The most beautiful mountains in the world. This claim is often used to describe the imposing limestone cliffs in the South Tyrolean Alps. It's not just hordes of Italian summer tourists who make a pilgrimage to this unique region during Ferragosto. In freeride circles, too, the Dolomites with their steep rock cuts have already secured a place in the hearts of couloir fans. The 2008/2009 winter season, with its exceptional amounts of snow, also attracted a group of German couloir fans. You can read about their experiences in the following report.
Canale Joel
Due to the usual late arrival in the morning, we don't get off the gondola at Sass Pordoi until shortly before eleven o'clock. As our first descent, we decide on a variant on the south side of the Sella massif that only takes about a quarter of an hour to reach: Canale Joel. To do this, we first follow the tracks to the famous Val Mesdi to the east, but soon ascend a few meters to the right after the Pordoischarte, where the entrance is located. The gully is almost 45° steep, completely south-facing and already nicely firn-covered.
It is a unique experience to ski the rather narrow gully between high, steeply sloping rock faces, with a view of the Passo Pordoi and the Marmolada behind it. If you didn't know any better, you'd have to be afraid of being crushed by the huge rock faces. After a short, very narrow section, the gully widens and flattens out, after which we ski down a nice firn slope and return directly to the gondola.
Canale Holzer
Next gondola ride, next destination, next happiness: the legendary Canale Holzer. This couloir runs directly north of Sass Pordoi and ends in Val Lasties. We don't have to climb a single step to reach the entrance. There is usually a place in the gully where you have to abseil down. Due to the exceptionally good snow conditions, we assume that this will not be necessary, but we still enter the gully equipped with harnesses, ropes and all accessories.
Due to the north-facing exposure and the high rock faces on the sides, the Canale Holzer is very well protected from sunlight and the snow here is still really powdery. At first, we carefully enter the gully one after the other. However, the excellent conditions not only make abseiling unnecessary, but also help us to enjoy an enjoyable and somewhat faster descent.
Towards the end of the gully, however, at least I notice the numerous vertical meters in the steep gully in my legs and ski slower again. After the steep descent through the Canale Holzer, the last section through the Val Lasties seems really flat. After a few minutes of descending and crossing, we reach the pass road to the Pordoi Pass. From there, we hitchhike to the top (although it always pays to have female group members with us in Italy) and pick up the rest of the group by car.
Bad weather program: Val Setus
Unfortunately, the weather on the second day doesn't play along as planned. It is very cloudy and snowing lightly. As we therefore can't expect any firn on the south-facing descent from Piz Boè, we head north straight away. The crossing of the plateau is very scenic, you can see the steep gullies and unique rock formations of the Dolomites everywhere. The plateau is not really flat, there are always short descents and counter-climbs. Orientation is also not easy in poor visibility. Nevertheless, we find Val Pisciadù quite easily and descend a little to the north through the rather flat and fairly wide valley before crossing along the left side of the valley and arriving at the entrance to Val Setus.
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At the top, the Val Setus is still quite steep and narrow, but soon opens up and becomes wider and flatter. While the snow in the upper section was still nice and powdery, the middle section is covered in the finest crushed snow. Further down, however, we are rewarded with beautiful firn again. The descent ends directly on the slopes of the Sella Ronda. We return to the Pordoi Pass with the help of several gondolas and chairlifts. However, as we now have a day pass, we take a look around the ski area before ending the day with an original Italian stone-oven pizza in Arabba.
Piz Boè
After another night on the pass, our last day in the Dolomites greets us with bright sunshine. We therefore decide to tackle the descent from Piz Boè today. So we take the gondola back up to Sass Pordoi and first cross towards Val Mesdi, then ascend briefly on skins before switching to crampons. The 3152 m high summit is reached in about an hour. And although there are now a few clouds in the sky, the snow has already turned to firn on the south side.
We first ski the summit slope of Piz Boè before turning off into Val de la Fontane and tackling our last couloir. The snow is still a little hard up here, but soon we can make our turns in perfect firn. After the exit of the gully, however, the snow quickly becomes very heavy. But after just a few more turns we are back at the pass road, from where we hitchhike to the Pordoi Pass once again. There it's already "arrivederci dolomiti".
Text and photos: Lorenzo Rieg
