The event started in 1997 when a group of local skiers started learning the at-that-time foreign sport of telemarking. They dubbed themselves the Scufons del Cogo (not so literally , the heroes of telemark), and began meeting every March to spread the gospel of freeskiing and tele turns. They got the police chief on board, so they didn’t have to worry about getting arrested. They started a big mountain comp. Four years ago, Polartec signed on as a sponsor and it became a national, and even international, event.

Now, Scufoneda is still telemark focused, but it’s morphed into a week of off-piste skiing, drinking, and celebrating the start of freeride culture in the Dolomites. It’s new-school, Italian style.