Unfortunately, I'm still somewhat groggy from the day before - and the welcoming feast rustled up by

Albi the guide smiles patiently as he watches me sitting in the snow, sluggishly coach tour operators uk to europe strapping coach tour operators uk to europe my boots onto my board. "You know," he says, as the thinning clouds offer tantalising glimpses of the mountains all around, "to snowboard in the Dolomites , you have to be a little crazy. You have to go really fast."
Unfortunately, coach tour operators uk to europe I'm still somewhat groggy from the day before – and the welcoming feast rustled up by the Michelin-starred Hotel Rosa Alpina in San Cassiano, the highlight of which may have been the ground veal served with herb jelly on a salt biscuit. I just can't remember too well. The powerful local Lagrein wine was fantastic, you see, as was the grappa. Vaguely, I recall that one dish came on its own self-standing, flat-bottomed spoon, allowing you to eat two at once, even as you're being bundled into your taxi.
Albi, thin as a ski and fast as a bullet, is leading us on day two of a five-day odyssey with local operator Dolomite Mountains, an epic hut-to-hut ski safari (you can board it, like me, but most people ski) that will take in some of the planet's most dazzling peaks and, as I'm beginning to realise, coach tour operators uk to europe cuisine.
Cliffhanger was filmed round this part of north-east Italy , Sylvester Stallone being effortlessly upstaged by the area's vertiginous crags, ledges, pinnacles and plateaux. These are pale by day but change dramatically at dusk and dawn, glowing orange, red or even purple. This ravishing phenomenon, called the enrosadira , is caused by the mineral make-up of the rocks – as Roger Moore doubtless appreciated as he dodged gunfire on these slopes in the 1980s, while filming For Your Eyes Only.
Even without the enrosadira , the Dolomites would be bewitching. Like something out of the US 's Monument Valley , these almost violently vertical peaks are characterised, in some places, by huge isolated forms that contrast with the rolling meadows coach tour operators uk to europe they tower over – and in others, by sweeping, saw-toothed ranges that beat anything else in the alps, to my mind anyway. Elemental forces seem to be at work: it's the sort of landscape Tolkien would have adored. In August 2009, the Dolomites were declared a Unesco World Heritage site and, it seems, coach tour operators uk to europe the foodies and their self-standing spoons moved in.
Amid apologies for overcast skies, we set off on the Sellaronda , a ski tour famed for being a day-long circumnavigation of the mighty coach tour operators uk to europe Sella , a plateau-shaped massif coach tour operators uk to europe whose steep sides are ringed coach tour operators uk to europe by fangs of rock – and flanked by 42km of snowy trails awash with understandably smug Italians. It's a staggering sight. Every twist and turn I make seems to reveal some new jaw-dropping view of that central stone fortress nosing coach tour operators uk to europe through the clouds, or of yet another spellbinding colossus way off in the distance. The pistes are a treat, too: steep and tree-lined, then open and gentle – although maybe sometimes a bit too gentle. I'm beginning to see what Albi meant: skiers can pole over the occasional flat, but I'm having to tank it down or face a walk (I've had worse afternoons).
As the weather closed coach tour operators uk to europe in, we stopped for lunch at a steamed-up taverna and tried to choose between sauerkraut, goulash, dumplings or ravioli made with rye flour. I wanted the lot but picked coach tour operators uk to europe the ravioli, which was filled with dried fig and wild pear, and came lovingly doused in hot poppy butter coach tour operators uk to europe and cinnamon. Serve that in Britain, I thought, and you'd get your own TV show. But here, it was just your average lunch. When we stepped back outside, the skies had lifted and the Sella massif now stood before us in its full glory – its jostling peaks fanning along the horizon like the back of a giant stegosaurus. Giddy on my board, I spent the rest of the day bingeing on Dolomites and trying to keep my eyes on the piste.
That night I stayed in Corvara, swimming up and down the pool in the four-star coach tour operators uk to europe Posta Zirm hotel , watching through the windows as the Sella turned lobster red – much like myself later, as I lay in the sauna. A member of the hotel staff popped his head in at one point and gestured disapprovingly at my Speedos. I looked around and, through the steam, could make out nothing but naked Germans sweating and snoring. Ah, trunks off, sorry.
The sauna is part of the hotel's Wellness Farm , which seeks to restore your "inner equilibrium" via such treatments as hay baths, soporific music, and the opportunity to stretch out and have a woman in a white tennis top play you like a xylophone. I settled for an Elmore Leonard novel by the log fire, a fluffy gown and lying on a plastic recliner that I didn't realise was heated until I woke up an hour later, my equilibrium perfectly restored.
The point about the ski safari is that, Sellaronda excepted, it takes you across the best of the Dolomites, not right back to where you started each morning. You pass from terrain to terrain, while your bag meets you at each hotel or high-altitude hut. Although the tougher sections must be guided, you can go it alone here and there – giving yourself an extra challenge and saving a bit of cash.
Day three, taking us to Arabba coach tour operators uk to europe and Porta Vescovo for what should have been mesmerising views of the Marmolada glacier, needed Albi. Visible from Venice on a clear day, Marmolada is, at 3,343m, the highest of the Dolomites. Sadly, we could barely see it, even as we stood on its vast reaches, thanks to a whiteout that only began to fizzle out after we'd had to move on. Still, the red-run descent on perfect powder was a knockout: a rattling sprint down a snaking boulevard that flickered in and out of the white. At the foot, out of breath and exhilarated, I realised I hadn't been on a single piste twice all week.
Albi, who had skilfully been keeping us away from the flat, now swung us into a gorge so narrow it felt like the slightest seismic jitter could squeeze it shut again. This was the Serrai di Sottoguda, a 2km-long canyon with walls 100m high – a place of sudden darkness and blazing light, with no fence between you and the rushing, boulder-filled river Pettorina, coach tour operators uk to europe which you cross 16 times, on terrifyingly coach tour operators uk to europe narrow bridges. On the board, there was no choice but to go at these rickety bridges straight on – and therefore far too fast – to the cheers of two guys climbing the "cathedral", one of three frozen waterfalls that line the gorge.
We reached Rifugio Fuciade , a fabulous cuckoo clock of an inn almost 2,000m up, after a breathtaking chairlift ascent to the soaring shoulder of the Passo San Pellegrino , followed by a blast through frozen forests on a snowmobile. Built by three priests in the 1960s and now running out of wallspace for its food awards, this haven, surrounded by stillness and hemmed in by mountains, is today run by Sergio Rossi, grandson of one of the priests. With room for just 20 guests, the refuge had been described as something special – and didn't disappoint.
We kicked off our kit, took piping hot showers, stretched out on beautifully carved wooden beds, and then headed down for dinner, through narrow corridors decorated with accordions and antlers, pressed flowers and paintings of nudes, not to mention embroidery, stuffed birds, a gnome straining into a toilet, and the head of every four-legged beast that has ever walked these parts.
As darkness fell and our muscles stopped throbbing after the day's exertions coach tour operators uk to europe on some of the finest pistes I've ever sped down, so began the finest meal I've ever had. There was venison carpaccio, risotto with chestnut and truffle, pork shin on polenta, and an egg adrift in potato cream and caviar. There was even a dish called Memory of Wood but, thanks again to the Lagrein and grappa, I can't for the life of me remember what was in it. "Not bad at all," said Albi and headed for bed.
I stepped outside for a bit of air, noticed that the terrace thermometer said -7C, and ducked straight back inside, shivering. I was just tucking into my second helping of prune tart with elderflower sorbet and feeling like I hadn't a care in the world, coach tour operators uk to europe when Emanuela, coach tour operators uk to europe Sergio's wife, raced into the room shouting and waving her arms. "Abbiamo avuto la fumata bianca!" she yelled. "We have had the white smoke!" I thought the place was on fire and wondered what the procedure would be: would I burn to death in the refuge – or escape, only to freeze to death in the snow? But it turned out Emanuela was just telling us that a new pope had been chosen .
"Ooh," said Albi in the morning, looking up at the shimmering peaks of the Cimo Uomo and the avalanches that had spilled down its sides in the night. "We're going to have fun today." And so off we went, this time with the boarder coach tour operators uk to europe leaving the skiers behind, at least until the pistes were reached. It was day four, billed as the visual highlight of the trip, promising stunning views of the Veneto and Trentino Dolomites. And again, we weren't coach tour operators uk to europe disappointed. Drunk on powder and panoramas, we even did some routes twice, eventually finding ourselves coach tour operators uk to europe on a stretch of flat so lengthy that some enterprising coach tour operators uk to europe local had set up a horse-drawn service that would happily pull 20 or so rope-clutching skiers back to the lifts.
We slept at 2,778m that night, in Rifugio Lagazuoi , but not before Albi had joined us for a farewell bombardino : a one-is-enough local eggnog, rum and whipped cream drink. More hostel than haven, Lagazuoi is less grand than Fuciade, but I loved it – even if the cuisine is hearty rather than haute. Plus, hung with icicles in the sub-zero coach tour operators uk to europe morning, the terrace offers dizzying views that seem to take in not just vast swathes of the Dolomites, but the whole world.
Day five, daringly unguided, began with the best of what Lagazuoi had to offer: the 8.5km Armentarola , regarded as one of the best runs in the world, an extended slalom through a rippling, pine-dotted landscape – and Dolomites so tall, so sheer and so close you feel you could reach out and run your fingers along them. Naturally, we got lost fairly quickly after that, but it didn't matter. Eventually, we found our way over to Cortina, for yet another intoxi