Santa Caterina Valfurva

About the area

Santa Caterina is a red-run area: of about 25 km of pistes, 19 km are red, against just 2 km of blue (10%) and 4 km of black and expert terrain (14%). That mix makes it a place for confident intermediates who want to ski long descents all day, not for beginners — the easy skiing amounts to three short runs beside a lift base plus two magic carpets. Families can make it work, with the caveat that the wider network is demanding.

Eight lifts serve the mountain: two gondolas, two chairlifts, two platters and the two carpets, so small children can be brought up without chairlift loading. The slopes run from 1,723 m to 2,879 m, giving 738 m of vertical on a single run and a longest descent of 2,572 m. There are also about 10 km of cross-country trails in the valley.