After stopping in Cortina d’Ampezzo on 26 January (50th leg) and Kronplatz and 3 Zinnen the following day (51st leg), on Wednesday, 28 January, the Olympic Flame will arrive early in the morning in Ortisei (Val Gardena), where a relay is planned through the town centre. This will be followed by a transfer to the top station of the Dantercepies cable car, above Selva di Val Gardena, where a replica of the Olympic Torch will be unveiled. Made of Swiss pine wood, it represents the area’s artistic craftsmanship and serves as a lasting reminder of this event of global significance.
The skier torchbearers will then carry the Olympic Flame towards Selva, skiing down one of the slopes that hosted the 1970 Alpine World Ski Championships. At the valley station of the Ciampinoi cable car in Selva Gardena, Mayor Tobias Nocker will greet the torchbearers and pay tribute to the Olympic Flame on behalf of the entire Gardena community. The route will then continue using the lift facilities to Ciampinoi top station, Ciadinat mountain hut, Plan de Gralba and Gran Paradiso top station. From here, a torchbearer will be pulled by a typical Haflinger horse in a skijöring style across the spectacular City of Stones, at the foot of the Sassolungo massif. At the valley station of the Sasso Levante chairlift at Passo Sella, the ceremonial handover of the Torch will take place from the Val Gardena torchbearers to their colleagues from Val di Fassa. In Val di Fassa, there will also be 50 torchbearers, who will accompany the Olympic Flame downhill to Pian Frataces, then ascend using the lift facilities to Sass Becé–Belvedere, before skiing down the Pista del Bosco to Canazei in Val di Fassa. The journey of the Olympic Flame will then continue towards Val di Fiemme, where competitions in cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping will take place in February.
For the various transfers, the torchbearers and the Olympic Flame will also use several Dolomiti Superski lift facilities, whose vehicles will be specially branded for the occasion. This special graphic design will remain in place until the end of the 2025–26 winter season. During cable car transfers, the Olympic Flame will be housed in a dedicated lantern to ensure maximum safety. Dolomiti Superski, which supports the “Olympic Flame” project from a logistical perspective along the slopes of the Sellaronda, thanks to the cooperation of the lift companies, wishes the Dolomites venues of Cortina d’Ampezzo, Predazzo and Tesero in Val di Fiemme, and Anterselva in the Kronplatz area, wonderful Olympic days, unforgettable competitions, and great international visibility for the Dolomites as a whole.
