Col Gallina gondola

The Dolomiti Superski is the largest ski area in the Alps: 12 connected ski areas, more than 1,200 km of slopes and 24 million overnight stays a year. Within that network some lifts matter far more than their size suggests, and the Col Gallina gondola is one of them.

Built by Leitner in 2009 to replace older, less efficient lifts, it quickly became one of the most strategic links in the whole circuit. It is the hinge between the Cortina side of the system and the middle Val Badia, and that connection opens up more routes and a better day on the skis.

A side link to the Sella Ronda

The Sella Ronda, the ski tour around the Sella group that many experts rate as the most spectacular ski route in the world, skirts the Col Gallina area without passing through it. The gondola is one of the big side links that let you extend the classic loop and make it your own.

Anyone who knows the Dolomites well knows that the ‘official’ Sella Ronda, through Alta Badia, Val Gardena, Val di Fassa and Arabba, is only the starting point. Stretch the route towards Cortina over the Falzarego Pass and up to the Lagazuoi, and you enter wilder, quieter skiing, with even starker scenery and a silence on the snow that is hard to describe to anyone who has not experienced it.

Views and snow

Here the Col Gallina gondola links the side facing Cortina with the side overlooking Val Badia, through landscapes of rare beauty. The surrounding peaks, the Croda da Lago, the Nuvolau and the Ra Gusela, are among the most photographed in the Dolomites for their rugged, dramatic shapes. On the way up, this theatre of rock looks different with every change in height and angle.

The lift runs between 2,050 m and 2,450 m. At that altitude snow cover is excellent for most of the winter, and the cold keeps the snow in far better condition than on lifts down in the valley.

The lift

Choosing Leitner was no accident. The company from Vipiteno in South Tyrol (Alto Adige) is one of the most respected lift manufacturers in the world, and its lifts are everywhere in the Dolomiti Superski: the result of decades of work with local operators and a deep knowledge of the region’s mountains and operating conditions.

The eight-seat cabins are built for modern comfort, with heating and ventilation that keep the ride pleasant even on bitterly cold days. A capacity of 2,800 people per hour keeps the queues moving in peak season, when the big Dolomite ski areas handle thousands of skiers on the same lift network at once.

Why it matters

As a business and an organisation, the Dolomiti Superski has no equal in the European Alps. It is a consortium of 12 separate ski areas, run by different companies with their own history and character, yet joined by a single ski pass and a network of connecting lifts that let you move smoothly between areas far apart.

In that network a lift’s weight depends not only on its technical capacity but on where it sits. Because it links areas that are geographically separate, the Col Gallina gondola is worth far more than its specifications: it keeps the ski day continuous across a stretch of mountains that would otherwise need a transfer by road.

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Opened in 2009. Capacity: 2,800 people per hour. A strategic link in the Dolomiti Superski circuit.