Love Val Gardena? Where to go next for the soft reds, the circuit or the scenery
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20268 min read
On our data, three things bring people to Val Gardena: the Sella Ronda, the scenery, and a traditional Dolomite valley with woodcarving on its list of what it does best. Our read on the mood is scenic and traditional. The village sits at 1,563 metres and the season runs from December to April.
There is a fourth thing, and the piste map hides it. Val Gardena is mostly marked red, yet it measures as one of the gentlest mountains we cover. So "somewhere like Val Gardena" can mean the circuit, the view, the valley or that soft red skiing, and each route here keeps a different one.
Val Gardena, measured
The size is real, but read it with care. Val Gardena's own sector is 175 kilometres, and we measure 145 kilometres of graded piste around the valley. From a base on the Sella Ronda, around 500 kilometres is in reach by lift with no bus. That is our own sum of measured kilometres across the linked areas, not a figure Dolomiti Superski publishes, so treat it as approximate. The 1,200 on the pass covers twelve areas and only four of them join up, and the Sella Ronda's own 44 kilometres is the length of the loop, 23 of them skiing and 21 sitting on lifts. It is not the size of anything.
The red is not what it looks like. Sixty percent of the piste is marked red, 86.5 kilometres of it, and only 42 kilometres is blue and easier. Now measure the slope. Just 13 percent of Val Gardena's piste is steeper than one in four, and only one of the 55 resorts we cover has a smaller share. The reds average 17.3 percent, against 20.4 for a typical Italian red, and only two resorts we cover have gentler ones. The blacks, at 26.1, are the gentlest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. These are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so they describe the week rather than every run. The longest run we measure makes the point: a 3.9 kilometre red with 395 metres of drop, long and steady.
The height is in the middle, not at the top. Two thirds of the piste, 66 percent, is at or above 1,800 metres, and half of it is above 1,925. That makes Val Gardena snow sure on our measure, up to the 2,731 metre lift top, but the highest piste we measure starts at 2,480 metres, just under the 2,500 metre line we draw. Nobody can promise snow, and the fair reading is that the call rests on the lifts rather than the runs.
Zermatt: if it is the soft reds, higher up
- VillageVillage
- 1,620 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,899 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 322 km
Zermatt: 151 km of piste we measure. 33 km blue and easier 22%107 km red 71%11 km black 8%
Plus 23 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
If the joy of a Val Gardena week is mile after mile of red that never frightens anyone, the nearest thing we measure is in Switzerland, under the Matterhorn. Zermatt's village is at 1,620 metres, 57 above yours, and we measure 150.5 kilometres of piste around it, about 5 more than around Val Gardena.
The skiing is close to a copy. Twelve percent of Zermatt's piste is steeper than one in four, the smallest share of the 55 resorts we cover, against your 13. Its reds average 17.2 percent against your 17.3, and the typical Swiss red is 19.9, so both sit well under their own country's norm. Even the longest runs match: a 3.8 kilometre red with 490 metres of drop, against your 3.9.
What you gain is height. Ninety nine percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 66, and the skiing reaches 3,869 metres at the top of the lifts, a station Zermatt shares with Cervinia. It is snow sure on our measure with room to spare, and glacier skiing keeps it open all year. A strong skier gets more to explore, too: 23 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary against your 2.6, though less black, 11.2 kilometres against 16.4.
The trade is the feel of the place, and the circuit. Zermatt is elegant, car free and upmarket by our read, not a traditional valley. And the cross border Matterhorn area measures 322 kilometres, less than you reach round the Sella Ronda on our approximate figure, and the Italian side needs the International pass.
Saint-Martin-de-Belleville: if it is an old village on a giant linked area
- VillageVillage
- 1,450 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 600 km quoted
Saint-Martin-de-Belleville: 75 km of piste we measure. 50 km green and blue 67%19 km red 25%6 km black 8%
Part of Val Gardena's pull is the pairing: a traditional valley with an enormous network of lifts on its doorstep. France has the same pairing in the Three Valleys, and Saint-Martin-de-Belleville is the old Savoyard village inside it, traditional and quiet by our read, with food on its list of what it does best. Our matching ranks it second of the French resorts for Val Gardena, on village height and the traditional feel.
The map grows. The Three Valleys is quoted at 600 kilometres and is joined by lift, though we have not measured the whole of it ourselves. That is more than the 500 or so you reach from a Sella Ronda base.
The snow call is firmer, too. The village, at 1,450 metres, is 113 below yours, but 75 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 66, and the skiing reaches 2,691 metres, measured, on piste rather than at the top of a lift.
The trade is at home and underfoot. Around Saint-Martin we measure 75 kilometres, about half your 145, so more of that size is a ski away. And it is steeper: 20 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 13, and its blues average 16.6 percent against your 12.8, a touch over the French norm of 16.2. Its reds, at 21.9, are kinder than a typical French red at 24.3, but still steeper than yours. There are 50 kilometres of green and blue against your 42, and 6 of black against 16.4.
Grindelwald: if it is the scenery and the tradition, in Switzerland
- VillageVillage
- 1,034 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,970 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 150 km
Grindelwald: 132 km of piste we measure. 55 km blue and easier 42%57 km red 43%19 km black 14%
Scenery is on Val Gardena's list of strengths, and on Grindelwald's. It sits beneath the north face of the Eiger, postcard pretty and traditional by our read, and you can arrive by rail. Our matching puts it third closest to Val Gardena anywhere, carrying over the traditional feel, the share of steep piste and the size of the ski area.
It is the gentle skiing again. Fifteen percent of Grindelwald's piste is steeper than one in four, against your 13, and 42 percent is gentler than 15 percent, the third highest share of the 55 resorts we cover, a step above your joint fourth. Its reds average 18.3 percent. There is more of the easy kind on the map, 55 kilometres of blue and easier against your 42, and more at the hard end, 19 kilometres of black against 16.4. We measure 132 kilometres around the village, and 150 kilometres is reachable on Grindelwald's own lifts.
The trade is height. The village is at 1,034 metres, 529 below yours, and 59 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 66. At the top the two are level on the runs: Grindelwald's skiing reaches 2,496 metres, measured, and your highest piste starts at 2,480. We class Grindelwald as a family resort, which we do not for Val Gardena, and for a family that is a gain.
So, which one
the soft red skiing is what you love and you want it higher, with nearly all of it above 1,800 metres and the Matterhorn overhead.
Cervinia if you want the same mountain and would rather stay in Italy.
it is the old village on a vast linked area that you love, and you will take steeper blues and less piste at home for it.
the view is the point, the group skis gently, and a much lower village does not put you off.
It skis most like home: within a few kilometres of the same piste around the village, the same share of steep piste within a point, reds a tenth of a point apart, and far more of it high up. What you give up is the traditional valley and the Sella Ronda, and they are real losses. If the circuit is the one thing you cannot do without, stay on the same lift system and try Alta Badia.