It seems that a skilful hand has designed and shaped it specifically for skiing. But of course, it's all natural, Plan de Corones…
The 'panettone' of the Dolomites, skiing heart of the Plan de Corones-South Tyrol Holiday Area (13 locations between the Alpine watershed and the Dolomites: Brunico/Perca, San Vigilio di Marebbe, Valdaora, San Lorenzo, Val Casies/Monguelfo/Tesido, Falzes, Rasun in Valle d'Anterselva, Chienes, Terento, Gais/Villa Ottone and San Martino in Badia).
A soft mountain, sweet and rounded, on which the ski slopes - 105 km - find ideal spaces and slopes: wide and open snow-covered meadows at the top, where the Plan reaches the considerable height of 2275 m, wooded slopes a little steeper towards the valley floor, ideal for the development of long stimulating slopes, with significant gradients, but always safe and enjoyable.
Plan de Corones is a 360-degree viewpoint over the Dolomites and the entire Alpine arc.
As its Ladin name suggests, the summit plateau seems to be 'crowned' by a sequence of peaks.
You can indulge yourself in recognizing them: towards the west and north the border ridge with theAustria, with the Stubaier Alpen up to the Oetztaler Alpen and the Ortles, the Zillertaler Alpen and the Vedrette di Ries. On the opposite side, the Dolomites: beyond Val Badia the 'tooth' of Sasso di Putia stands out; and then, Sella, Marmolada, Tofane, Pelmo.
The three privileged exposures of Plan de Corones towards the various centers gravitating over the ski area – Brunico, Valdaora, San Vigilio di Marebbe (the latter, the village of the holder of the 2007-2008 World Cup in slalom, Manfred Moelgg) – from which the main lifts go up to, as well as always guaranteeing excellent snow in all conditions, they allow you to 'chase' the sun and enjoy the ideal light for the whole day. And to test the different technical characteristics of the various slopes. Never the same.
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Hi-tech and nature, innovation and tradition
Thanks also to this privileged morphology, it is no coincidence that Plan de Corones – one of the 12 areas of the Dolomiti Superski – has established itself over the years as one of the most 'hi-tech' ski resorts in Italy and Europe.
High technology applied to snowmaking, maintenance, safety systems and ski lifts, all without however distorting the tradition, which still dominates the Dolomite valleys of Pusteria and Marebbe.
Here the programmed snowmaking, already several years ago, was the first in Italy to cover the entire surface of the slopes, thanks to an innovative computerized system, underground pipes, suitable reservoir basins and other devices which do not water resources to the delicate mountain ecosystem (nor do they introduce foreign substances: the snow from the cannons is made of… water, which is 'returned' more slowly during the thaw). This is combined with a truly unique know-how in terms of snow management and slope maintenance, cared for every day by 250 operators with 32 snowcats, so much so that Plan de Corones is a well-known "case history" often visited by the operators to the work of other stations.
And it is no coincidence that, despite the respectable but normal altitude (from 950 meters in Riscone, near Brunico, to 2.275 metres) Plan de Corones guarantees one of the largest open periods in the Alps: on average over 140 days a year ; and this season, it will be open from 29 November 2008 to 19 April 2009. In short, at Plan de Corones, worries about (alleged) global warming just don't exist…
The evolution of the plant engineering, the terrain in which the station was and is a laboratory of innovation for the national ski industry, is also a record. Here the detachable chairlifts appeared almost thirty years ago, then gradually came the covered lifts with very high capacity and comfort, such as the 6-seater chairlifts with dome, or the 8, 12 and 15-seater gondola lifts: now the lifts last generation ski lifts (20 cable cars, 6 chair lifts and only 5 ski lifts in more secluded areas suitable for exercising or for families) cover the entire equipment, for an hourly capacity of 64.000 people. With such a power plant, that the 'queues' here are just a memory is already an almost obvious fact. Less obvious, the fact that there are no crowds on the slopes: partly because the slopes are very wide, partly because there are so many of them, and even on peak days, the 10-15.000 skiers present at the same time are not noticed, because are dispersed on various sides…
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