Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
I'm heading to Courmayeur for a 3.5 day trip this weekend. Is it easy and worth visiting either Pila and/or La Thuile for a day given the short trip?
We're snowboarders, if I could choose an ideal place it would be wide mellow tree runs, side hits everywhere, a park with some good small to medium kicker lines, and then weather permitting, easily accessible off piste with obvious routes back to the lifts. Not bothered about food or facilities. Just the terrain.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@ODG,
I'm not a boarder but La Thuile is very close by easily accessible by public transport and definitely worth it as a skier including accessible off piste.
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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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The snow park in Pila is the best in the valley. A nice line of kickers and rails , only downside is the slow lift. You can get the bus from Courmayeur to Aosta and then cable car to Pila. You can ride the whole resort in a day. I'd recommend the Baotson cafe at the bottom of Grimod near the park , awesome burgers from the BBQ.
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I liked Pila too. I'm a boarder, though you wouldn't catch me lapping the park. Really nice easy to lap side-piste that didn't get tracked out too quickly around the "upper left corner" as you look up the hill - was the lift called Cush 1 or something. Sit on lift pick out very obvious line, ride and repeat.
I went to la Thuile too, some pretty fun stuff but also one really long flat valley bottom run (extreme right of piste map) which skiers were skating/polling.
If you're going to hit one, Pila would be best.
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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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Truly how easy is the public transport? From your accommodation?
On a 3.5 day trip you should have quite enough to do in Courmayeur.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks all - definitely sounds like Pila is a good option.
under a new name wrote: |
Truly how easy is the public transport? From your accommodation?
On a 3.5 day trip you should have quite enough to do in Courmayeur. |
I don't know how easy the public transport is either... It doesn't look like it's super simple compared to Mayrhofen/Zillertal etc but it seems possible.
And I'm sure Courmayeur will be big enough, but if it looks like the conditions are significantly better elsewhere it's always good to have the option to explore.
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@ODG, r2r suggests an hour to Aosta, hourly.
No chance 2-4 hours commute worth it to me.
YMMV
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I found Courmayeur to be really small. I had the area covered in a day, boarded pretty much every run with repeats within a couple of days, it's very small.
Getting to Aosta is a piece of cake, the bus service was on time, efficient and around €5 or so. It's a few years since I was there, but it's not the longest walk from the bus station in Aosta to the base of the gondola (maybe half a mile?). If you get bored or you're a mile muncher it's no biggie. I wouldn't have lasted a week in Courmayeur and in general I don't mind lapping a chair looking for little side hits and tree runs.......
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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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For anyone else considering this, we did take a day out to La Thuile - as you say @rogg we'd lapped Courmayeur multiple times in 2 days, and not only that, the lower runs were heavy slush or just brown. The bus took about 40 minutes each way and was around 5 euro return, although the times online were wrong and we had to ask around a bit, luckily the bus station in Courmayeur is staffed and helpful. It's a very twisty road in between the two resorts, and out bus driver didn't hang about.
After a little wait for the clouds to clear and the lift to start running, we got up the mountain and headed for La Rosiere - great conditions and fantastic wide mellow runs with easily accessible untouched off-piste. We spent a few hours lapping La Rosiere and then headed back over to La Thuile for some last runs. Sadly the only way back into Italy is via a long button lift. Then it was back down for a beer before the last bus to Courmayeur at around 5.30pm. There was absolutely no signage for the return bus stop though so we just had to ask about.
Probably the best day of the trip, and definitely worth the bus ride. We weren't up the mountain much later than we would have been in Courmayeur anyway.
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@ODG, bit late to this but I would say you made the right choice with La Thuile. To get to Pila it's an hour bus journey from Courmayeur and then you have to walk almost a kilometre from the bus station to the gondola station, and take a 20 minute gondola up. La Thuile is a far bigger resort too.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Interesting, ODG, you went over to La Rosiere when La Thuile is so much better, and staying Italy would have avoided that long bum-numbing button lift back.
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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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Jonpim wrote: |
Interesting, ODG, you went over to La Rosiere when La Thuile is so much better, and staying Italy would have avoided that long bum-numbing button lift back. |
We didn't particularly plan it that way, but the weather was poor in La Thuile and was clearing a little quicker over in the direction of La Rosiere, so we headed there.
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