We agree with theSKImag, the Dolomites are enchanted and the best way to explore them is with the guides from Dolomites Ski Tours.

“IT’S FEBRUARY 4, 2013 and there’s 40cm of fresh snow across the Dolomites Mountains of northern Italy. Dolomites Ski Tours’ head ski guide Mario Longhitano could have chosen to ski off any of the Dolomites’ 450 ski lifts, or at any of the region’s 45 resorts or 12 valleys. But no, he has decided to lead his followers to an obscure forest of gullies and chutes within clear sight of a busy chairlift. Why? Sydney-based Mario is skiing with his fellow Aussie ski guides. It’s the guides’ day off, and though they would normally use it to do their washing or maybe even grab some shut-eye, there was to be no rest today.

We’d taken the 125-person cablecar out of Campitello village to the peak of Col Rodella, but within view of the top station, our leader’s smirk had faded to earnest study. The glorious powder that might have been this fine morning had been packed by fluky, high-altitude winds. Mario briefly confers with fellow ski guide Anthony. They exchange a couple of Italian place names, as if speaking in code. “Follow us!,” they shout confidently. Despite being in full view of a chairlift, this stash is frustratingly difficult to pinpoint – one wrong turn and you’ll end up in a gully of no return. Go too far and you’ve blown it. Enter 20 metres too soon and you’ll need to be ready to slog it out of “the gully of bottomless sludge”! Mario cuts a line through the lonely forest. It’s deep. We ride his track like faithful sheep. Within a minute we are standing atop a series of sunny gullies. The virgin snow is noticeably untouched by loftier winds. No crust here. We smile. Mario lunges in…”

Phil Doyle writes in theSKImag