Ride to Ski: Bikepacking and Skiing the Dolomites (Film)

Words by Henna Palosaari, photos by Henna Palosaari and Richard Buchner, video by Mikko-Pekka Karlin

It was late February in Innsbruck. I sat at my desk, browsing the map to see what destinations were nearby with great skiing opportunities that could be easily reached by bike. The winter in the Austrian Alps had been the worst in living memory, and the usual endless fresh snow had been replaced by grass and mud. Normally, at this time of the year, we were too busy enjoying the powder days in the snowy resorts to even think about wasting this precious time riding bikes, which we could do plenty of over the summer months. This year was different; it was time to slow things down and finally see if combining bikepacking and snowboarding could be enjoyable.

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“We’re actually doing it!” Malva exclaimed as we hopped on our bikes in Innsbruck. “My bike shakes like crazy. Is this normal?” I asked, feeling nervous after the first 500 meters. Sami reassured me that I’d get used to it by the time we reached our destination of the Dolomites. The beautiful range with its sheer-sided peaks is only a couple hundred kilometers away, making it reachable by bike. The only question was whether our plan of a five-day cycling and four-day skiing journey from Innsbruck to Lago di Garda was actually realistic.

Snowflakes and sharks

“It’s a first, biking up to go ski touring,” I gasped as we made our way up to our first skiing spot. This winter, the snow line had been even higher than usual, at around 1,000 to 1,500 meters. Normally, we would drive up to the snow line and start touring, but not this time. Instead, we first had to climb 600 meters from the village with bikes before changing into skis and tackling the rest of the 750 meters with skis and splitboards. Our bikes were loaded with skis, boards, boots, backpacks, poles, skins, clothes, crampons, and sleeping bags, all secured with many, many straps. “At least our bodies will already be warmed up by the time we start touring,” Malva smirked.

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Snow had started to fall, giving hope for some fresh lines. The trees and roofs were covered by a thin layer of snow, making the whole town glisten in the morning sun as we hopped on our bikes the next morning, excited for the first ski day. “Watch out for sharks,” I shouted as we cruised down a fresh line from Vennspitze. That was the reality; there still wasn’t enough snow to cover all the rocks, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying the first turns of the trip. “Shitty snow but so much fun to be riding!” Malva summed it up as we rode back down.

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Despite the fun, the reality was that we still needed to bike another 31 kilometers to our next accommodation. Exhausted, we crossed the border to Italy in the dark, dressed in all our layers, and descended towards Vipiteno. “I don’t think we can keep on doing this for seven more days in a row,” Sami said, and we all nodded in silence. Lesson learned. While enjoying a hearty dinner, we decided to split the rest of the days between the two disciplines to make it a smoother and, most importantly, more fun experience.

Ice and Dolomiti peaks

“No way. Is that a ski slope?” Sami shouted after we’d just managed to get through a closed trail with hundreds of fallen trees. Route planning on a winter bikepacking trip differed greatly from an average bikepacking trip. The nice, small gravel roads that were usually preferred might be covered by snow or turned into a Nordic ski track that had melted into a shiny ice field. We learned this the hard way on our trip. “No braking,” I screamed as I balanced on the ice field that previously served as a Nordic ski track. We survived but decided to revise the rest of our route to follow bigger roads to avoid such surprises.

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We pushed our bikes across the ski slope while gazing at the first Dolomiti peak on the horizon. The 90-kilometer journey to Camping Sass Dlacia was a full-day mission, but the jagged mountain peaks colored in shades of pink and purple created a warm and unforgettable welcome into the Dolomites. The drumming of the raindrops the next morning, not so much. The campsite was up at 1,500 meters, but still, it was not enough to turn the rain into snow. “That’s usually rideable,” I said, pointing to a peak on our left side as we toured toward Lavarella Hut. The lack of snow made us need to adjust the next day’s plan. There was simply not enough snow to ski the run as planned.

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“The rest of the face is pure ice from here to the top,” Malva said. The snow falling after our arrival at the hut had come with too much wind to stick on the icy slopes. Creativity had been the key this winter, finding a way to make the most out of the current conditions no matter how bad they were. After looking around, we found an interesting small couloir and a snowy-looking bowl that we decided to ski. “Go girls,” Sami wrote on the snow as Malva and I hiked up to the couloir. The wind was chilly, but the sun shone as we rode down. “It’s not perfect, but it’s way better than I expected,” I said, content for the day. The setting sun colored the sharp-toothed mountains in warm tones, giving the final confirmation for a great day in the mountains.

Cheating to maximize downtime

“I’m not feeling that good,” Malva said as the highest massif of Dolomites, standing over 3,000 meters above sea level, looked down at us. The climb, famous among road cyclists, was now tackled by the three of us with 40-kilogram bikes loaded with ski gear. “Two kilometers in an hour,” Sami laughed aloud as she looked down at her watch and saw our moving pace. “But look at that,” I pointed out in awe toward Marmolada, seeing the majestic peaks covered in fresh snow. At that moment, everything made sense, even doing a nine-day ski trip by bike.

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After seeing the fresh snow on the Queen of the Dolomites and knowing it was all accessible from the resort’s cable car, we decided to reward ourselves and maximize the time spent skiing down instead of spending it touring up. It was our last day of skiing on this trip, after all. “This is why we do it,” I screamed joyfully. We found fresh lines between the cliffs, fun turns beside the already tracked ones, and good and bad snow as we enjoyed the beaming sun and took in the magnificent views overlooking the Dolomites. With our biggest smiles yet, we packed the skis on the bike and started a short descent to the next accommodation, only to notice we had booked the wrong one in a village on the other side of Marmolada. Even that couldn’t ruin our mood that day; we kept riding to the next village and booked a new one from there.

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The last glorious peaks of the Dolomites surrounded us, and the sun’s warmth grew more intense as we headed toward our last destination, Lago di Garda. Soon, the only evidence of the snow and winter was the melting Nordic ski tracks. As we passed by the Italian vineyards, we felt light and relaxed, shed some layers, and chatted with the local cyclists as they passed us. We knew we were getting closer to our end destination.

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Whether it was the tailwind or knowing we could soon pop the champagne bottle gifted to us by our last accommodation, the last kilometers to Riva del Garda flowed with ease. “We actually did it,” Sami shouted as she popped the champagne bottles and sprayed it on me and Malva. “And it wasn’t a pure sufferfest,” I said, the taste of champagne in my mouth. Our nine-day journey combining two of our favorite sports turned out to be a beautiful mix of sweat, laughter, ice, snow, and friendship.

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Further Reading

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