Pontedilegno-Tonale

Photo: skionline.pl. Passo Tonale is a ski resort within the famous "Valley of the Sun", the Val di Sole, the largest ski region in western Trentino. A great many sunny days a year combined with some of the heaviest snowfall anywhere in the Alps make the Val di Sole, set beautifully at the foot of the 3,000-metre peaks of the Gruppo di Brenta and the Adamello massif, an ideal place for a winter holiday. Passo Tonale is the centre of a ski area that also includes Ponte di Legno. The area's signature is the Presena glacier, with a year-round ski area of 7 km of pistes and 4 lifts. The glacier pistes are intermediate. The village of Passo Tonale lies in a wide saddle, from which the lifts take skiers up to the glacier pistes. What draws skiers to Passo Tonale above all is the fantastic skiing, available all year round (thanks to the pistes on the Presena glacier), and the picturesque setting among majestic mountains. The ski village of Tonale itself, at 1,883 m, is certainly not picturesque: the buildings may be functional, but they cannot be called pretty. People do not come to Tonale to admire stylish architecture, though, but to make the most of its superb slopes and pistes. Anyone who needs the right atmosphere to sleep soundly should look for accommodation in Ponte di Legno, a stylish, quiet mountain village a few kilometres from Tonale. The ski terrain around it attracts mainly advanced skiers, as the pistes there are mostly difficult and very difficult. The network of pistes around Tonale, by contrast, is more extensive and also more varied. On the south-facing slopes it is wide and not too steep; even children and less experienced skiers will cope. Those looking for a challenge should head to the north side of the pass and ski the invitingly named Paradiso, one of the longest pistes in the entire Alpine arc. The name is misleading, though, as the run is genuinely difficult; its final section is so steep that a piste basher cannot work on it, so deep, loose snow often lies there. Above the Paradiso piste lies the year-round glacier ski area. Outside the winter season you can ski here from May to September. Besides skiing, the Passo Tonale area offers many other activities: swimming, horse riding, ice skating and ice climbing. The après-ski scene is also fairly lively. In both Tonale and Ponte di Legno there are plenty of places to try local specialities.