Alpin Arena Senales

In winter the pistes total 37 km. You can ski from the glacier ski area all the way down to the bottom. The most difficult run is the black piste with the melodious name Schmugglerrinne, which it reportedly owes to local smugglers who once crossed the border illegally along this very route. The main ski village of the region is little Maso Corto (German: Kurzras). It is not far from here to the provincial capital Bolzano (60 km) and the spa town of Merano (35 km). Maso Corto is the base for the pistes of the Hochjoch glacier. Within a few minutes you can ride up from here to 3,200 m. Most of the pistes on the Hochjoch are fairly steep, but there are also runs suitable for less confident skiers. A definite attraction of the glacier ski area is the snow park with a halfpipe and a piste floodlit in the evenings. The glacier also has cross-country trails: loops of a few kilometres, open all year round and prepared with fans of the sport in mind. In winter you can also ski cross-country lower down; in total about 17 km of trails are laid out here every winter. Val Senales is popular with skiing families, who appreciate the quiet atmosphere of the villages and the reasonable accommodation prices. Besides attractions for skiers and snowboarders, visitors can enjoy quite a wide range of other sports (including paragliding, hiking and swimming). Poles are the second most frequent nationality, after Italians, holidaying in Maso Corto. Polish visitors will find signs in Polish, menus in their own language (the local cuisine is excellent), a Polish rep and Polish-speaking instructors. A big attraction of Val Senales is the Archeo-Parc-Schnals in Madonna di Senales, opened in 2001 and dedicated to the famous "Iceman", Ötzi, a Stone Age hunter whose frozen body was found on the Hochjoch glacier in 1991.