 Poster: A snowHead
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Okay folks it's that time of year again..Oh YES.. Thinking on Pila at the end of January, my son's been with his school and enjoyed it, so since I haven't been thought I'd give it a bash. Will be a package deal in resort, so really looking for any info/advise etc about the resort. Her in doors doesn't do sliding about on snow ( weird I know). which means she will be going down to Aosta during the day, anybody have an idea how much a taxi is back up to resort at night. Thank you...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Not much in Pila itself. Would be much better if you all stayed in Aosta and then you got the gondola up the hill each day.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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We had a day trip there a few years back, very quiet in early March, had some pistes to yourselves which was fantastic, not sure if a week could be a bit repetitive. Stay in Aosta is a good option, you could do a day trip to Courmeyour and La Thuile by local bus fairly easily, Courmayour has plenty of bling shops for OH to browse, just keep credit cards on yourself 
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Afaik. As far as the Aosta valley goes, Pila is off the largest town, so will provide her indoors with the biggest (if not the prettiest/most exclusive) town to explore. Agreed if you are a. " love to ski every run in resort no more than once" kinda guy, you will be twiddling your thumbs by the first half of the week. If not, it might suit both of you.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| geoffknight wrote: |
| We had a day trip there a few years back, very quiet in early March, had some pistes to yourselves which was fantastic, not sure if a week could be a bit repetitive. Stay in Aosta is a good option, you could do a day trip to Courmeyour and La Thuile by local bus fairly easily, Courmayour has plenty of bling shops for OH to browse, just keep credit cards on yourself |
So is Aosta a bigger town with at least a few things to do for non skiers (or at least non commital skiers....like my wife) as that sounds ideal for us, how easy is the mountain to acces via the cable car? I am going to take a look now as I have heard that area of Italy has had some good snow.
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@davidhammy, Aosta is the regional city, complete with easy rail links to Turin and Milan. A place of contrasts with an old Roman section and newer more industrial elements. Lots of expensive shoe shops.
Aosta is linked to Pila by a lift thats about 15 min duration which is about 5minutes walk from the City center.
If you have a car or fancy trying the local bus service then Aosta also open up other resorts in the Valley.
I love Pila and the Aosta Valley, mostly for the excellent 1 euro 60 coffee 
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| AndAnotherThing.. wrote: |
@davidhammy, Aosta is the regional city, complete with easy rail links to Turin and Milan. A place of contrasts with an old Roman section and newer more industrial elements. Lots of expensive shoe shops.
Aosta is linked to Pila by a lift thats about 15 min duration which is about 5minutes walk from the City center.
If you have a car or fancy trying the local bus service then Aosta also open up other resorts in the Valley.
I love Pila and the Aosta Valley, mostly for the excellent 1 euro 60 coffee |
Ha ha, yes that's EXACTLY what I was thinking and as we have forced our children to travel from the very young age, their food and drink tastes are mental, they are like locusts so cost a fortune. We always just DIY so car is a definite so I think we will look into booking as there seems loads of stuff to do in the town and plenty cheap accomodation.
Grazi!
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I would stay in Aosta and then O/H can then do her own thing during the day in the town as it is quite big, market place is nice are with some great shops. You and your son can then catch the gondola/eggs that take approx 15 minues as AndAnotherThing stated, the gondola is more or less in the middle of town, its quite a transformation when the town has no snow, then 15 minutes in the gondola you are in the snow line with perfect conditions.
Your pass also enables you to ski in Courmayeur and La Thuile, just not sure how you get there as we had a car whilst we were there. Think the bus service could do it, about 30 minutes to both resorts in the car.
I thought Pila was great, in a lovely bowl, north facing so retains the snow line, and as other people have stated very reasonable. Enjoy
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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There is nothing at all in Pila in terms of shops, entertainment, etc. Much better to stay in Aosta. It's easy to access the resort via the gondola, takes 20 minutes or so to get up.
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+1 for staying in Aosta. But rent your gear in Pila or one of the shops at the foot of the gondola, so you can leave it there overnight and walk to and from the gondola unencumbered in your trainers. There are also plenty of lockers at the gondola arrival (one euro deposit which you get back) to leave stuff during the day and retrieve any time on an easy ski by. The walk in the morning / evening is unlikely to be more than 10 mins from any of the Aosta hotels. Aim for the main train station and take the foot tunnel under it. You will then see the gondola on your right.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@bobski62,
I'm doing this trip shortly - thats a great idea ... dont suppose you can remember which shop would be easiest to use???? Thanks
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@davidhammy, I was in Courmayeur this year and did a day trip on the bus, about €4, to Pila and La Thuile to break up the week. I thought Pila held it's snow better than both of the other resorts, I really enjoyed it. A day in Pila and LT were included on the Courmayeur pass, so I imagine the reverse might well be true (?). The busses were efficient, cheap and not too long a duration. Well worth it I thought.
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I like Pila, as the others have alluded to if you want more to do in the evening stay in Aosta if not staying up the mountain in Pila will be fine. It's aprox 15 mins uplift on the gondola and about 30 mins to drive up i.e. not a particularly cheap taxi ride although I've never done it. If you like putting in the KM's then Pila probably isn't for you @ around 70 KM, the fact that you'll have some pistes practically to yourselves more than makes up for this. It can get busy at weekend with locals and day trippers however the Italians seem to prefer it when it's sunny stopping for long leisurely lunches. It's ideal for intermediates and there's good slopes to offer progression for intermediates.
It's one of the resorts used by Interski who at guess will be who your son had been with? Courmayeur I think reports to be bigger than it is a lot of the time, you can't ski back down to the town unless you're staying in Dolonne. It's a lovely little town would there be enough to keep non skiers entertained for the day? Possibly not-depends what they're in to. Courmayeur I quite like the skiing it's not expensive but has some fantastic off piste available, and decent variety on piste for intermediates, not great for beginners, there's a beginners area up the hill which is good for absolute beginners but then little around the mountain for beginners.
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You know it makes sense.
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I have skied a dusk descent from Pila down to Aosta before now. A cool 2000m vertical, but you will need to score good conditions 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Well, Thank you all for your thoughts, Going by what you have all said i think I need to look at staying in Aosta as this would keep the other half happy, and as we all know if they are happy then....
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Poster: A snowHead
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@breakdown, don't think anyone mentioned but another thing to keep in mind if you do consider staying in Pila, the Aosta-Pila lift finishes at around 5pm. I would definitely stay in Aosta, check out the HB or Europe hotels
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@breakdown, you mentioned doing a package in post #1. Although a schools operator, Interski do a 'classics' package for adults/families - separate from their schools business (using different hotels). They use a number of Aosta hotels and do Coach, self-drive or flight options.
http://www.interski.co.uk/Holidays/classicsaccommodation.php
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Hi @Mattmulkeen, you have a few options. Gal Sport is located literally right under the bottom of the bubble lift. If you wanted to leave year at the top. you'd come out or the lift arrival area, head right, scoot along the parade of ski pass kiosks then down the stairs on your right. There you will find about half a dozen shops including ski hire.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@bobski62, thanks boabski
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I've been to Pila, it's a very pleasant resort with fantastic views across the Aosta Valley. Aosta itself is a charming old town - we stayed down in the middle of it in the Hotel Europe:
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g187863-d232945-Reviews-Europe_Hotel-Aosta_Valle_d_Aosta.html
It was nice enough, but very much a business hotel rather than a ski hotel. Looking at the photos it seems to have become rather run down since we were there ten years ago (same carpets and bed covers!). I can post some pics of Pila/Aosta if you're interested.
It was a 10 minute walk to the ski lockers near the gondola to get our boots on etc, then the gondola was 20 minutes up to the ski area, then you had to get a couple of lifts up the mountain. All in all it was rather a faff which I wouldn't do again. Also the queue for the gondola at the weekend was huge, because of all the locals going skiing.
However, if you're with a non-skier, stay in Aosta as there are lots of shops and it's nice to wander round. We also did a day trip to Courmayeur, and skied the Vallee Blanche on another day which was FABULOUS.
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Yes, The Europe has no heated storage/boot room. And with hot air vents in the rooms rather than radiators, there's nowhere to dry gloves etc.
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Boot room didn't matter so much as we used the ski hire place near the gondola to store our stuff.
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