View Tom Dempsey's photos from the region of Corvara in Badia, a mountain ski resort in the Dolomites (Dolomiti) mountain range, in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (South Tyrol) region of Italy, Europe. The beautiful ski resort of Selva di Val Gardena (German: Wolkenstein in Gröden; Ladin: Sëlva Gherdëine) makes a great hiking base. For our favorite hike in the Dolomites, start from Selva with the first morning bus to Ortisei, take Seceda lift, admire great views up at the cross on the edge of Val di Funes/Villnöss, then walk 12 miles via the steep pass Furcela Forces De Sieles to beautiful Vallunga, finishing where you started. The hike traverses the Geisler/Odle and Puez Groups from verdant pastures to alpine wonders, all preserved in a vast Nature Park: Parco Naturale Puez-Odle (German: Naturpark Puez-Geisler; Ladin: Parch Natural Pöz-Odles), including the deeply glaciated U-shaped valley of Vallunga (Langental). Explore nearby Val di Funes (Villnöß valley) with its onion-domed Church of St. Johann in Ranui under stunning peaks of Geisler/Odle Group. Relax in the Alps town of Kastelruth/Castelrotto. After Austria lost World War I, its South Tirol (Südtirol) became Italy's Alto Adige, where mostly German is spoken, plus Italian and a small minority of native Ladin, from Vulgar Latin. 200 million years ago, Triassic coral reefs fossilized into Dolomite. Collision of tectonic plates lifted the Dolomites within the Southern Limestone Alps. UNESCO honored the Dolomites as a natural World Heritage Site in 2009.