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Resort Guide

Suitability	Resort height: 1373m
Families:		[Yes]
Glacier:		[No]
Beginners:		[0]
Intermediates:		[0]
Advanced:		[1]
Snowboarding:		[1]

Selva is the best known resort in Val Gardena, which it shares with neighbouring Santa Christina, and the larger settlement of Ortisei. It is an attractive village of chalet style buildings, with a long and illustrious history in world skiing, and still host to the annual Men's Downhill World Cup race each December.

This has particular significance for Brits as it is where we recorded our best ever result, when Konrad Bartelski stunned the skiing world on 13th December 1981 by finished in second place with a time of two minutes, 7.52 seconds, just 0.11 seconds behind the race winner Austria's Erwin Resch.

Val Gardena is a large enough ski area as it is, with varied slopes for all standards, but it is linked in to the world's second biggest inter-connected ski circuit, the Sella Ronda, which is the kind of hub of a wheel.

Ski lifts and runs circulate the inner wheel passing through resorts like Arabba, Corvara and Canazei, and from this inner ring valleys radiate off, including Badia, Fassa and Gardena. The entire area is within the larger-still Dolomiti Superski pass which covers nearly 500 lifts and 1,200km (750 miles) of piste in a dozen valleys in the surrounding area - although the rest are not connected by ski lifts and you'll need to rent a car or take a bus to reach them. However the hands free lift ticket will automatically open the lift turnstiles at every lift you approach.

Selva is the highest of the three villages at the head of the valley but they are frequently marketed together, and if you are interested in a particular restaurant or hotel it is important to try to check which village it is in, as it may not be in Selva!

An efficient bus service links the resorts along the valley floor as the ski lifts do above. A further complication is that the area was once part of German speaking Austria as well as having the local Ladin dialect and the Italian language, so each village has at least two names. Selva's rarely used German named is Wolkenstein, whilst Ortisei is also known as St. Ulrich.

Beginners

There are nursery slopes on the gentle meadows on either side of the village and, as the resort's altitude is quite high for a traditional village, with the added benefit of extensive snow making, these are normally open all winter long.

There's a friendly ski school and progressively longer easy blue runs to move on to as your confidence increases.

Intermediates

There are pretty-well endless opportunities for intermediate skiers in one of the world's largest ski areas with 176km (110 miles) of piste in Val Gardena and much more on the Sella Ronda and Dolomiti Superski passes.

The ski lifts ascend on both sides of the valley with Dantercepies opening the route over to Alta Badia with wonderful long reds plunging back down to Selva. Across the valley Piz Sella and Ciampinoi dominate the varied terrain, which continues to Alpe di Suisi further down the Gardena Valley or towards Canazei and the Fassa Valley if you wish to get on to the Sella Ronda.

Runs are up to nine kilometres (nearly six miles) long with more than 65 reds covering over 100km (63 miles).

Advanced

Val Gardena has many attractions for advanced skiers and is the annual host of World Cup racing. There are 18 black runs in the area, the longest being the 10.5km (seven mile) Nogler descent. Ski touring is also very popular throughout the region and off piste courses are led by the local ski school.

One way to get a feel for the more advanced level terrain in the Val Gardena is to try out the marked “1970 World Championship Skiing Tour".

This takes you via Ciampinoi, Plan de Gralba and Piz Seteur in the excellent ski arena between the Sella massif and Sasso Lungo, and takes in the World Cup giant slalom run and then on to Dantercepies, which takes in the great Saslong run, another World Cup piste. The tour continues to Col Raiser and includes a nine kilometre (six miles) romantic run back down to Ortisei.

Snowboarding

The Gardena Valley once again does not disappoint, with a whole range of prepared terrain features for boarders. There are two boarder cross courses at Passo Sella (served by the chair lift Grohmann-Cavazes) and in the Comici/Piz Sella region (this opens from mid-January).

There's also a choice of half pipes with a natural pipe served by the Sotsaslong lift and a specially created one on Alpe di Siusi accessed by the Laurin chair lift.

Other Activities and Facilities

Selva has a sports centre with ice rink and an indoor shooting range. Santa Cristina has a climbing wall, and other options in the valley include indoor tennis.

Winter hiking is popular in the area with more than 100km of cleared walking paths in the valley and there's a similar amount of cross country skiing trails.

For those interested in the traditions of the area, as well as the Ladina culture, there are a number of craft shops linked to an age old tradition of wood sculpture. Snowshoeing, winter climbing and paragliding are also available.

Après Ski and Dining Out

Wide ranging après ski choices include cool wine bars, lively night spots and traditional Alpine wood-lined bars; the resort has a great selection.

Luisl Keller and Saltas Bas are both normally very busy. For late night dancing it has to be the Dali disco.

There are dozens of places to eat in Selva ranging from basic pizzeria to gourmet establishments. Popular choices include Costabella for pasta and Rinos for pizza. Local specialities are served in the Scoiattolo.

Antica Osteria Traube is the oldest restaurant in the valley, dating from 1779. The Val Gardena night bus means you can get back to Ortisei in the evening if you wish to enjoy après ski in one of the neighbouring villages.

Families

Skiing for children is free to age eight, one of the most generous offers for the youngest children. Once children are age eight however prices are not so good compared to many resorts in Austria and Switzerland, as the resort follows the French and Italian model of asking children to pay two thirds of the adult cost.

Children aged from four months to eight years can be cared for in Santa Cristina (three kilometres/two miles away) at the Casa Bimbo nursery. The ski school offers children's ski kingergarten and ski school from age four and up, available all day.

Accommodation in Selva

• Acadia - 4 star, half board
• Alpino Plan - 3 star, half board
• Alpino Plan - 3 star, half board
• Armin - 3 star, half board
• Chalet Salvan - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Salvan - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Salvan - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Salvan - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Salvan - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Salvan - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Vanadis 1 - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Vanadis 1 - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Vanadis 1 - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Vanadis 1 - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Vanadis 1 - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Vanadis 2 - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Vanadis 2 - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Vanadis 2 - 3 star, catered
• Chalet Vanadis 2 - 3 star, catered
• Gran Baita - 4 star, catered
• Gran Baita - 4 star, half board
• Hotel Flora - 3 star, half board
• Hotel Ingram - 3 star, half board
• Hotel Piccolo - 4 star, half board
• Igloo - 3 star, catered
• Igloo - 3 star, catered
• Linder - 3 star, half board
• Pineta - 3 star, half board
• Pralong - 3 star, half board
• Serena - 3 star, half board
• Serena - 3 star, half board
• Soldanella - 4 star, half board
• Soldanella - 1 star, half board
• Stella - 3 star, half board

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