Agustina Lagos Marmol

Agustina Lagos Marmol, Founder & Managing Director, Dolomite Mountains

Tell us about you and your company.

I grew up on my family’s ranch in Patagonia, immersed in nature with activities like horseback riding, fly fishing, swimming, skiing on the lake, and hiking in the surrounding mountains. I loved outdoor camping and spending nights under the trees. After studying fashion design and photography in Los Angeles, I moved to Toronto, where I worked in operations and guided tours for Butterfield & Robinson. I then moved to the Dolomites in 1996, where I met my first husband, an alpinist and professional UIAGM/IFMGA mountain guide. Together, we built an adventure company focused on challenging expeditions for the Italian market, including hiking, climbing in the Himalayas, Patagonia, Peru and Bolivia, and even organized hardcore expeditions for the Italian army.

Throughout this time, I built connections with professional guides worldwide, which has been invaluable for my own company, Dolomite Mountains. When my daughter was young, I wanted to limit my travel abroad, so I saw an opportunity to create a locally based company in the Dolomites with deep expertise. I launched Dolomite Mountains in 2009 after separating from my husband.

Since then, we have expanded to offer year-round travel experiences in the Dolomites, South Tyrol, Lake Garda, and Sardinia, where I’ve frequently travelled for my own adventures. Our Sardinia offering showcases a more experiential, adventure-focused side of the island. We specialize in activities like hiking, biking, climbing, skiing, and via ferrata, all led by local guides and supported by local drivers and family-owned accommodations.

We are members of The Long Run sustainable travel organization, and make a conscious effort to give back in everything we do: from employing sustainable practices in our daily office operations and selecting local partners in our mountain community, to building relationships with global companies that share our core values and protecting the environment and reducing our impact.

What’s the entry level to talk to you?

There is no minimum planning or membership fee, but we offer packages (hotel, transfers, guides, experiences, meals etc.), not single experiences. We work b2b and b2c.

What is the sweet spot of your expertise?

Experiential adventure travel through the lens of local expertise. We offer all levels of adventure, from mellow to extreme: hiking, biking, climbing, via ferrata, canyoning, skiing, snowshoeing, ice climbing. Plus, our local guides are the best as they know the area where they work.

A favorite experience/trip/itinerary you’ve planned that represents your philosophy…

I would say our Ski Safari Experiences and our summer valley-to-valley hiking trips. The Dolomites are the biggest ski area in the world—12 ski resorts, 1200kms of slopes, 1 ski pass. On a ski safari, you’ll move from valley to valley each day on skis, enjoying different accommodations most nights. For lunch, the guide will book a rifugio ahead of time, where you can taste local specialties—some rifugios are more upscale than others, but the food is always great and fully serviced. Each evening, you’ll experience the welcoming atmosphere of hotels and rifugi—alpine inns set high atop the mountains, where you can savour the excellent culture and cuisine unique to the region. The area is a UNESCO heritage site, and the mountain backdrop is majestic.

We have two types of ski safaris. An on-piste, hotel-to-hotel ski safari from valley to valley, where you ski 6-8 different ski resorts and stay overnight in the hotels, changing every two/three nights. Luggage is transferred for you from one hotel to the other. The clients ski with the guide on the slopes—if snow conditions are good, we can also organize off-piste or ski touring. Ski equipment can be rented on arrival and on the last day of the trip the guide will take the skis back to the first valley they started.

The other is an off-piste ski safari staying in rifugios. It’s the same concept, skiing from valley to valley, fully guided, the first two nights and last night in a hotel, with luggage delivered for you. For the nights in the rifugios, we give clients a duffle for their clothes, toothbrush etc, so it’s easy to pack and unpack during the ski safari. Duffels are transferred by our local drivers (in each valley we work with a different driving local company—it’s a great network and a way of giving work to all the community). While skiing from area to area, sometimes you pass through mountain villages, or you get a 10-minute transfer to keep on moving to the next area. It’s like skiing inside a postcard.

A favorite hotel/lodge/house you love and go back to again and again…

Ninety-five percent of the properties in the Dolomites are family owned, so when you stay you can often meet the family. It is a more relaxed atmosphere that I really enjoy.

Hotel Gardena – Grodherhof in Val Gardena is superb. It’s a Relais & Chateaux and family owned, with great spa and cuisine and a lovely staff.

Hotel La Perla in Val Badia. Also family owned, with more rustic mountain decoration and excellent cuisine.

Rifugio Fuciade – It’s one of our favorites, especially for ski safaris, where we usually do a minimum stay of two nights. It is more of a mountain hotel, with 7 rooms and a cabin. The cuisine is superb as is the wine cellar.

Rifugio Kostner – A real mountain rifugio with superb views, excellent local cuisine with curated simple ingredients, nice simple rooms, dormitory style with shared bathrooms.

The most memorable meal you’ve had while traveling….

The tris di canederli at Rifugio Pian di Cengia, in the Dolomiti di Sesto area – beetroot canederli, cheese and speck canederli, and spinach canederli—my favorite! Also the tris di pasta at the Rifugio Averau – three types of pastas with different sauces. Great for lunch after doing the Via Ferrata Averau, or hiking the Cinque Torri area, where the rifugio is located.

A not-to-be-missed favorite experience…
In the summer, be sure to combine your hiking trip with a via ferrata. The network was created in WW1 so soldiers could scale the mountains without being shot. Today it’s a sport. There are hundreds of via ferratas in the area, from easy to hard. A guide is key for this, as they know the area and you can do it safely.

Underrated location, overrated location, personal favorite, recent discovery?

Underrated: The Prosecco area between Venice and the Dolomites. The hills of Prosecco became UNESCO-protected in 2019. There are fantastic wine cellars to visit, with walks and biking all over the area (in fact, the Giro d’Italia goes through the area every year), and beautiful towns to visit. There are a few lovely 5-star family-run hotels that we work with. I think because it is between Venice and the Dolomites, people tend to pass through this area without stopping. We are working every year a bit more with them and with time it will grow more popular. It’s amazing in the spring and fall, when the Dolomites are closed. Or a great spot to stay one or two nights upon arrival from overseas for jet lag. 

Overrated: Venice.

Personal favorite: The east coast of Sardinia. I’ve been going to this area for over 25 years—it’s spectacular to climb and then go for a swim. The area has yet to be discovered by the high-end market, so it is a small hidden jewel. It is still very authentic, with local communities and shepherds. There is amazing hiking along the coast, you can use ropes to cross sections and belay down, have lunch on the rocks, and then get a boat to go for a swim. There are a few 4-star hotels we work with. (Our Untouched and Idyllic Sardinia covers this area.)

Recent discovery: The west coast of Sardinia – I’ve been there before, but not in this specific area called Piscinas. It’s an amazing location, with an incredible 6 km-long beach with beautiful sea and the dunes all around. Totally wild and nothing there except one small hotel and a nude beach. Lots of space and quiet. I call Sardinia the Patagonia of Italy, and it is—there are so many areas with no people and little construction. An amazing island! 

The hardest-working item you always pack…

My Chanel tweed jacket and a Patagonia fleece that you use when climbing or hiking. I feel like the combo summarizes elegance and the outdoors.

What is something you wished we all knew or were better at as travelers?

Patience and respect for foreign countries. You can’t assume that when traveling somewhere else people will adapt to your customs. On the contrary, when we travel, we should respect and enjoy the places we go and interact with the local people.

How do you want people to reach out to you?

agustina@dolomitemountains.com; dolomitemountains.com