'24 International Gathering
- Dolomites

Written by Garrett Davis

Photos by Andrea Costa and Garrett Davis

A few days after wrapping up our annual Colorado Yeti Gathering, Steve "Hoog" Hoogendoorn and I quickly packed our bikes for the trip to Italy to meet up with 12 other Yeti freaks for the Yeti International Gathering in the Italian Dolomites. Working for Yeti can have its perks, and one is getting to spend time with our loyal Yeti freaks.

The Trip to Italy

As we crossed the Atlantic, excitement built for the trip ahead. With a week of riding in and around the picturesque Val Di Fassa and a few quick stops in the historic city of Venice, we certainly had a memorable trip ahead.

With our home base for the week in the idyllic Italian mountain town of Canazei, most of the crew flew into Venice, Italy, where we would meet, gather our gear, and caravan deep into the Dolomites for a week in the mountains.

While several guests joined us from Poland and Switzerland, most flew in from North America. After arriving in Venice, we were met by one of our friendly guides, a Canazei local named Andrea Costa.

After slowly filing into a hotel near the Venice airport, a small crew decided to head to historic Venice to see one of the oldest cities in the world and venture through the canals and tight streets. The mission was threefold: fight off the inevitable onset of jetlag, experience the sights of Venice, and, of course, find some good food.

Hoog and I quickly found a few fellow Yeti Gathering riders, meeting with Eric and Igor from Colorado in the iconic Piazza San Marco. We then set out to find some good food, which isn't too difficult in Venice. After dinner, we quickly found ourselves racing to get a water taxi before they all disappeared for the night. We returned from Venice to the airport marina and took a short walk back to our hotel.

Day 1 – Into the Mountains

The following day, our guide, Andrea, helped us load our bikes into the trailers and vans, and we made our way into the mountains. After a few hours, we came over the Fedaia Pass, passing the Lago di Fedaia, and the valley below came into focus. Collectively, we reveled in the unbelievable beauty of the valley below and the mountains above while the jokes flowed with excitement in the air.

After arriving at our hotel for the week, the Hotel Cesa Tyrol, we found our rooms and reconvened to build our bikes together. The family-owned hotel is very friendly for cyclists. Our team had full access to a garage with bike racks for the week and a bike washing station, which proved valuable for storage and daily maintenance.

Thankfully, all the riders' bikes arrived intact, and we were able to build them all for a shakeout ride together. After riding the city bus-sized gondola to the top, the jagged mountains above Canazei greeted us, and we dropped in for our first taste of Italian trails.

We also met our second guide, Albi Valeruz, another Canazei local and incredible rider. Together with Andrea Costa and Euan Wilson, they would round out our guide crew for the week.

Canazei is home to some of the most iconic trails in the Enduro World Cup. On the menu for the week was just about every great trail in the mountains and valleys around Val Di Fassa and Canazei. Including the infamous Tutti Frutti: a trail Richie Rude and the Yeti / FOX Factory team have frequented over the years on their quest for Enduro World Cup dominance. It's a 1500-ft, blissful, high-stakes descent packed into a 1.6-mile run at the top of a ridgeline before plunging into the rooting, rocky woods below.

Day 2 – They said there might be rain.

As our Yeti Ambassador and organizer Euan Wilson and the team had warned, Canazei had received a ton of rain over the past few weeks, and rain was forecasted to continue through the first half of the week. With that in mind, we came prepared with rain gear in hand.

After disembarking the gondola at the top, we rolled our bikes into deep fog and dropped into the muddy abyss for our warmup laps. The mud was manageable at first, but then we dropped into the second trail of the day. After dropping in, I almost slid right over the top of the first berm on the peanut butter mud but kept it upright. Laughter and hoots exploded from the group as we worked to stay upright without knocking each other down in the process. Luckily, we found more stable dirt and continued to ride through the day, but we called it a little early.

After washing our bikes, clothes, and shoes, we met in the hotel for a group dinner and recounted the day, including the close calls, crashes, and fun.

One of the best parts of the trip was our group meals. We would meet for breakfast every morning, a classic European buffet filled with fresh food and a kind, attentive staff. Early in the week, we shared our jetlag war stories from the night before, enjoyed our coffees, and prepared for the day ahead.

Day 3 – Tutti Frutti & Home trails

After some sloppy days on trail, we were all curious how conditions would set up for the third day of riding. Surprisingly, they were significantly drier than expected, so we set out for big laps. With some hike-a-bike, plentiful stops for coffee mixed with awesome riding that was a mix of backcountry and park riding, we had a full plate of fantastic mountain biking. To round out the day, we saved Tutti Frutti for the last big run of the day. As we set up to drop in on the steep, exposed ridgeline, we reveled in the fast, technical, rooty, rocky descent. By the end of the trail, smiles were ear to ear, the smell of burning brakes filled the air, and it was clear that the group all had a full cup.

With a descent back into town still on deck, one of our guides, Albi, showed a small group of us a loamy hidden 'home' trail that dropped us directly into Canazei, nearly at the back door of our hotel. We finished with a beer on the patio of a local pub and dinner together as a crew. What a day!

Day 4 – Around the valley to the lake and back

After three days of riding and some wet time in the saddle, the fatigue started to set in a bit for some of us, so the fourth day was a mission filled with sunshine, park laps, espresso stops, and connecting alpine singletrack through the valleys with the vast network of lifts that connect the mountains behind Canazei—stopping for lunch at a Refugio before dropping down to Lago di Fedaia. The guides told us stories of the troops infiltrating the area's mountains during the World Wars while taking in the glaciers hanging by a thread from the mountains above.

After passing Lago di Fedaia, we all enjoyed the final descent into Canazei and arrived along the river to find a beer on a beautiful grassy patio. While this wasn't the longest day of riding, with the sun out, trails drying, and epic descents, it was a memorable day, and the vibes were high.

Day 5 – To the Refugio

With most of our week being epic laps and loops that ended back in Canazei, day 5 had a defined destination: The Refugio Santa Croce – La Crusc in Badia. To get there, we would take a familiar lift using some of the best park laps, jump lines, and singletrack to inject more great riding and stops for espresso and lunch.

After a relatively relaxed day of riding, we arrived in Badia and the Santa Croce Refugio. Upon arriving at this centuries-old refugio, we were met with a few historic buildings and the towering rock wall behind. After unpacking and settling into our rooms, we enjoyed the sunset together, savoring the beauty and the opportunity to experience this historic destination together. With chickens taking themselves to bed at the barn, we retired to the common area to enjoy a great meal together before retiring to several shared rooms for a well-earned night of rest.

Day 6 – Back to Canazei

We awoke to the sun rising on the Refugio, had a light breakfast with the crew and a few espressos, and took off for our trip back to Canazei. The rocky trails were lit with golden hour light, and summer in the mountains was in full bloom.

Experiencing a new valley and trails, we also mixed in some of our favorite haunts from the week on our way back to Canazei. By now, our legs were getting heavy, our hands were feeling the abundance of descending, and the end of the trip was starting to come into focus.

Afternoon rain showers greeted us as we plunged through the valleys filled with the jingle of cowbells hanging from the mountain cattle roaming the mountains.

Day 7 – That's it!

With rain again in the forecast, we had to make the most of our final day before the weather rolled in. After a quick breakfast, we rode the big lift for the last time, and after a few warmup laps, we hit a few of our favorite trails with the hope of one more lap on Tutti Frutti.

Sadly, with rain and thunder approaching, we opted to shorten our day a little but still hit some amazing trails, including that loamy home trail Albi had introduced us to earlier in the week. Our final lap was epic and just right. With thunder clapping overhead, we knew we were on short time before the skies opened up. And just like that, we finished our last run, made it back to the hotel, and the rain began. It was a perfect end to an amazing week.

The Yeti Gathering in the Dolomites has a slightly different vibe than some of our more point-to-point trips, but what I loved was having a great home base where we could eat our meals together, share laughs and stories, and revel in our mutual love of mountain biking and all things Yeti.

Day 8 – Heading home

The trip back to Venice was bittersweet. What a week! There was so much incredible riding. With roughly 60,000 feet of descending in our bodies, it felt like we left it all in the mountains. With one more night in Venice, many returned to the city to see more sights before flying back.

With luck on everyone's side on the trip to Italy, several riders ran out of luck on the way back, with several flights being canceled or delayed, and many of us running fast through airports to catch connections. We all made the best of it; how can we complain after a week in the mountains? In the end, everyone made it home, and all of our bikes eventually resurfaced.

We at Yeti are incredibly thankful to have such dedicated fans of the brand who take the time and effort to join us in far corners of the work to ride together and revel in this beautiful sport we all love so much.

The 2024 Italy Gathering was one for the books. Our Yeti Ambassador, Euan Wilson, and his team put on some incredible events. We want to thank Euan, Catherine, Jodie, Albi, and Andrea for all their hard work on this incredible Yeti Gathering.

For 2025, we have opened up our registration for the Yeti Gathering in Bhutan, which will be an epic adventure.  Hope to see you there.