For the second time, the "King of Dolomites" Powder Photo Contest was held in San Martino di Castrozza. This is a photo competition in which teams of two skiers or snowboarders and a photographer have the opportunity to take the best pictures in the impressive mountain world of the Dolomites over two days to win not only fame and glory, but also valuable prizes! It's Wednesday afternoon and I'm sitting in a VW bus on the way to San Martino di Castrozza, a small village that lies somewhat remotely in the south of the Dolomites, in the shadow of the Pala Group. The reason for the trip is my participation in the "King of the Dolomites" photo competition as a representative of the PowderGuide editorial team. Apart from me, there are other participants in the event from Germany, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands in the car, which first drives over the Brenner Pass (where it is snowing heavily), past Bolzano (where it is raining lightly) over the Passo Rolle (on which a dangerous layer of slush has already formed) to San Martino (where the sky is clear for a change).
On Thursday, an exploration and familiarization tour is on the agenda, as we would also like to look for photo locations for the coming days. However, expectations for the day are low. There is a lot of snow, but yesterday it rained up to well over 2000 m, the mountains are covered in fog and there is a considerable risk of avalanches. Nevertheless, a large international group, consisting mainly of athletes from the main event sponsor Arc'teryx, takes the gondola up to the Rosetta Plateau. Unfortunately, the only thing to be seen all day is the person in front of us in the fog and the downhill options are also limited. The snow is wet and windy, I have no idea what the area looks like at all, so tomorrow could be bright... On Friday I set off quite early with my team (the Arc'teryx athletes Knut and Henrik from Norway). We will try to take as many good pictures as possible in two days, but we also want to get to know the area and ski as much as possible. The fourth member of our team is none other than the chairman of the local mountain guide association (Aquile die San Martino), 61-year-old Narci. Not only is he in great shape, but unlike the three of us, he also knows the area extremely well. He is also highly motivated and tells us at every opportunity that we have to win the contest!
His local knowledge and motivation are just what we need and so, on his advice, we don't head to the side of the ski area with the Rosetta plateau like almost all the other teams, but to the heavily forested Tognola side. The terrain there is more hilly and less steep, but you have a view of so many Dolomites, from the south face of the Marmolada to the Pala di San Martino, that a spectacular photo spot can be spotted from the very first lift. Henrik in particular seems quite enthusiastic and says something along the lines of :"I'll jump over the edge there first, ski fast, then into the opposite slope there and do a kind of slide on the windlip. If it works". I think to myself: "I hope at least his skis stay on" and take out my camera. Just at that moment, however, thick fog rolls over the ridge next to us and within seconds you can hardly see anything. We decide to wait a bit, but over the next quarter of an hour the fog only gets thicker and spreads further, which is why we pack up again and head for the highest parts of the ski area. We make it through the fog there, but the background to our photos is almost permanently cloudy for practically the entire day.
At the top, the snow is not bad at all and we take some cool photos, while also making sure that we get to ski at least a little. We even have a plan for a sunset photo, but one of the lifts breaks down and we are stuck in the valley. After a quick coffee and a slightly longer beer in the bar, we say goodbye to Narci, who has to go home, and head to dinner. It starts to snow outside, I look through the day's photos for a while and realize that a good ranking in the contest is unlikely, especially as snowfall and poor visibility are forecast for tomorrow.
And indeed, on Saturday morning there was a good 20 cm of fresh snow in the village and it was still snowing. As it soon turns out, Narci obviously didn't have to go home so urgently after all, at least he was still in the bar long enough after dinner to drink my two teammates under the table. Accordingly, they arrive late for breakfast and their talkativeness is limited at first. However, the fresh powder in the ski area quickly lifts their spirits and the conditions for treeskiing are fantastic! Thomas is our guide today. Unfortunately, his knowledge of English is limited to left, right, up, down, good, bad, jump and backflip. On the other hand, he knows a lot of "jumps", which our team happily throw themselves down for most of the day, especially Henrik, who doesn't look like he's had enough of last night. As we now know and appreciate each other to some extent (quote from Knut: "Yes, if you say the landing is reasonably okay, then I know it's better than what we had in Norway all winter"), the photo shoot goes quickly and we get to ski a lot. Thanks to the great conditions, we have a lot of fun.
We practically never see any other skiers, let alone other teams taking part in the contest. The day passes incredibly quickly, with the snowfall subsiding towards the afternoon. After the lift closes, we say goodbye to Thomas and after dinner we select the photos we want to submit for the jury's assessment. Then we say goodbye to Knut and Henrik, who are leaving for the airport early tomorrow morning to fly back to Norway.
On Sunday, the weather is warm but wonderful, not a cloud in the sky. I go skiing on the Rosetta with some of the other event participants.
The conditions are still really good, especially in the morning, but towards the afternoon it not only gets more and more snowy but also increasingly wet. Although we almost don't stop, my best pictures are probably all from today, which is of course too late for the contest. After a short period of confusion due to a lift parking space being blocked by a wayward Fiat Cinquecento with an obviously defective handbrake, we arrive at the village square later in the afternoon for the results announcement. In addition to the winners of the open "Wannabe" category, the "Wannababies" (under 18 years) and the "Pros" are also chosen, especially the latter with really strong pictures. The fact that our team didn't make it onto the podium is down to Narci, who is of course also present. He had apparently thought about taking us to the location of the winning picture, but decided against it due to the long duration. Of course, we still had a great time and hope to repeat the event next year! Here is the event website with the winning photos!
