NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - Making cultural tracks in Italy’s Dolomites

Pink clouds like candyfloss float above as we bump along in our snowmobile past quaint wooden chalets with smoke billowing from their chimneys. It’s that bewitching time of day in the Dolomites. They call it enrosadira (or alpenglow) and it’s when the mountains glow pinky red.

Geologists believe the explanation lies in the unusual composition of calcium and magnesium carbonate in the rocks. These majestic mountains were once coral reefs, forced upwards by tectonic pressure to form towering cliffs that, in turn, were gradually eroded by the elements to form jagged peaks. Over the course of a few days, we admire them from different pistes and rifugios (mountain huts) on a guided ski safari from Corvara to Cortina 'Ampezzo.

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Written by Sam Lewis