
Passo San Pellegrino
Ski 67.5km on the Trentino-Veneto border including La VolatA, a Women's World Cup downhill course descending from 2,513m.
Passo San Pellegrino sits at 1,918m on the border between Trentino and Veneto, linking the Val di Fassa to the Falcade valley in a ski area that spans 1,190m to 2,513m across 67.5km of pistes. The terrain is split between the wide, sunny slopes of the pass itself - set against the Monzoni mountain range and framed by views to the Marmolada, Civetta, Pelmo and the Pale di San Martino group - and the demanding north-facing terrain dropping from Col Margherita above.
The area's defining feature is La Volata, a 2,500m black run inaugurated in 2017 and built to meet FIS Alpine World Cup standards. Starting at 2,510m just below the Col Margherita cable car arrival station, it drops 600m vertical with gradients of up to 47% on a north-facing line that maintains compact, grippy snow through the speed events season. La Volata hosted the 2019 FIS Alpine Skiing Junior World Championships and the 2021 Women's World Cup, and returned to the World Cup calendar in March 2026 with a women's downhill and super-G double event.
The ski area is part of the Dolomiti Superski network, and a combined pass covering both San Pellegrino and the adjacent Alpe Lusia area gives access to 100km of pistes across 23 lifts. The two areas are linked by a high-frequency ski bus running every few minutes between the two base stations, with Falcade on the Veneto side also integrated into the same pass.
Two snowparks - the Sanpe Snowpark at San Pellegrino and a second at Alpe Lusia - serve freestylers alongside a dedicated Freeride Park for off-piste touring. A 37km cross-country trail network at the pass and a further 10-12km circuit near Falcade village are covered under the same area infrastructure.
Passo San Pellegrino straddles the Trentino and Veneto border, with 67.5 kilometres of piste across 59 runs between 1,190 and 2,513 metres. The 1,323-metre vertical splits into two personalities: sunny, open slopes around the pass and tougher, north-facing terrain beneath Col Margherita. Grading runs 30% beginner, 57% intermediate and 13% advanced, with no expert category. Chairs and T-bars do most of the work, and a 100-person cable car carries skiers from the pass up to the summit. That mix means a varied day without much repetition, and it links with Falcade across the border on the Veneto side.
The big name is La Volata, a black run built to World Cup standard that hosted junior world championships, and it is worth a go for strong skiers wanting a genuine test. Col Margherita, a long red, drops towards the pass from the same summit. A dedicated Freeride Park caters for those wanting a taste of ungroomed snow, and the Sanpe Snowpark covers freestyle. The cable car cabins were designed by Pininfarina. Advanced intermediates and racing fans will enjoy it most, with Alpe Lusia nearby for more variety.
Passo San Pellegrino operates from late November through to early April, with the 2025-26 season running from 30 November 2025 to 6 April 2026. The season extends into early spring with reliable conditions supported by full snowmaking coverage across the pisted area and the high-altitude terrain above 2,000m holding natural snow well into March.
Annual snowfall averages 3.5 metres across the ski area. The north-facing Col Margherita sector performs particularly well through the core winter months, with the compact snow surface that makes La La Volata suitable for FIS speed racing also delivering excellent piste conditions for recreational skiers. The sunnier slopes on the Trentino side of the pass benefit from good morning light and afternoon warmth that makes late-season skiing from late February onward particularly appealing.
The 2025-26 season included the Women's Alpine Ski World Cup downhill and super-G at La Volata in early March 2026, following previous World Cup hosting in 2021. The area is part of the Val di Fassa Piste Azzurre racing programme and has hosted the Italian national alpine team for training over multiple seasons, reflecting the quality and consistency of the race terrain.
The extended pass network under the Dolomiti Superski umbrella gives season visitors significant range - a Dolomiti Superski pass opens up 1,200km of pistes across 12 interconnected areas, making Passo San Pellegrino a practical base for exploring the broader Dolomites network without returning to the same terrain each day.
Daily snow reports at Passo San Pellegrino go back to 1996, 31 winters on the books. Open the record to compare winters, lifts and piste.
Passo San Pellegrino sits 13km from Moena in the Val di Fassa, reached via State Road 346 from the Ronchi junction in the valley. From Moena the drive takes around 15 minutes in normal conditions. Falcade, on the Veneto side, is accessed on the same road descending from the pass through the Biois valley. The pass sits at the boundary between the provinces of Trento and Belluno, making it one of the few ski areas in the region that straddles two administrative regions.
The primary motorway approach from the north is via the A22 Brenner motorway, exiting at Egna-Ora and following the SS48 through Val di Fiemme and Val di Fassa to Moena - approximately 45km from the motorway exit. From the south, the Belluno approach via the A27 motorway connects through the Agordo valley and Falcade on the Veneto side of the pass.
Nearest airports are Bolzano to the north-west, around 60km, and Verona Villafranca to the south, around 160km via the A22. Innsbruck Airport in Austria is around 120km north across the Brenner. Rail access runs to Trento or Bolzano, from where the Trentino Trasporti and SAD bus services provide daily direct connections to Moena. From Falcade, connections run via Belluno on the Veneto rail network.
Moena is the main services hub for the area on the Trentino side, with a full range of accommodation, restaurants and shops within the Val di Fassa. Falcade provides a quieter, more self-contained base on the Veneto side with direct gondola access to the ski area from the village centre.
Hotels and lodges near Passo San Pellegrino, powered by Stay22.

Colorado’s early-season dominoes keep falling. Arapahoe Basin opened on Wednesday, Keystone follows on Friday, and now Wolf Creek is joining in on Saturday 31 October, just in time for Halloween. A storm on 23 and 24 October left 20 inches of natural snow in the San Juans, and three lifts will turn from 9:00 am, covering about 30% of the mountain. Expect rocks, unmarked obstacles and open water, but also Local Appreciation lift tickets at $73 for adults.

Keystone is next. After Arapahoe Basin claimed the first chairlift skiing of the season on Wednesday, Keystone opens on Friday 30 October at 9:00 am with more than two miles of snowmaking-built terrain on Schoolmarm and Silver Spoon, plus free donuts, coffee and a live DJ. Last year the order was reversed, when Keystone squeezed in a three-hour afternoon session to beat A-Basin by a day. Snowmaking has been running since 15 October.

Beaver Creek is getting ready for the biggest Birds of Prey ever, and this time it is not leaving the snow to chance. Crews started making snow on 27 October with 16 newly installed automated guns on the lower third of the course, after last December’s warm spell forced a downhill off the schedule. Seven races across two weekends run from 3 to 13 December, the most the course has hosted since its 1997 debut, and the guns start themselves whenever the weather allows.

Winter has officially started in North America, and it is one blue run long. On Wednesday 28 October, Arapahoe Basin fired up the Black Mountain Express at around 10:30 am after a surprise announcement just hours earlier, becoming the first major North American resort open for 2026/27. Cold nights, a dusting of natural snow and a lot of snowmaking made it happen in the resort’s 80th winter. More terrain is promised as the snow guns keep running.

Sulden am Ortler has called off its 31 October opening. The South Tyrol ski area has pushed its 2026/27 start back to Saturday 7 November, citing current weather and snow conditions and saying it will use the extra week to get the slopes in the best possible shape. The season is still scheduled to run through 2 May 2027. Elsewhere in Europe, around a dozen areas are already open, led by Sölden’s 30 kilometres of groomed runs.

Two days at Sölden, two races decided by a hundredth somewhere on the podium, and one very quick Brazilian. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen led from the first run to win the men’s World Cup opener by 0.48 seconds, with Loïc Meillard second and Marco Odermatt third. River Radamus charged from 15th to fourth on a rutted course, and Britain’s Freddy Carrick-Smith banked his first World Cup points. Braathen still hasn’t lost a giant slalom since Olympic gold.

The Alps are about to swap mild, sunny October weather for something far more wintry. A cold front arrives Tuesday, and SnowStash forecasts have Monterosa Ski out in front with 64 cm over 14 days, ahead of Blatten Belalp (55 cm) and Verbier (43 cm). The snow line should fall below 2000 metres by Wednesday night, and glaciers across Switzerland, Italy and Austria are in line for the best of it. The wind will have a say too.

A large avalanche struck near Laguna del Inca adjacent to Ski Portillo on Saturday afternoon, killing four people and injuring four others. The group were day visitors mountaineering in the backcountry after reportedly being warned about elevated avalanche risk by resort staff.
3 live angles across the mountain. Tap any camera to go full-screen.
More Passo San Pellegrino intelligence: snow report, lift tickets, trail map, resort overview.