At the end of March, during school holidays, we visited a new place in the Dolomites: Passo del Tonale, in the Adamello-Ski ski region. I took a few pictures on my phone, especially for the report: sorry for the quality, and please don’t express it!
The choice was made according to the following criteria:
  • The resort is located at an altitude of 1880 m, the snow lasts until May, the official season closes in mid-April.
  • The length of the tracks, according to the official website, is about 110 km, which is not very much, but enough for a week, especially taking into account the weather.
  • The resort is not very popular, tours to Passo Tonale have risen in price due to the crisis, but much less than other resorts in Italy or France, the ski pass is also cheaper.
Overall impression: Passo Tonale differs from other areas of the Dolomites: different mountains, little forest, often clouds are at the level of the village, as a result, there is thick fog on the streets, but there is visibility at the top. It turned out that this weather occurs not only in spring, but also in January-February.
Similarly to the January trip, we met a lot of Poles, and Marileva and Folgarida are not far away, they belong to the Vermillo commune, just like Passo Tonale. IMHO local authorities have their own ties with Poland.
As everywhere in the Alps, disabled people ride, sometimes unaccompanied. But there was also a group of skiers with mental retardation, in bright, noticeable vests. It was scary to get on the lift with them, but there were no problems!

Passo Tonale is a typical alpine village on the side of a mountain, of 2 streets, with hotels, shops and restaurants, small and cozy. In the lower part there are several new high-rise buildings, but in the evening 2-3 windows were shining in them, it is possible that they have not yet been fully populated.
There is a museum of the "White War" (Guerra Bianca): during the 1st World War, in 1918-1919, great battles took place in the Vermillo and Passo Tonale area, as a result Italy captured South Tyrol. In addition to the museum, there are monuments to the victims in the mountains: Austrians and Italians, together. In our hotel, on the walls were enlarged old photographs of that time: with ruins and destroyed houses, the same photographs and posters are even in bars. Everywhere a lot is connected with the war, it commands respect, but a heavy, sad impression remains.

There are 3 ski areas: Passo Tonale, Presena Paradiso, and Ponte Di Legno, which are very different.

Passo Tonale
The zone is similar to Kirovsk: a wide, smooth mountain Monte Tonale, 2600 m high, on which there are parallel lifts going to the very top, or up to half of the mountain, through one. All long chairs with wind protection, which is needed in strong, damp winds. The trails are separated by grids, but you can find passages and ride along the traverses in any direction. Basically, the tracks are boring, straight, without relief, differ only in slope, are oriented to the south, are illuminated by the Sun all day, and the snow is wet by the end of the day. Some trails are lit for evening skiing, until 11 pm, but not every day.

On the sides of Monte Tonale there are more interesting places... On the east side is the Gorge of St. Bartolomeo, which goes to the Contrabandieri Pass ("Pass of the Smugglers"): before the 1st World War there was a border between Austria and Italy, smuggling was carried through the pass. A monument to the fallen soldiers of the White War is erected in the gorge. From the pass there is an interesting red trail, also called Contrabandieri, the weather is always better than on the main mountain.
At the beginning of the route there is a very interesting rock, according to local legend, this is a carabinieri, which was petrified in an ambush, tracking down smugglers.

On the western side, there is the Blays pass, from which there is also an interesting, long trail to the very bottom. Below, near the track, there was no more snow, crocuses were blooming: very beautiful, but they are not visible in the photo.


Every morning, the track is always filled with cannons, and wasted, but after lunch, under the Sun, Bottom part turns into a very deep, dense, wet porridge!

Presena Paradiso
Located opposite Passo Tonale, on the other side of the river, very interesting area! The gondola rises to the Passo Paradiso pass, at an altitude of 2585 m, the Paradiso trail goes down, a real black, difficult, steep, always hard: the slope is oriented to the north, until lunchtime in the shade.


But by the end of the day, it is packed with a crowd, scraping down, in the afternoon, large mounds form.
Near the gondola station, there is a gallery pierced in the rock: during the White War, there were cannons in it, which fired at the valley below, the embrasures can be seen from the gondola. The gallery houses a part of the museum's exposition, but it does not work in winter: the door is covered with snow, several meters deep.
Above the Paradiso pass there is the Presena glacier, you can climb on a chair, then on a drag, to the summit of Chima Presena, 3070 m: from there there is a very wide steep slope, always obliterated, but not very hard.
Freeride routes diverge to the sides, there is also a local freeride school and backcountry. Some of the routes go to the other side of the mountain, where ski touring to Madonna Di Campiglio is possible, but this is a long, difficult route.
I climbed into the virgin lands very carefully: after all, there was more than 4 m of snow, this is a lot for station wagons, and in some winters it can be up to 7 m! You can ride on the glacier in summer: the lifts are open until June.
In the lower part of the glacier, along the chair, the slopes are gentle and even, there is a lake under the snow, a monument is erected on the shore, but only the upper part is visible in winter.

Ponte Di Legno
This town, much larger than Passo Tonale, is located below, at an altitude of 1250 m, already absolutely without snow. But above it there is a large, interesting ski area, the tracks are filled up to the very bottom. To get to Ponte Di Legno, from Passo Tonale, one has to go upstairs, follow the traverses to the other end, and take a very long gondola. There is an intermediate station on it, where you can also exit from the Presena Paradiso zone.
The gondola arrives at Ponte Di Legno, where you have to sit on a chair and go up to the Valbione circus: from where the lifts diverge, on 2 sides.
Here are typical Dolomites, a lot of forest, the tracks are always well prepared: despite the spring, there were no bald spots or stones! The slopes are steep at the bottom, but there are lamps for evening skiing. There is a chapel upstairs in memory of the fallen soldiers.
There was also a very strange chair lift: from below, from the Passo Tonale side, but from a place where there was absolutely no snow, and there are no trails! It is not known how to get there on skis, and no one climbed from there, but an empty chair works all day!

In general: not all plans were realized, especially for ski safari, but the trip was interesting, anyway. I liked Passo Tonale, despite the warm weather and low clouds.