few seconds to work it out because there is no organised queue (Italy!) and everyone is pushing and shoving to get on, even when it isn’t crowded. So logical…

After another long run, we were back in Plan de Gralba so there were only a couple more runs to go and it was getting on to 3pm. The piste was getting pretty icy and skied out so we were glad to be close to home. This was especially so for Cameron - the Sellaronda trails are really not built for snowboarders as there have been quite a lot of flat traverses, so she has been borrowing one of Sean’s poles to keep the momentum up. Also the icy slopes are proving particularly taxing for her - a single edge is just not enough grip and she is finding she is often slipping over on the ice, contributing to her collection of bruises. We actually have not seen many snowboarders, so there might be a reason for that.

We managed to avoid the dreaded poma in Plan de Gralba by going up the Piz Seteur chairlift, and we made short work of the now-familiar descent into Selva, up the weird little Fungiea chair, down into the Selva car park, across the road, up the stairs that felt like climbing Mt Everest after all that skiing, on to the Costabella lift and down what was now an icy luge track to home. It was about 3:45pm, so we had done well. Shattered we hung up the boots and skis, shuffled into our apartment and promptly collapsed. There was no question of having dinner out tonight - Sean and I made a quick trip to the supermarket, and Sean cooked up a chicken and veggie stir fry, sort of, with tomato sauce as there are no Asian-style ingredients to be found in the supermarket. We did not last long after dinner, so called it a night early. I have a slight sense of dread of a very stiff and sore morning tomorrow…