skate Italy! Asiago - Lavaze - Antholz - Anterselva

I recently got to ski at three different cross-country centers in northeast
Italy:
* Antholz (Anterselva) in Pustertal (Pusteria) -- biathlon center is a jewel
of fun and pretty trails.
* Campomulo at Gallio in Asiago -- Interesting trails, bigger skating
network than Seefeld Austria.
* Passo Lavaze near Val di Fiemme -- Pretty views and variety, snow-security
together with trees.

More details on each further below.

For athletic skating I'd prefer at least the first two over Seefeld or
Ramsau in Austria, and rank them close to the best places in France.

For selecting these places to visit, I thank beorn and others on r.s.n --
and talking with Ricardo and Laurent during a day of skiing at
Correncon-en-Vercors near Grenoble.

I'm not eager to repeat this experience of trying to drive to XC centers in
different areas. Unlike other reports by Americans skiing in Europe with
3-star hotels organized for a big race week, I spent hours driving curvy
narrow mountain roads, and some nights sleeping in my car.

Details below -- and I've added some of beorn's comments from another recent
r.s.n thread.

Ken
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Antholz (Anterselva) in Hoch Pustertal

Antholz is a valley in Sudtirol, an area just south of Austria where lots of
German is spoken (Anterselva is the Italian name). It would not have
occurred to me to try this place for cross-country skiing if Ricardo had not
been so enthusiastic.
* fun biathlon center trail system with lots of rolling ups + downs and
curves, also choice of flat skiing on a lake.
- - high "density" of fun skiing.
* pretty setting: surrounded by dramatic mountains, forest, open sections
with old rural buildings, a lake.
* other spectacular XC trails networks accessible by car nearby in the Hoch
Pustertal (Alta Pusteria) region.
* multi-sport in Hoch Pustertal: spectacular lift-served downhill skiing and
high backcountry tours, and nice cycle-paths for springtime skating and
bicycling.
* biathlon trail system is not large, but . . .
* connects with down-valley trails, like to Mezzo Anterselva which might be
a good place for lodging
* also connects with a long climb up to pretty pass on the border with
Austria -- a climb which Ricardo (and Laurent?) has done, but not me.
* Driving: straightforward driving and navigation from the Autostrada
superhighway, but not quick.
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Asiago: Campomulo in Gallio on the Asiago plateau

* big network for skating; very big if include interconnections with Enego
network.
* lots of people from different backgrounds reported having fun at Campomulo
- - the tour out to Rifugio Moline gets mentioned.
* many fun rolling-curvy sections in the trail network, but also some
sustained long hills
- - actually the whole Asiago "plateau" seemed more hilly than flat.
* I skated some gentler trails around Marcesina in the Enego trail network.
* mix of forest and open fields, some nice exposed rocks near some trails.
* Ortigara has some big views after the climbing, I recall Ricardo
suggesting.
* at least two other large trail networks on the Asiago plateau.
* further south than lots of centers in Austria or northwest Italy, but also
higher altitude than many.
* Driving: I did not find any easy (few-tight-curves) or quick way to drive
from an Autostrada superhighway up onto the Asiago plateau, and not always
obvious how to find the XC ski centers up there.

beorn wrote:
Campomulo is one of the best places to ski, but it suffers
from the shape of the mountain where it lies...this means in
some circumstances you find very long climbs. I hope
you tried the Marcesina (with a long tricky downhill and a
section in one of the coldest italian valley!) and also the
Fossetta, which pays you back all your efforts with an
astonishing view from 1,900 meters.
also:
in Asiago you can find several ski centers.
My favourite for training is just out of the town, at the
golf course...it is where the world cup race is made, and
it offers about 30kms of trails, both easy and very technical,
according to what you like the most.
Then, there is Gallio and Enego.
But also Campolongo, on the border between Veneto and
Trentino is nice! It connects to three other centers in Trentino,
thus offering about 100kms of trails, and it's higher
(~1,550 meters, like Campomulo) than Asiago.
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Passo Lavaze at Val di Fiemme
* pretty, big views of mountains, wide open spaces, also trees.
* high altitude for snow security, but much more interesting variety than
just skiing laps on a glacier like some "snow secure" places.
* reasonably interesting trails, but some long unremitting climbs on the
touring red trails out to or back from the "Malgas".
* Driving: I did not find any easy (few-tight-curves) or quick way to drive
from an Autostrada superhighway up to Passo Lavaze, and I didn't see any
obvious signs for it even when I was near Cavalese in the valley.

beorn wrote:
that's another of my favourites!
also:
Lavazè is just a ski center: there's nothing there but two
hotels and ski-trails, if you then want to enjoy some life
you need to go either to Trento or Bolzano, but for skiing
it's very good. Asiago has, on the overall, more interesting
trails than Lavazè and Seefeld, it does not offer the same
view as Seefeld (although it's not bad at all, esp when you
climb above 1,700) and the town is much bigger than Seefeld.
On the overall, it's the place where I like to ski the most
(but also 'cause it's the closest for me)
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could I get some URLs for Asiago?
one of the reasons I went to Seefeld was that their webpage is so good.
it's shows the tracks very detailed and the areas other offers. I like
to know a good amount before I open my wallet and go

found some:
http://www.centrofondogallio.com/imm...cartinabig.gif

wrote:

could I get some URLs for Asiago?

here you go.
this is the website for the nordic skipass, where you find infos about
all the different xc centers, including those in asiago:
http://www.supernordicskipass.it/centri_del_fondo.aspx
just click on a name and you'll get the infos. Unfortunately, there is
no english version, but if you need some transaltion, just ask.

Then two other websites:
asiago golf course
www.centrofondoasiago.it
and campomulo
www.centrofondogallio.com
(again, no translation available)

--
beorn
"You've got to learn to crawl
before you learn to walk"
Aerosmith (Amazing)