Cortina d'Ampezzo 2026

The pictures will display in a new browser window.

SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM TO SEE THE LATEST POSTING

Cortina d'Ampezzo 2026

20260129

We had breakfast and the bags packed leaving us an hour to spare before catching the bus this morning. Today we travel to Cortina d'Ampezzo, another village nestled in the Italian Dolomites. In fact it's only about 15 miles as the crow flies directly over the 3 Zinnen, but it took us 2 hours by bus since we had to go around the mountains.

The snow continues to fall sporadically, but those white flakes rapidly turn to slush in the 32F temperatures. The fresh snowfalls of the last few days give that winter feel to the trees and cliff faces. Do avoid looking down at the brown slushy at your feet.

Our bus passes that we were given continued to work traveling from Caravan Park Sexten all the way to Cortina d'Ampezzo. We had one bus transfer at Toblach/Dobbiaco. It seemed that everyone still on the bus at Dobbiaco shuffled through the wet snow to the bus for Cortina. Both busses were packed! A stretch of the road dropping down toward Dobbiaco felt like it was hung on the side of a cliff. The forest of evergreen looked healthy with very tall and straight trees. The clouds were low so despite hints of spectacular mountains surrounding us, we couldn't see them.

Dobbiaco has a massive Nordic center and evidence of XC trails branching out down the valleys from the town. There were many XC skiers getting off at various stops along the route to Cortina.

When I made the plans for this trip, I paid no heed to the fact that the 2026 Winter Olympics are parcially taking place in Cortina d'Ampezzo. This tiny village is under the coming crush of athletes and spectators arriving next week for the start on the 6th February. There are multiple cranes building multi-story buildings - a little late to be used next week. There is construction fencing everywhere. Some for buildings others because of all the preparation for Olympic facilities going in including scaffolding, stages, event tents, and lights. There are workers everywhere. Forklifts with chains are moving gigantic boxes. There are the sounds of hammers and instructions. There are lorries block sidewalks and road. All this within the confines of about 3 city blocks in what is normally a quiet mountain village.

After we exited the bus, the traffic was so bad through town, that Ron and I were almost walking faster than the cars moved. With the piled up wet snow there is limited space for pedestrians. A couple of times I just walked down the road between slow moving cars. There were also so many police cars, they seemed to be the reason for the traffic jams.

We arrived at our next accomodation at 12:30 and waited about an hour for the proprietor to arrive. It's an older house surrounded by 5 story business and condo buildings. Miraculously we still have a view out the main window across the valley. It's quiet with two bedrooms, two baths, and a snug kitchen.

We walked down the pedestrian mall to a grocery store and then swung by the gondola in preparation for tomorrow.

No pictures today because of managing luggage in the very crowded buses and limited visibility.

20260130

The clouds continued to hang low in the Cortina d'Ampezzo area from yesterday. That didn't inspire me to want to head out skiing. Ron however was game. So while he headed to the ski rental shop, I outfitted myself, grabbed my skis and joined him there. I purchased a coffee while he finished up. We walked in the streets with the cars on some stretches to the tram because pedestrians don't appear to have been a consideration with the city planners.

The tram seems to be on the older side. It made a curious stop about halfway. We all exited, shuffled 5 meters and got another another tram car. This one took us to the top. The boom boom energizing music was playing. There was fresh powder! - neve fresca! We road the poma lift further up the mountain and so started a day of enjoying broken powder, untracked powder, and oh my oh my oh my SPECTACULAR views as the clouds broke through the day.

My favorite section was across the valley and up another chair to a hidden valley - chair 59, San Forst, above Rio Gere. The runs aren't steep, but we found lots of powder to track out. Ron was inspirational always eager to find more powder. The views from the San Forst Pub/Cafe made my head spin - almost literally! Any direction one looked were jagged snow adorned dolomitic peaks. We often stopped just to stand admiring the vistas. That's why there are so many photos for today.

I had some curious inquiries about my Telemark setup. The tram operator, who couldn't speak English, was pointing and making deep knee bend actions. We've spotted only two other people on Telemark gear since skiing the Alps.

We often almost had the entire runs to ourselves here. It's not crowded at all.

Nearly exhausted we made our way back to the tram and Cortina. Ron prepared a delicious meal.

Staff at the tourist office explained which of the surrounding lifts are closed for the Olympics. The plan is to head for the area west of Cortina on Sunday to ski where the lifts are available to the public. Tomorrow we'll explore the small village.

20260131

Yesterday, on the street our accomodations are on, I passed about a dozen police cars parked on the street with lights flashing and 20 policemen walking down the street. Simon, our host, said that starting tomorrow we may have to prove we renting a place as they are not letting just anybody on the street. There must be Olympic athletes housed on this street. There are three additional lift areas: Auronzo, Misurina, and San Vito de Cadore. These are further out of town with limited public transport access.

The area is a bit complicated with all the small ski lift groupings. It's called Dolomitisuperski overall. Yesterday we skied right from Cortina in an areas called Faloria (the tram) and then to Cristallo (chair 59 - to be remembered as such forever). Tomorrow we will take a nip out of Tofana catching the only chair open to the public as the Olympics have most of the runs and lifts of this area. A long gondola will transport us to the area called Falzarego. A sunny day tomorrow will give us more spectacular views of these massive jagged dolomitic peaks.

As a tourist in Cortina d'Ampezzo, there is little to do beyond skiing, hiking (summer), eating, and buying expensive clothing. We managed to locate the Museo Etnografico Regole d'Ampezzo. It has a collection of tools related to the trades of the region and describes how the locals have cooperated over the centuries to manage the resources in a sustainable fashion. The placards are all in Italian, but they provide scan symbols for web access to English text and audio. The primary trades have been the raising of grain, cow and sheep herding, and cheese. They also do/did wood in-lays, clocks, silver thread jewelery, and a little metal work. It's a new museum built in an abandoned mill immediately adjacent to the creek that flows through Cortina. Other museums of interest are in the village, but are closed for the season, or restoration, or just because. We tried to visit the storie di sport which supposedly tells a history of the skiing, but found the door locked despite a sign saying they were open. The hours of operation feel Mediterranean. They might be open for a few hours before noon and then open from 3PM to 7:30PM.

We also visited the church in the center of Cortina with it's very tall bell tower. I do love these ancient structures for their lofty interior beauty and as a place to rest and reflect.

The sales girl in the Swatch watch store insisted we couldn't leave without the 2026 Olympics version watch - somehow we managed to keep wallets in pockets.

The crowds are growing. The event structures are taking form along the pedestrian mall. The traffic remains snarled. More people are seen with outfits of the same color or with big event badges hanging about their necks. A policeman is not hard to find.

Walking about town at each turn the mountains provide majestic backdrops. The full moon rose to the east near the Cristallo mountain. With a little planning, some stunning photos beckon to be snapped.

20260201

I've run out of superlatives. I feel at a loss for words to describe the sights of today.

We boarded the skibus to Pocol. This is the end of the line for bus S33 heading west out of Cortina. The road is laden with switchbacks and one tunnel before arriving several hundred meters above Cortina at a the Tofana lodge. The bus only had about eight people on it which surprised me. Four of those were from Australia. At Pocol we followed the general group to find out way to the first run down to chair 14. The skies were a cloudless blue. It was a tad cold - I'd gotten used to 30F ish temps.

At the top of chair 14 we found our first powder left over from days ago and skied it down to the Skyline gondola (#85). This gondola travels a couple of miles up the mountain to the Falzarego area taking around 15 minutes. We then boarded chairlift 4 up to a small lodge immediately adjacent to the Cinque Torri rock formation.

The views just don't stop! Which way to look? It doesn't matter!

We skied down to chairlift 5. I found a lovely steeper pitch barely marked with tracks in the powder. Chair 5 brought us over massive snow covered boulders to a saddle called Averua in recognition to the adjacent mountain by the same name. The run down the backside toward the south was hardpacked. The bowl had large areas of untracked snow, but we avoided those regions because the snow was a tad sunbaked - hey, we're a tad spoiled! Back up on chair 7 and then back down again but with a right turn to chair 8.

I was a bit skeptical about riding up chair 8. It terminated on a rocky ridge with no runs coming back toward us. I was concerned we'd end up somewhere that would be difficult to return to Cortina. Fortunately Ron was two thumbs up. So we jumped this old chair. At the tiny top the peak of Lagazuoi and it's tram came into view. Now we had a new mission. 'How do we get to it!'

You've probably started to sense that skiing in the Alps differs from most areas in the U.S. Where in Colorado ski areas have a concentrated base area that one departs and returns to with generally shorter runs, contrasted in the Alps, the runs can be narrow and more road like wandering across the countryside to lifts that bring one to a different mountain region.

And so was the road down from chair 8 heading toward Lagazuoi. The north facing slope with it's unbroken powder tempted us off the groomed piste on occassion. After a couple more lifts and some delightful long stretches of soft powder we took off our skis, walked across the highway and queued up to ride the Lagazuoi tram. It was a relatively short queue and soon we found ourselves at the top. We walked up further to arrive at the Refugio Lagazuoi where we shared a couple of side dishes and me a coffee. Of course we wandered back and forth on this pedestal of a mountain trying to take in the 360 degree views.

Starting down there was more broken and unbroken powder. (Most folks stay on the groomed pistes unlike Colorado.) We had one decision point - left or right. Left appeared to head northwest down a long valley to a chair 1 and Alta Baldia. We decided that looked to far into the unknown and turned right with the sign indicating Cortina. Had we turned left, we would have need to find a bus or taxi to bring us back.

Feeling a tiredness setting in we started the long trek back to Cortina. Once back near Pocol, Ron seemed to get a second wind AND he wanted to ski the powder under chair 14. So we did - twice. With fresh tracks each time. We also found a run that we renamed "Arlene's run" as it seemed right up her alley - wide beautifully groomed and a pleasant slope.

We boarded the bus to take us from Pocol back to Cortina and laughingly shared it with the same four Aussies.

This marks our last day in Cortina. And what a spectacular day it was. I'm knackered. I loved the stretches of powder we encountered. And the views .... I'm remain speechless.