Bernina “Haute Route”, 4-day Ski touring with ascent on Piz Palu

Patrick lead our group of 4 expertly through the Sella Ronda in the Dolomites. He had a great knowledge of the lifts and terrain, and matched our abilities with the available runs. Communicated the day prior to confirm booking which gave us great comfort. Would highly recommend.

Hi - unfortunately this trip did not really work out how we had envisaged it. Partly this was unavoidable due to the weather, avalanche risk and the snow conditions off piste being very poor. But we were very disappointed that having thought we were booking hut to hut trip where we would do lots of skiing in between, in reality we were just doing a trip where we separately (as in with a car ride across the ski village in between) hiked up to 2 different huts, stayed a night and then skied back down the way we had walked up. We appreciate that the conditions made things difficult but we felt that the guide Paolo could have been much more proactive in finding some patches of good snow, thinking about what a fun trip might be given the first plan was not possible. Rather than just defaulting to asking us what we wanted to do, and, as we did on Days 2 and 3, defaulting to skiing mainly on piste. On our 4th day, without Paolo, we managed to find some decent patches of snow to ski off piste in ... so they were there if he had made the effort to seek out and find them. Paolo was a nice guy and we appreciated his company, but we were maybe hoping for someone a bit more experienced and proactive who could ride with the challenges conditions threw at him still find interesting touring and off-pisteing to do. Just going up to a hut and back down twice is not what we had wanted/ felt we paid for. The Explore-Share service of finding the guide was fine, but the outcome did not live up to what we hoped. Thanks. Gordon 07867 801245

Paolo was an incredible guide. He was patient and knowledgeable and took us on some great terrain. I would highly recommend him to anyone interested in free riding in the dolomites!

On our meeting day the forecast was for a foggy day. Renato was a professional and decided not to go full on off pist, not only that he was very creative and found a way to help us practice some great techniques, while still finding some nice fresh snow and a lot of fun. Exactly what I expected when I was looking for a mountain guide, some to enjoy with, that on the same time will be responsible and reasonable. He is super experienced- instructing the local mountain guides on their training.

Our Guide was cold and distant and not sensitive to our needs. We are older women who wanted to go slow. She tried to convince us not to do the Via Ferrata because she thought we couldn’t handle it. Not true. I went through it and absolutely loved it. I took my time, and she seemed very rushed. The trip I had scheduled was canceled because of a problem with the route being closed. We had to do a different via Ferrara. That was OK. I wanted to take my time. Enjoy the scenery and she was hurry. Hurry hurry us. When we got to The Via Ferrata, she said there was no way we could handle it and that we shouldn’t go. I thoroughly enjoyed my climb, but my friend felt so pressured and uncomfortable by our guide not to go that she turned back. Unfortunate but I had a fabulous climb. (The tour was guided by certified mountain guide Benny)