Like a dream: Early Morning Skiing in the Dolomites
The early bird can experience a very special ski day with Klaus. And discover the Obereggen ski area in an unforgettable way. Here our Ganischgerhof boss describes his perfect day in the snow.
Klaus Pichler is an expert skier. As a passionate hotel manager and restaurateur, however, he also has to be a jack of all trades – and is therefore always behind the scenes of his businesses and especially at lunchtime on the Gardoné and in the evening in the Ganischgerhof fully committed to his guests.
Nevertheless, he takes the time (“even too rarely”) to spend a whole day on the slopes. What does his white dream day look like? He tells us here. And the best thing about it: every guest at the Ganischgerhof can experience a day like this. And thanks to Ganis 3/4 Pension Plus +, you can draw on culinary delights.
6 am Early Morning Skiing
A perfect day of skiing for me starts early in the morning. Simply because you can ski there for an hour and a half when no one else is on the slopes. In the early morning skiing, the Obereggen ski experience, we are where everyone else can’t even get to, because the lifts in Obereggen don’t open until half past eight. We usually start with 20 to 40 guests at 6 am from the Ganischgerhof, drive with our Ganis Shuttle to Obereggen, then with the snowcat to the Ganischgeralm, have breakfast there, and as soon as the Agnello lift turns the engines on, we start.
Exactly when, depends on the lift boy’s daily condition and other factors, but this lift runs between 7:30 am and 7:45 am. Then we ski on the slopes to Pampeago on a perfectly groomed slope on which nobody has done before us at this time. The Agnello lift is the only one that is already running at this time, but you can ski three great slopes with it – there is something for everyone. After we have done Agnello four to five times, we ski on the Zanggen and enjoy a great view in the morning sun. A real Obereggen ski experience!
9 am Espresso-Stop at Feudo-Pass
When I’m on the slopes so early in the morning, I always ski until 10 am. But a short stop must be – for an espresso at the Feudo Pass, because we have the absolutely most beautiful view in the entire ski area from the Sellastock over the Lagorai to the Pale of San Martino. Then I go down to the Baita Gardoné two or three times on the Torre di Pisa and Cinque Nazioni slopes, which are wonderfully sunny in the morning and offer perfect conditions.
10 am a prosecco all together at the Gardoné
At the Gardoné we treat ourselves to a first well-deserved break and have an aperitif together. Special delicacies: everyone who is there can enjoy our shrimps served on a hot stone. Although it is not on the menu, word has long been around as an insider tip. The large hot platter with the T-bone steak or Fiorentina, as we say here in Italy, has also long been an insider tip on the Gardoné.
11 am fun in the ski slopes in the paradise:
Until lunch I try to “eat” as many black slopes as possible because I like to go steep. My favorite slopes in the ski area are the demanding slopes of Torre di Pisa and from Zanggen.
1:30 pm lunch at the Ganischgeralm
If late risers are just making the first slope with their half-day ski pass, we have quite many km on our legs – and deserve a proper break with a hearty lunch. The classic on the Ganischgeralm with the rustic atmosphere is the veal knuckle. But if you like pasta, I promise that the Ganischgeralm has the best spaghetti Bolognese in the entire ski area. If you still want to ski after lunch, you shouldn’t go to the umbrella bar of the Ganischgeralm for too long. The parties there are legendary – and there are some who hang out at the bar in the afternoon instead of diligently collecting kilometers of slopes.
3 pm end the ski day in Obereggen
How much I still stand on skis in the afternoon depends on the shape of the day – after all, after the early morning program, we have already covered a few kilometers of slopes. The “problem” here is only that we locals too are aware that we are in paradise. And that is exactly why it is difficult to stop. Skiing in Obereggen is simply addictive.
5 pm Après-Ski at Loox
In the past, people met for après ski in our Tipo directly at the valley station. Since 2019, however, our Alpine Club LOOX has stood here with a completely new and modern way to end the day on the slopes. It is clear that we meet here in the cool lounge atmosphere when the lifts are no longer running, to toast one or the other time to a fantastic day of skiing with us in the Dolomites paradise.
7 pm to close in style – a Pizza!
Our pizza maker in Platzl has a very special property: he simply makes such good pizzas that it is difficult to go home without a stop at Platzl. As hotel manager, I don’t need to pay for it anyway – but neither do our hotel guests, thanks to our Ganis 3/4 Plus+ pension, which includes all meals in all our businesses in the ski area, i.e. in the Gardoné, on the Ganischgeralm and in the Platzl. If you want, you can even have dinner in the Ganischgerhof after the pizza in Platzl. But after a day of skiing, most of the people are just like me. You just fall into bed happy and dead tired.
