Italy   

                           Spotlight On Cortina d’Ampezzo

                                       Cortina Is Spettacoloso

                                                              (Originally written for OnTheSnow.com)
                                                                                   by Ted Heck

Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Italian Dolomites is spectacular. Its name rolls trippingly off the tongue, but it lingers longer in a skier’s memory.

Undoubtedly Italy’s premier resort, Cortina was important enough to host a Winter Olympics (1956). Today it is an ideal place to parade your panache. A Bergdorf Goodman fur buyer is impressed while strolling in the busy pedestrian zone, where couturier labels beckon from boutique windows. But an animal activist wouldn’t like it here. There may be more mink coats per capita than in St. Moritz, and each comes equipped with a cell phone, an instrument that lets you strut even while sitting down.

Most strollers are Italian, many of whom have second homes here amid the jagged rock formations that form a grand backdrop for this colorful, fashionable town. However, Cortina is also a lilting namedrop for vacationers from around the world. Even budget-minded members of U.S. ski clubs like to rub elbows with the elite in the restaurants, expresso bars and discos in the lively aprés-ski scene.

The town of 6,300 residents has three times that number of guest beds, including luxury hotels, such as the Miramonti Majestic on the south end of town and the Poste smack in the middle of the action. Depending on the season, half board per person can run to nearly $200 a day, but that includes high tea in the elegant lounge. Lesser hotels, apartments, and modest pensions are available for members of ski clubs, who are notable price buyers.

Skiing terrain is exciting enough for everybody except mogul mashers. The region, which includes Cortina proper, St. Vito di Cadore-Auronzo, and Misuna has 87 miles of groomed slopes, many of them reinforced with snowmaking. One third of them are rated beginner, roughly two thirds intermediate, and only five percent advanced black. When you look at a trail map, you can count nine or 10 distinct areas, spread all around the town and its neighboring villages. This substantiates the knock some skiers and boarders put on Cortina---there are few ski in/ski out possibilities and you need a shuttle bus or rental car to move around to different areas. Circuses of interconnected slopes and lifts are less extensive here.

When I last visited Cortina, foul weather made me think I was skiing in New England clam chowder. But our efficient guide, Manti Siorpaes, found some holes in the fog, high up at Cinque Torri, five towers that stood like giant stalagmites beside a charming refugio, where we stopped for lunch. The towers had been a location for scenes in Sylveser Stallone’s "Cliffhanger" movie, whose action was purported to take place in Colorado. Refugios like the Scoiatoli, where you can stay overnight on the mountain for a fraction of what the four-stars command in town.

Naturally, we used the Dolomiti Superskipass to gain access to more than 50 lifts in the region. It is truly a bargain, letting you ski for a week for about $40 a day, less for seniors. What’s more is that the pass is good in 12 valleys and 45 ski areas in the Dolomites---on more than 460 lifts. Several of these are covered in our profile of Val Gardena .

In addition to this popular pass, you can buy day tickets that are read electronically. The machine deducts points from the card, which can be carried over to the next day. It’s ideal for less aggressive skiers who don’t hunger for 20,000 feet of vertical and may want to take part in other winter sports, of which Cortina has a full menu.

This famed resort has another benefit for Americans. Located in the province of Veneto in eastern Italy, Cortina is only a couple of hours away from romantic Venice. The city becomes a memorable add-on, with fewer fur coats, but just as many cell phones.