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LAREFA guides and instructors
LAREFA's sports disciplines have grown over time, along with the team of collaborators. From the beginning in 2020 until today, new activities have been introduced with each passing season, as new, talented and qualified professionals in the disciplines have enthusiastically decided to organize and lead experiences together.
All the instructors and guides who collaborate on the experiences and services offered are qualified professionals, regularly enroled in the national registers of the following bodies, associations, and organizations: Collegio Guide Alpine Veneto e Alto Adige, UIAGM, UIMLA, Collegio Maestri di Sci Veneto e Trentino, AMSI, Scuola Italiana E-Bike, ACSI. Here's who you will meet in one of your next adventures!
Luca Ganz
Ski instructor
Accompagnatore di media montagna
International mountain leader
MTB guide
Born and raised on "bread and mountains" in Falcade, in the magical Biois Valley, thanks to the teachings of his father, who from an early age instilled in him a love and passion for the nature of these places. He continued and completed his education in Italy and internationally, traveling, discovering, and exploring the mountains of Scotland, Wales, England, Finland, France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Corsica, Portugal, and Cyprus, before returning to his home in the Dolomites with a backpack ("refa") full of passion and lessons to pass on to those he accompanies on hikes, lessons, and other activities in all seasons. Throughout the year, he also alternates days spent working in the mountains with his work as an IT Technical Architect for Microsoft ERP systems. In 2023, after many years of experience and work in the sector, he conceived and founded LAREFA, with the love, dream, and goal of being able to convey, share, and offer an alternative, personal, and accessible idea of the mountains.
Giovanna Costa
Snowboard instructor
Snowboard trainer
MTB guide
She has lived in Canale d'Agordo since she was born, except for a few periods of emigration around the world for study, work, or her great passion for travel. She has worked as a kindergarten support teacher for about ten years, and as a snowboard instructor since 2008. She grew up skiing, but at twelve she approached this sport out of pure curiosity. After a few years, she joined the first snowboard group at the Ski College Veneto, participating in several national and international competitions, favoring boardercross. She then became a coach, leaving the competitive life behind to dedicate herself to what had begun to give an even greater meaning to her life: teaching this wonderful sport! In 2012, she created the snowboarding section for boys and girls at the Sci Club Val Biois, from 2015 to 2017 she was a coach for the Veneto Committee, and in 2021 she spent 5 months in China as a private coach for a Chinese athlete. Her passion for snowboarding and teaching, combined with her love for the mountains, make this the best job in the world!
Stefano Defrancesco
Ski instructor
Born in Agordo, he lives and works between Falcade and Moena. From an early age, thanks to his parents and paternal and maternal grandparents, he has collected the teachings and stories of the people of these valleys. The woods and mountains have always been his home, not only for snow activities and therefore skiing, but also for the work he does during the rest of the seasons as a lumberjack and in the mountains of the San Pellegrino Pass, recovering trenches and emplacements from the First World War. His competitive experience took place at the Ski College Veneto in Falcade from 2004 to 2010. This period of sporting and technical training led him to transition from competitive skiing to a career as a ski instructor in 2012. He wants to pass on not only his passion for this sport, but above all his love for the mountains, as living in contact with the snow implies an understanding of the surrounding environment, made up of ancient stories, ancient memories, and how our people lived in the area.
Marco Bergamo
Alpine guide
Born in Treviso in 1984, Marco is a man of a thousand passions and successes! Raised in San Biagio di Callalta, he later moved to Falcade and now lives in Frassené Agordino. After attending the University of Architecture in Venice and earning a degree in Architectural Sciences, he found his true calling in the mountains. His deep spiritual connection to the mountains led him to dedicate his life to mountaineering and climbing, taking him to various locations around the world, including the Dolomites, the Alps, the Himalayas, Patagonia, the Cordillera Blanca, and Yosemite. In 2012, Marco became a UIAGM/IFMGA mountain guide and since 2013 has been accompanying clients on a wide range of activities, including hiking, rock and ice climbing, mountaineering, via ferratas, ski mountaineering, freeriding, and ski safaris. His love for nature and mountain peaks drove him to explore the unique opportunities offered by the Dolomites, with their mix of valleys, cultures, and sports. Marco is multilingual: he speaks Italian, English, and Spanish, a skill that has enriched his exchanges and experiences around the world. In addition to his work as a mountain guide, during the summer he manages the Rifugio Sommariva al Pramperét, on the Alta Via n. 1.
Barbara Gentilini
Accompagnatrice di media montagna
International mountain leader
She also grew up in Falcade, in the beautiful Biois Valley, where her father took her every year to the Mulaz as a child: it was a ritual outing! It was inevitable for her to fall in love with the mountains! She now lives in Brunico, a good base for reaching various mountain ranges. She has climbed numerous peaks and hiked high routes in Veneto, Trentino, and Alto Adige. She also enjoys climbing and ski mountaineering! She chose this profession because she wants to bring people closer to the mountains and, above all, to share her love for these places!
Olaf Lovat
Alpine guide
Born in 1993, he grew up in the Zoldo mountains, and from an early age found his second home in the snow and ice. At the age of three, he put on his first skis and skates; hockey, in fact, was his first great sporting love. In high school, he discovered climbing, a passion that changed everything: from then on, he left the ice to pursue the vertical lifestyle of the rock faces. Over time, this passion has taken him ever higher, literally, from the great Alpine walls to the most distant routes in the world, rediscovering each time the allure of mountain adventure. From the granite of Yosemite to the glaciers of Kyrgyzstan, from the mountains of the Sahara to the descents of Georgia's volcanoes, each trip has been a step forward in his journey. Today, as an "aspiring" mountain guide (qualified in 2024), he seeks to share all this with those who wish to discover, or rediscover, the magic of the mountains. A world of hard work, freedom, and authentic beauty.
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