Alta Badia is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

in the

Dolomites The Dolomites ( it, Dolomiti ; Ladin: ''Dolomites''; german: Dolomiten ; vec, Dołomiti : fur, Dolomitis), also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form par ...

of northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, in the upper part of the

Val Badia The Val Badia ( en, Badia Valley, Ladin: ''Val Badia''; it, Val Badia; german: Gadertal) is the valley of the Gran Ega river in South Tyrol, Italy. It stretches from the Sella massif northwards to the Puster Valley. The villages in the Val Badia ...

(german: Hochabtei) in

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

. It is part of the

Dolomiti Superski The Dolomiti Superski is a ski area in Italy. Created in 1974, it is spread over an area of about 3,000 km2 in the Triveneto region of Italy, and includes most of the winter ski slopes of the Dolomites. Comprising 12 ski resorts and a total o ...

ski area. It is included in the territories of the municipalities of Corvara, Badia, and

La Val La Val ( it, La Valle ; german: Wengen ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about northeast of the city of Bolzano. Geography As of 30 November 2010, it had a population of 1,307 and an area ...

. Centered on Corvara, the extended area's lift-served summit

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

is on the

Sella group The Sella group (german: Sellagruppe, Ladin: ''Mëisules'' or ''L Sela'') is a plateau-shaped massif in the Dolomites mountains of northern Italy. The Sella lies north of the Marmolada and to the east of the Langkofel. The highest peak is Piz Boè ...

, with an overall vertical drop of to Pedraces. The native language of the majority of the locals is

Ladin Ladin may refer to: * Ladin language, a language in northern Italy, often classified as a Rhaeto-Romance language *Ladin people, the inhabitants of the Dolomite Alps region of northern Italy See also *Laden (disambiguation) * Ladino (disambigua ...

Alpine Skiing World Cup

Alta Badia is a regular stop on the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

schedule, usually by the men in mid-December. Its

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

course, the classic ''

Gran Risa Gran Risa is a World Cup giant slalom ski course in Italy at Alta Badia. On Piz La Ila mountain in the Dolomites, it hosted its first World Cup event in 1985. This slope is considered one of the top three GS courses on the circu ...

'', is one of the most challenging on the circuit. In December

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, the course had a vertical drop of , starting at and finishing at , near La Ila (La Villa) (). The race was won by

Ted Ligety Theodore Sharp Ligety (born August 31, 1984) is a retired American alpine ski racer, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and an entrepreneur, having cofounded Shred Optics. Ligety won the combined event at the 2006 Olympics in Turin and the gi ...

of the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, who also won two years earlier. Nearby World Cup venues are

Val Gardena Val Gardena (; german: Gröden ; lld, Gherdëina ) is a valley in Northern Italy, in the Dolomites of South Tyrol. It is best known as a tourist skiing, rock climbing, and woodcarving area. Geography The valley's main river is the Derjon, a ...

to the west (over

Gardena Pass Gardena Pass ( it, Passo Gardena; german: Grödnerjoch; lld, Ju de Frara or ''Jëuf de Frea'') is a high mountain pass in the Dolomites of the South Tyrol in northeast Italy. At an elevation of above sea level, the pass connects Sëlva in the ...

) and

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; lld, Anpezo, ; historical de-AT, Hayden) is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the Boite river, in an alp ...

(over

Valparola Pass The Valparola Pass ( it, Passo di Valparola) (el. 2,168 m, in Ladin : "Ju de Valparola") is a high mountain pass in the Dolomites in the province of Belluno in Italy. The pass lies a little west of Falzarego Pass. The hut "Rifugio Passo ...

) to the east.

References

External links

*
Ski Map.org
– Alta Badia {{Authority control Alta Badia