Trip Overview
Our Backcountry Ski Touring & Off-Piste Skills Course offers an introduction to backcountry skiing for strong resort skiers wanting to venture into the side and backcountry. For experienced backcountry skiers wanting to improve, it provides ample opportunity for backcountry skills development. And, regardless of experience level, it offers important avalanche education and rescue practice, route planning including identifying the best stashes of powder as well as hazards to avoid, and, of course, serves up fantastic skiing and touring throughout!
We’ll begin slowly, navigating lift-service off-piste terrain. Then we’ll move into the essential ski touring techniques, including skinning, inversion kick turns, steep snow climbs, more off-piste downhill descents, and avalanche awareness and rescue skills. The grand finale? Two fabulous days of touring, applying your skills and earning your turns! And, of course, our backcountry trips are always led by our Professional UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guides. They hold the highest guide credentials in the world, and will not only show you the best of this region, offering you fantastic off-piste ascents and descents in the area, but also ensure your safety and enjoyment. By the time you’re finished, you’ll be ready to join our hut-to-hut ski trips, more advanced backcountry ski touring trips, and begin to backcountry ski on your own!
Highlights
- Learn essential ski touring and off-piste skiing techniques in a high mountain environment from our Professional UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Guides, who hold the highest mountain guide qualification in the world
- Gain basic avalanche safety skills, including avalanche awareness, causes of avalanches, route planning, how to use the necessary safety equipment, and search and rescue techniques
- Backcountry ski through one of the most beautiful natural parks in the Dolomites: Fanes-Sennes-Braies, with its pristine backcountry and fascinating geological formations
- Enjoy the atmosphere of high mountain rifugi, the best in all of the Alps, and enjoy a delicious combination of hearty Italian, Austrian, and Ladin cuisine they are known for
Day By Day
Trip itinerary may vary based on weather conditions, fitness levels and abilities of participants, and/or the recommendations of the Dolomite Mountains Team and your mountain guide. Daily mileage and altitude gain may vary depending on the device used.
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Day 1
Hotel in Val Badia (D)
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Day 2
Hotel in Val Badia (B,D)
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Day 3
Rifugio (B,D)
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Day 4
Rifugio (B,D)
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Day 5
Rifugio (B,D)
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Day 6
Hotel in Val Badia (B,D)
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Day 7
Area Map
Accommodation
Great hotels with Dolomite Mountains. Whether intimate lodge, family run B&B, or luxury spa resort, our hotels are unique, eminently local, and hard to leave.
Want to learn more about our Hotels and B&Bs?
The Dolomites has a multi-faceted culture and history that is reflected in each village we visit, and we make sure to provide you with the most authentic experience of the region possible through the hotels and B&Bs we offer. Hotels and chalets are available in the larger villages, while agriturismos (working farms with accommodations similar to B&Bs) are more common in rural areas. And we always make sure you have access to inspired regional cuisine, and the best panoramas you can get in the Dolomites!
Prefer luxury accommodations?
You can also book a custom departure of this trip using our Luxury Hotels. For details, please contact us.
Want to learn more about our Mountain Inns & Rifugios?
Rifugios – or mountain huts in English – are the classic accommodation for hikers, climbers, mountaineers, and ski mountaineers in the Alps. Set in spectacular locations high in the Dolomites, rifugios are accessible only on foot (with a few exceptions that are reachable by car). These marvelous establishments are open primarily in the summer, with a select few in winter, and offer meals and sleeping facilities.
The Dolomite rifugios are considered the best in the Alps. While some are dormitory style with bunk beds, many meet the standard of a simple guest house with private rooms and en-suite bathrooms, and each has its own unique character and charm. Bedding and linens are provided, hot showers are available, and meals are served in common dining areas – like a small mountain inn set high in the mountains with the most incredible vistas in the Dolomites. Whether you’re hiking in summer or skiing in winter, an overnight rifugio stay is not to miss on a Dolomite holiday.
To learn even more about rifugios in the Dolomites, check out our Rifugios in the Dolomites article, and learn about one of the best ways to experience these incredible mountains!
Guided: Guide Ratio 1:4 (maximum 4 skiers per guide)
Dolomite Mountains Professional UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Ski Guides have many years of experience skiing the Dolomites. We have guides that speak Italian, English, French and Spanish. From the moment you arrive in the Dolomites they will look after you. They know the best ski runs, mountain restaurants, and how things work in the Italian mountains.
Technical Equipment for Backcountry Ski Touring Trips
- Ski crampons (aka harscheisen): most randonnee bindings have ski crampons specifically designed for the binding. We always carry these just in case. Fritschi now make them an integral part of their ski binding and although there were some initial teething problems, the newer models are now working well.
- Ski skins: fitted skins are recommended especially if you have very wide skis.
- Boot crampons: Ideally lightweight aluminum with ‘quick fit clip-on bindings.'
- Climbing harness: a simple lightweight climbing harness. The key feature should be that it has fully adjustable leg loops for putting on over ski boots, crampons, etc.
Boot/ski crampons and climbing harness can be rented locally at an extra cost, your guide will advise according to the local conditions and activity.
Safety Equipment for Off-Piste trips
The “Safety Trilogy” – applicable for all our off-piste trips involves the use of the items listed below. These can be rented in resort at an extra cost:
- Avalanche beacon / transceiver (be sure to bring two sets of fresh batteries!)
- Snow shovel
- Avalanche probe
Remember it is not enough just to carry this equipment; you have to know how to use it. Most mountain resort areas offer courses where you can learn and practice these skills. If you are not familiar with this equipment, are unable to attend a course before your trip, or simply would like a refresher, we can provide training for you as part of your trip!
LEARN MORE
Want to learn more about skiing in the Dolomite Mountains? Check out our Winter Article Resources, featuring articles on The Not to Miss Ski Tours of the Dolomites, Dolomites Ski Resorts, Transitioning from On- to Off-Piste, and MORE!
Check out our video gallery with some of the best free-ride videos in the Dolomites and check out our new video Freeride Off-Piste: Val Culea Integrale in the Sella Group.
EXTEND YOUR ADVENTURE
Still want more adventure?
We can two additional days of skiing in the Cortina d’Ampezzo area! From Cortina d'Ampezzo there are incredible off-piste descents of Cinque Torri, Lagazuoi, Tofana, and Cristallo Massifs, to name a few. Click here to see some of our favorites!
Still want even more? Why not extend your adventure!
Dolomite Mountains offers fantastic extensions that you can enjoy before or after your trip in the Dolomites. Explore Venice, Verona, Lake Garda, Florence, or Milan, or any of the many other magical places found throughout Italy. There's no more perfect way to recover from jet lag upon arrival, or delay your return to reality at the end of your trip!
Cost
All itineraries are subject to change due to circumstances beyond our control including, weather, road or trail conditions.
Private Guided Trip:
€ 5.220 per person (2 members)
€ 3.830 per person (4 members)
€ 4.140 per person (6 members) - 2 guides
Single room supplement: on request, in hotels only
High Season Dates: 24th January – 16th March --- 10% surcharge
Holiday Blackout Dates: (7-night minimum hotel stay required) Christmas / New Year — 22nd December – 7th January
The cost is based on the specified hotel category (please see the cost inclusions list). If you would like an upgrade, please get in touch with us for a quotation.
We will do our best to accommodate you in the specified class of accommodations. However, if there is no availability in this category, we will offer you the next available classification at a supplementary price.
Please note that prices may increase between the time of quotation and booking. Your Dolomite Mountains consultant will inform you of any such changes.
Cost Includes:
- Trip briefing
- Logistics and map of the area
- 3 nights accommodation in 4-star hotel in Val Badia
- 3 nights accommodation in charming rifugios with private/shared bathrooms
- All breakfasts & dinners
- Local English speaking Professional UIAGM/IFMGA Mountain Ski Guide during the entire itinerary (Guide Ratio 1:4)
- Avalanche safety, search, and rescue equipment rental (transceiver, probe, and shovel)
- Dolomiti Superski pass for 1 day
- A €15 donation to Wow Nature’s reforestation projects makes your trip carbon-neutral
- Transportation in the area as per itinerary
- Duffel bag luggage transfer
- Local tourist tax
- Italian VAT tax
Itinerary in Pictures
Backcountry Ski Touring & Off-Piste Skills Course : Feel the urge to escape the ski resort crowds, and properly experience the Dolomites wilderness? If you are an intermediate on- and/or off-piste skier, are not afraid of hard work, wish to take your skiing to the next level, and ready to explore the backcountry, then this training course is for you! Join us and discover for yourself the remote beauty of the Dolomites!
Area Map
