 Poster: A snowHead
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Bormio offer great beginners skiing and one of the biggest vertical drops in the Alps.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I'd second Cervinia, went last year on a group course and taking the family back this coming season. The pistes are setup for confidence building, the scenery is stunning and food great.
The town isn't chocolate box pretty, has some nice bits and some slightly ugly bits but the skiing is amazing and you have the Matterhorn, what more could you ask? 
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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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Bardonecchia is good (and cheap) providing they have snow 1300-2800m. " ski areas Campo Smith and the Jafferau (~500m higher). Was part of Turin Olympics so have some nice new faccillities and only ~1 hr from Turin. Very good for beginners/ intermediates as you are not paying a fortune for a lift pass you won't fully use - over 100km piste.
http://www.bardonecchiaski.com/en_US/home/winter/ski-area/where-to-ski
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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maybe try Livigno, went with my daughter and within 4 days we were cruising the 7km blue run in the afternoons together after her lessons
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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 haven't been on the forum for ages but I was getting twitchy for my next holiday and looking at the webcams. Amazingly I remembered my username and password.
Anyway, I should declare an interest as I used to live there and had a residents' regional ski pass every year, but Aosta is a great base. As mentioned there is an industrial area, but it's a proper community and prices aren't resort level. Last year I took my GF for her first skiing holiday so Pila was enough, although there are other local resorts (Courmayeur, La Thuile etc.) available if you have a car, or even use the local buses like I did on my first ever visit years ago. We also went to Turin (with a local friend) and the train is cheap. If you're there 30/31January the S.Orso fair is well worth a visit, and never believe posh middle class English people who say Italians don't get drunk!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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As a beginner/intermediate (I can just parallel ski) Corvara and Madonna are excellent. Madonna has the better scenery (I mean the landscape ) of the two IMHO. I did some videos from the two places, https://vimeo.com/user8026275 (have to go back almost a year). I am going back to Madonna in Feb 2018...
However I am looking for more similar places, between now and Feb 18, and would appreciate any suggestions. One was the "Milky Way" resorts, which are mostly Italian.
One issue with the Dolomites is that there are no nearby airports. The nearest is Verona and it is a 2-3hr shuttle bus at about 30 quid a person each way, which is about 1/10 of doing it any other way (apart from unreliable Italian public transport, with even trains being a bit "random", IME, having to pay €250 for a taxi once to catch the return flight). But these shuttles run only at weekends which is an issue if you just want to do a few days.
The other thing to avoid (how I am not sure) is places full of small children who wonder randomly across the slope. With ski passes in the Alps (and everything else in the Alps) being expensive, this seems to be a bigger problem at the cheaper locations e.g. Slovenia. But one can't just look up e.g. Italian school holidays because these kids may not be at school.
The biggest problem I have found with getting recommendations is that nearly everybody on the slope is either a baby or a good skier who can do red and black runs. I have had suggestions which were so wide of the mark that I might have thought somebody was trying to wind me up. I am not sure what one can do except to ask widely and check the piste maps, and hope the "blues" are not blue to get more tourism
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Early in my ski development I went to La Thuile, some excellent easy runs and some good development runs too, also blacks for the more experienced, a link to La rosiere in france and a bus to cormayeur. Oh and its slopes are almost queue free.
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I know my reply late for original poster but I don't think anyone mentioned Bormio. This is on the road about 50 mins before Lavigno.
Bormio is a lovely medieval town on a general flat valley floor. Very Italian and has 3 spas.
Easy skiing above the village and some amazing skiing in San Colombino 10mns free bus away.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@peter_h, try flying into Innsbruck and renting a car to get a much quicker transfer into the dolomite resorts via the Brenner pass. You can get to Ortisei or Selva in about an hour and a half, maybe two hours to Corvara. A lot quicker than Verona! I’ve never tried it with public transport but maybe others here can advise?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| peter_h wrote: |
The biggest problem I have found with getting recommendations is that nearly everybody on the slope is either a baby or a good skier who can do red and black runs. I have had suggestions which were so wide of the mark that I might have thought somebody was trying to wind me up. I am not sure what one can do except to ask widely and check the piste maps, and hope the "blues" are not blue to get more tourism |
As someone who also quakes in terror at the steepness of some blues (although less than I used to), my advice is to get a private lesson with a good instructor and ask their honest opinion for which runs you should try. Bad instructors brush you off with some very general, "you can ski any blue on the mountain" rubbish, when it's clear I can't! The best instructor I had gave me clear instructions, you can try this this and this red, but don't go near this blue run (all based on current snow conditions) and even advised on the best time of day to do particular runs. You really need someone who understands your skiing and what particular things you personally find tricky, as even amongst us nervous skiers it's not always the same things that trigger us.
As well as checking piste maps, YouTube can be a good resource. One place I skied I found a good skier had skied every run and videoed them all separately. Doesn't help with knowing current snow conditions etc, but really helped me being able to watch all the blues before I got there and assess for myself which ones looked easier and which looked harder. In other resorts it's more hit and miss which runs feature on YouTube, and often tends to be focussed around the top end rather than the blues.
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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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+1 for Passo Tonale... I learnt to ski here 5/6years ago (whiteout every day  ) Beginners area was really good and some great "easy" blues to get your confidence up. Really cheap as well. We stayed at the Ademello and the hotel/food was fantastic.
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