Val Gardena is a valley in the Dolomites of South Tyrol, Italy, with three villages: Ortisei (1,236 m), S. Cristina (1,428 m) and Selva (1,563 m). Its ski area, Val Gardena/Alpe di Siusi, has 79 lifts and 181 kilometres (112 miles) of runs, and the lifts reach 2,450 metres (8,038 feet) at Seceda. It’s one of the 12 areas of Dolomiti Superski, which has 1,200 kilometres of slopes on one pass, and about 500 kilometres connect directly from the valley.
The Saslong, known for its ‘camel hump’, hosts a men’s World Cup downhill and super-G each year, and the valley hosted the 1970 Alpine World Ski Championships. La Longia runs more than 10 kilometres from Seceda to Ortisei with 1,273 metres (4,177 feet) of drop, the longest slope in South Tyrol. The Sellaronda is a 44-kilometre circuit around the Sella massif over the Sella, Pordoi, Campolongo and Gardena passes, skied clockwise on orange signs or anticlockwise on green. The lifts usually run from early December to early April.
Panocams Live is the tourism board’s YouTube stream, rotating through the valley’s cams. The rest are stills. Selva Tubla (1,782 m) and S. Cristina & Saslong show the villages and lower slopes. Col Raiser Valley looks at the Col Raiser cable car and the Gardena Ronda Express, and Larciunei (1,536 m) is just below the Dantercepies lift in Selva. Seiser Alm looks across the Alpe di Siusi to the Sassolungo.
For the high terrain, Piz Seteur is at the top of the Piz Seteur chair (2,018 m), Plan de Gralba looks at the Piz Sella area, and Passo Sella shows the Sella Pass. Compare a village cam with Passo Sella to see the difference between the valley floor and the passes.
Val Gardena is off the A22 Brenner motorway. From the north, leave at Chiusa and take the SS242D; Ortisei is about 20 minutes away. From the south, leave at Bolzano Nord and follow the SS242 into the valley. The Province of Bolzano’s traffic centre posts road conditions.
The nearest airport is Bolzano (BZO), 40 kilometres away. Innsbruck (INN) is 120 kilometres, Verona (VRN) 190 kilometres, Venice (VCE) and Bergamo (BGY) 270 kilometres, and Munich (MUC) 300 kilometres.
Val Gardena is part of Dolomiti Superski, which is on the Ikon Pass: 7 days on the Ikon Pass and 5 on the Ikon Base Pass, shared across Dolomiti Superski, from 15 November to 15 April. It isn’t on the Epic or Indy Pass.