Ski in the Dolomites: War and piste

Ski in the Dolomites: War and piste

Equipped with skins on our skis for climbing, as well as beacons, probes and shovels, we’re skiing through the First World War – tunnels, battlefields, bridges and mountain tops. About 10,000 soldiers were killed protecting that innocuous-looking knoll, a vital link in the supply route for munitions and food from Venice to the mountains. From 1915 to 1917, the ski slopes of the Dolomites were on the war’s frontline.

• Austro-Hungarian and Italian troops battled in places now famous for fur shops and cappuccino stops – Cortina, Val Gardena, Alta Badia, Marmolada, Sella, Lagazuoi, Tofane, Cinque Torri.
• Mountain guide Marcello Cominetti and I slide towards the gondola entrance.
• Marmolada’s Ice City was one of the Great War’s iconic theatres, now revealed in the Museum of the First World War located inside the top gondola station.