 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello everyone and welcome to a not Al Green style ‘Just the 2 of us’ TR. It’s not a denfinella style tour but it’s not quite your standard week away.
This trip was arranged around my daughter being on her school ski trip, a marathon coach trip to Austria to ski in the Saalbach ski circus area. They left at 7am Saturday and have reached their hotel but not actually done any skiing yet (by Sunday night). I booked a late Saturday evening flight to Malpensa (Milan), for my son (iceman343) and I, flying back even later next Sunday, 7 nights accommodation in Cervinia starting tonight and looked at several cheap and cheerful accommodations en route from Milan for last night. I did not fancy driving to 2100m at 1-2am after my experience in the Dolomites (see TR Spring in Alta Badia April 2022, which started with putting on chains in the dark in heavy snow). 3 months ago, easyJet moved our flight to 10am, leading me to move my search for Saturday night accommodation to the hotel I’d booked for Sunday, but they were full. So we spent last night at the Hotel Neige et Etoile in Valtournenche, about 15 minutes drive down the road and connected by lifts. It was a toss up between this hotel and the Bijou. The NeE won because it had a pool table. The BJ is merely next to the public swimming pool, probably useful after a few days skiing but not the night before. Thankfully, the drop off time for the school trip was announced as 7am so I was able to drop off the dog, then daughter and get home with 10 minutes spare before getting a taxi to the airport.
MAN is sort of improving, bag drop off was a lot sketchy, all the belts to move bags onto the main belt going behind the desks weren’t working so all suitcases were just occupying a desk each but after that, security wasn’t bad and we had time for breakfast. After finishing, I looked around for a screen showing departures, couldn’t see anything but asked a waitress, assuming this was something she must know only to get “ask my colleague”. I notice a board literally right behind said colleague and am still too busy chuntering about this interaction when we head to the gate, to notice iceman has left his water bottle on the table. If only this was the worst experience of the day, oh no, much worse was to come. Anyone interested in ski conditions can skip the upcoming rant and move onto tomorrow!
It actually only takes 1 hr 45 mins in the air to reach Milan. But easyJet have taken over T2 there. My research has shown car hire from a company with a desk at T1 starts from €150ish but from T2, a rather less bargainous €350, but off site rental starts at a frankly silly €40! I am seduced by Zest car hire having ‘Which’ commendations and book through them with Felirent for €110 plus €27 for chains. Felirent have some Goldcar type iffy reviews. A mate happens to mention that he is actually in Cervinia the week before, but starting from Sunday so will actually be there for après drinks on Saturday afternoon. The plan is hatched. If all goes smoothly, we can drive up, dump the car and get a bus from right outside the hotel at 1611. There’s a reasonable contingency for any delays along the way. Our flight actually arrives early, 1247, our bags arrive despite being last seen stuck on a broken conveyor belt and I ring for the shuttle bus at 1327, already in the designated spot. It turns up, 40 minutes later, taking out all the contingency time. There are 2 blokes up front, typically speedy Gonzales driver and a mate who is, essentially, useless. I help mate load bags. The minibus takes us to….T1! Where 2 more couples join us. 5 minutes later we stop in a small, dusty car park. Of the 2 couples who joined us, 1 has no luggage, 2 are fairly young German women. Mate goes straight for a fag, doesn’t even open the back doors. I open the back doors and have 2 suitcases to move before I can access our luggage. The German ladies show no interest in moving them so I get them out, whereupon they leap forward and zip off with them to the office. Couple 1 are already there. I get our stuff out, leave it with son and head in, to find 3 desks and 2 staff, now both occupied by the other couples. After 20 minutes it becomes increasingly obvious that couple 1’s driving licence is from a country that even these guys aren’t doing business with and bloke behind desk gives them a best option of getting a lift back to the airport. Couple 2 have decided both must drive and the 7 forms that need signing, need signing by both. Lady laboriously repeats her spiel in English to the second. There is an unhappy woman buzzing around with a child car seat that she has paid for but apparently doesn’t fit in the car she’s hired. Despite dealing with couple 1 and trying to fob off dealing with car seat lady, on the grounds that there’s a queue, bloke comes free before lady dealing with the Germans. I hand over the usual: passport, credit card, driving licence. Things flow fairly smoothly, €27 is taken for chains, €700 is left as deposit. Forms I can’t see are on a tablet that I sign in septuplet. He returns my passport and credit card. Tells me he’s already given back my driving license. I disagree. I empty all the cards in my wallet, twice. I check every pocket in my jacket, that I haven’t touched. I remain reasonable but firm. You have my license, I need it back before I can go anywhere. He starts flinging papers around. He tells me I must have it, he doesn’t have it. He hasn’t stolen it. I tell him he has not given it back. Eventually, many minutes later, he says “come round here and look for it”. I come round. I tidy up the paperwork he has flung about. I lift the keyboard. I lift up his mobile. There is my driving licence. It’s taken under a minute. He looks at me with accusation and frankly, rage. As if I have performed some Dynamo style trickery upon him. No apology, just prints off the paperwork with glacial energy and tells me I should pay another €10 for cleaning. I decline. He gives me paperwork and a key. He goes into the cupboard and comes back with chains. I’ve christened him Basil. I get outside and figure how to get a pair of 179 skis, a coffin bag and a suitcase into a Lancia Ypsilon. We depart for hotel 1 at 1505. 1 hr 38 mins after calling and 2 hrs 18 after landing. I’ve spent longer near the arrival airport than the departure one. Not the best start to a holiday.
Things do improve from here. It’s a super smooth drive to Valtournenche thanks to excellent interpretation of phone maps by son. I have not brought a USB to lightning cable so can’t connect phone to car. The drive is under 2 hours. Quick check in. Up to Cervinia by car as missed planned bus by over an hour. Meet mates for pint. Ski hire for son at the maligned Cervinia 2001 (£68 for 8 days via Alpinresorts). Boot fitting suspiciously quick. Wait in queue for binding adjustment. Wait so long my son nips back to the bar to use the facilities. Tech walks round us to family behind saying “You are next?” I’m literally standing beside him clearly in front of them and tap him on the shoulder. He tells me he thought I was with the people in front. They are Spanish blokes, about 15-20 years younger than me and older than my son. I can’t imagine a family/friend dynamic that puts the 4 of us together, plus I’m holding a pair of boots. Back to VT. Drink wine too fast. Order Primi Piatti, Gnoccetti with nettles and cheese. Very nice. Game of pool. Order veal, spinach and potatoes. More pool. Switch back to beer. Veal arrives. Veal is okay, spinach is okay, potatoes are divine. The finest potatoes ever. I am bowled over and telling waitresses and guests about the potatoes. The Italian lady behind me has had the same meal and left 1!!!!! More beer and drunken chat before bed. Anyway, far too much about getting here when you want to know about the snow. I will be back to tell you about today but it is now too late and I need sleep.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 10-04-25 20:08; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@what...snow, Foyer des Guides, on the home run to Valtournenche, an understated foody gem. 
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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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@TYPUCT, I had a good try at looking for it on the way down to Valtournenche yesterday afternoon (for later this week) but I missed it. I thought it was going to be on the left of the piste after Residence Cervino 2 (a big yellow building on the right). Any tips for how to spot it? Definitely on my list. Just got in. Will do some stuff on the actual skiing. Once I’ve opened a beer
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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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@what...snow, It is just (50 m) before you get to Res Cervino 2. It is on the right (slightly tucked in, but you can see the deck) after a short narrow steeper section with netting on both sides - so very easy to overshoot as you are likely to slow down by the time you reach Res Cerv 2!
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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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@Wildsmith, thanks. I saw Res Cerv 2 and then started looking which explains how I missed it. And I was looking on the left!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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This post contains actual references to skiing !
Day 1 of actual skiing (now yesterday)
I’m not disturbed by road noise, more too much booze, but at least I didn’t crack open the whisky. That would definitely have been an error. Breakfast doesn’t have hot options but has 3 cakes and various patisserie sweet options. Even my teenager’s can’t compute this many sweet things before 8am. Pack and drive the 1 minute to the gondola. There are cars parked all along the roadside and on the ends of rows but in the actual car park, there’s quite a few empty spaces. At least 20 minutes stood in fierce sunshine, in a queue and I’m relieved of a 4 figure sum for 2 international passes and snowcare. Ouch. Skiline tells me we got on the gondola at 9.18.
The iceman doesn’t live up to his name and does a couple of skittish Stem Christies. My dreams of skiing the whole mountain take a battering. We ski a blue off Becca d’Aran. I can actually see improvement with every turn. Do a blue off the parallel chair Motta, he needs a toilet break. He gives the toilet at ski grill motta 9/10 - excellent! I got a bit lost trying to get the red off Gran Sommeta down towards Cervinia but spot a piste basher track. Suddenly the inner skier is back and we move to the blacks at Cielo Alto by 11. His speed of improvement is ridiculous and any worry about him keeping up with me is starting to turn into concern that I am not going to be able to keep up with him!
Back up in 3 long lifts and we ski to Furi, just 1700m vertical descent. On the lowest bit, a black, there is a rapid transition from firm to slush that catches him out. Never mind, there’s 20 minutes to discuss what happened on the gondola. Then the big thing to 3880m. We both really felt the altitude up there but walked up to the viewing platform. It is mind blowing. Dropped to Ventina for lunch. I had Tomimi, ham on lightly flavoured cheese with more excellent potatoes. He had bolognase (adequate) and we both had a cake. The toilet got 3/10 and we groaned into our gear, skied to Cervinia and over to Pancheron. This is an excellent, fast comfortable chair that leads to some nice, easy black/red terrain. It was quiet and the snow was great. Unfortunately black 59 is susceptible to rockfall and may not open again. The blue 5 into town was quite slushy but there’s no alternative after skiing the lower black (Vallone). After 1 more round we got the blue back over to Plan Maison. The long, fairly flat gondola across to Come Blanche Laghi had no queue but the cable car to Plateau Rosa was rammed and we had to be crushed in with many “avanti” and “excuse”. Finished with the nearly 2000m down to Valtournenche, which wasn’t as bad as many other home runs I’ve done over the years. 10 metres of light mud to walk to the car park at the end.
Drove up and checked into a new hotel, in Cervinia. Ate out at Lo Copa Pan, nice live music, lovely waiting staff. The greatest Polenta I’ve ever had, in contrast to the greatest Potatoes of the night before. I’m liking the food. A lot.
Day 2 (today)
Woke up this morning to cloud blanketing all the surrounding(4000m) peaks but it disappeared between 8.45 and 9 leaving another glorious day.
Better breakfast at this hotel, including eggs (scrambled and boiled) and bacon. Ski out involves walking out of the garage, through the small car park and along a path in front of the hotel. It’s completely flat so pretty good. Much better than many other places I’ve been. For comparison, it’s a further walk than L’Oxalys in Val Thorens but fewer doors, no steps and a flatter bit of piste to get the skis on. It’s quite a steep red (obviously icy and having a large crowd at the bottom at 9am) to get to the lift but it’s pretty reasonable for advanced skiers. I think there might be a bluer option if you stay left for longer.
We skied around for the morning. Snow has significantly improved due to lower temperatures, especially on the upper Zermatt slopes all the way down to Furi. Had lunch at Chalet Etoile, managed to get onto the terrace at about 1220. Pasta from the self service about as good as the reviews. Toilet 7/10, no steps but no way to dry hands. Tsk.
Quickly looped the black off Pancheron (nice again) and met our instructor. This was my first lesson since errr the ‘80’s. He spent the first few runs telling us we were much better than he had been expecting. Then he started sorting us out. Definitely improved significantly and very impressed. Asked my son to compare, since he’s had lessons every holiday for the last decade. He said we skied way faster than he’s ever skied in a lesson before and the instruction was very good. We worked on carving, mainly. Guess we went from about 3 rungs below ‘God-status’ to getting closer to 2 rungs below. Now capable of nailing slushy moguls and properly carving icy reds. Son still thinks he’s not quite as good as me. I’m not sure it’s going to last the holiday. Finished with hot drinks on the terrace at Theodul. Quite the view, not mainly of the Matterhorn for once.
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Day 3, now with photos
Weather wise, it was another glorious start to the morning and (me) having had a much better nights sleep, we were looking down at Cretaz at a few minutes to 9, rather than 9.15 which we managed yesterday. Massive scrum waiting to get on so I was slightly ambivalent about getting the skis on but there was nothing else to do but join it. The ski down was truly horrible, more death boulders than death cookies. It seemed to have had a very rough going over with piste basher tracks but not the smoother thing at the back, then frozen. Actually got on the lift about 10 past so I think the 9.15 ski to an empty lift is the better choice. There are no significant queues at any of the lifts for the rest of the day.
We took the 5 chairs to Theodulpass and skied to Furggsattel chair over in Zermatt.
The run down on the Swiss side. Not a busy piste
At the 3rd time of asking we finally managed to get onto 68. Can see how this is nice in the right conditions but certainly the second most challenging run of the day since there’s been no fresh snow for nearly a week. Quite like the last time I skied the Rock Garden at Glencoe. Took the gondola up to Schwartzee and skied over to Hirli, with obligatory photo on the way.
At the top of Hirli
We loved the black and red here, and the lovely quiet lift but the cat track back is pretty long, and then tops it off with an uphill at the end to reach the Furi lift station. Is the slow slope blue to Aroleid any better? How slow is slow anyway? We got back on the MH Express gondola at the second stage (Furi), for the 3rd morning in a row, for the journey back to Italy. Snow a bit worse than yesterday and similar to the day before. There is no snow anywhere near Zermatt, except piste ribbons down. Snow line on this side of the border must be up above 2000m. It is lower in Italy.
On the lift to Klein Matterhorn and Italy
Yet another fine meal was had at Bontadini, followed by repetitive chat by the toilet about how unusual it was that there was a queue for the gents but not the ladies. After climbing the stairs, we set off to meet our instructor at the bottom of Cretaz. We had a bit of confusion about which side of the bottom of Fornet we were heading but flew down and ended up arriving well before our lesson. More instruction on carving and I’ve realised I don’t hook up occasionally anymore, and why. We had a discussion about why I can’t carve quite as clean lines on firm snow and he thought I was actually reaching the limit of my too-soft all mountain skis. So, we’ve reached a point where my son is ahead on firm snow and I lead through slush. And I no longer ski quite as much like a throwback to the 80s.
Finished the day with drinks at Theodulpass again. Son managed to mess up stabbing skis into snow. 1 went off downhill and I had grab the other, run after it and then make a flying leap to reach the back of the binding with the tip of the one in my hand, just preventing it flying off the edge. Checked what had happened and saw ice was blocking the brakes. Definitely deserved a Calimero after that. Running in ski boots at 3300m, especially towards a cliff, is not good. Son decided he could wait until the other end of the 1200m vertical descent to the hotel for the toilet after using it up here yesterday. Worst of all apparently.
View from Theodulo
On the ski back, the slush line was much higher than yesterday, definitely above Plan Maison so 2600m+. Didn’t seem to slow my son down much, he was still right behind me at the end.
As we have no commitments tomorrow and we’re still not aching too much, we’re going to see how far we can get across Zermatt. Hopefully tomorrow’s report doesn’t include a very expensive taxi ride.
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Day 4
Yet another day with the sun shining. Realised that one thing that is great about this hotel is decent sized glasses for juice and water. Those useless thimble sized things that are the norm really annoy me. Looked out of the French doors at 8.50 and realised they were letting people up Cretaz and there was no queue. So apparently this does happen sometimes. The run down was “pista chiusa” with an enormous mound of solid snow at the bottom of the frozen crud. Somehow we both made it down but it’s a bit crazy that there is no official piste. Guess it will be a nasty traverse tomorrow. Today’s plan was find harder runs but the morning weather was especially lovely, sun and no wind so there was some gentle sightseeing too. Checked the Gornergratbahn timetable on Riffelberg express and realised we would only wait 5 minutes for a train so decided to hop on. It was busy with tourists and lots of tiny tot skiers so couldn’t get a seat on the right, but still nice.
Let the train take the strain
Took the blacks where we could. My plan had been to get the chair back up to Breitboden and then take the red run to Gant but I’m now not sure this is actually the way the runs go. We ended up taking the chair the other way, over Findeln to Sunnega, then through a tunnel to a Chondola, then a Cable Car up to Rothorn. Son remarkably happy about messing around up there looking at the views and taking photos. In fact, this is much the better way to arrive. The alternative gondola from Tuftern and Kumme is new, fast and swanky but arrives below and behind the restaurant, on the wrong side for the great view.
Nordend, Dufourspitze, Lyskamm, Pollux, Castor, Breithorn, Klein Matterhorn and Matterhorn
In front are Stockhorn, Rote Nase, Hohtalli and the itinerary slopes
Black 13 was, despite a warning of bare patches, a great run with perfect snow for me. We skied down to Patrullarve via the frankly vicious 15B which was a steep wall of ice. Totally skiable. Apparently. The first section of 8 was a bit firmer than ideal but the rest was lovely. Took the cat track ish red across to the fast, new Rothorn gondola then redid 13 as it was so nice.
Almost as soon as we headed for home, disaster struck. My son fell and lost a ski near the top of the red past the Fluhalp restaurant. Unfortunately, he was behind me at that moment and I looked back very briefly and thought he was immediately behind so carried on around a corner. Then realised he wasn’t there and spotted him much further up the mountain.
I wasn’t too worried at first, I had a lovely view and he was clearly moving but as the minutes passed and there didn’t seem to be any progress, I started contemplating a fairly hefty looking climb.
Pretty and innocuous, just when thinks will go wrong
After a few minutes heading uphill I saw a lovely lady stop. She spent quite a while with him. Then she came down and told me there was something wrong with his binding. Gulp. We’re well over 3000m, on the back of literally the furthest mountain possible from our hotel, in another country. Another lovely lady brought me the skis and told me “he’s walking down”. Clambered up to the next ridge and met him. Asked what was wrong. Asked him if he had been trying to put the downhill ski on second again. The bright red cheeks gave him away. Think I’ve told him a dozen times this holiday that you can just about get away with it on the flat area outside many a gondola/cable car but it’s sensible to always do the downhill ski first, so that when it’s a bit steeper, it’s second nature. Turns out this was going in 1 ear and straight out the other. Got his skis on at a flat area, for 2 turns, then made him practice on the next steep section. He’s definitely learned now. This all took over half an hour though. Better done around midday than 3pm though.
Now that what I call old school
When we finally got moving, headed to Rote Nase, which was suitably tough but no more. I can see why this is excellent with fresh snow. Another round on Hohtalli and we took a very long run back to the bottom of the Riffelberg.
Decent slush for my crud buster skis from quite high and there really isn’t much snow off the pistes below 2000m on this side of the mountain. As we’d got so far on snacks and only had uphill to go to get to Italy, we ignored our hunger and headed up. Briefly stopped at Restaurant Sommeta but it looked like it was gearing up for après not food and was blasting doof,doof,doof so we went a little further to Pousett. My panic about them stopping serving food and generally rushing around in a distinctly non-Italian manner was politely rebuffed and we were sat at the counter outside and given menus, cutlery, place mats in a very “sit, relax, enjoy your holiday fashion”.
Beer then delicious pizza arrived in no time and everything got much, much better again. Made it to Goillet, which stated that it shut at 1550 instead of the advertised 1530, then Plateau Rosa cable car to get to our preferred run home via Theodulpass. Slush line ever higher but clouds forming and the possibility of snow overnight. 11.5kms vertical, 75kms on skis, according to Skiline.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Thu 10-04-25 7:02; edited 1 time in total
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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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what...snow,
Great report. Thanks for posting. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Day 5
Sat at the counter for breakfast which provides a great view of the state of play at whatever is Italian for front de Neige. Cretaz started letting people up while I was having a final Lungo, at 8.40. The top of the piste for all the hotels up here was visible and obviously shut so we traversed across the mountain to run 3. A lot easier than fighting through the unbashed piles of man made. We set off to ski KM-VT in one and check out any pistes we missed on the last day we spent time mainly in VT, day 1. Nonchalant carving rather than skittish Stem Christies round here now. Headed back over Gran Sometta and did the black at Cielo Alto. This was fantastic so we did it again, then a pole was dropped just as we left the bottom lift station so we had a third round before getting the hot, sweaty gondolas back up. Managed to hurt my knee trying to get down the stairs inside the Plan Maison building. Spent a while debating Pousett again or FdG for lunch. With the extra turn around CA we were hungry. Stopped at Pousett but there was a queue the length of the stairs so option 2, Foyer des Guides was back on. Thanks to @TYPUCT, I had spotted it on our earlier run through. God it’s good. Quite extravagant for lunch but lovely. Very hot, sounds of birdsong, smells of countryside. Definitely spring down here and the end of the piste visibly shrinking.
Gratuitous lunch shot
In the afternoon, we went right to the other side of Cervinia to ski the black off Pancheron. The south facing red slope off the top was an absolute slushfest, at 2950m! The black sections face more west and were great. Did another loop to head for the 3 chairs above Plan Maison and son actually suggested the adjacent blue instead of the red. This was considerably better and showed how much aspect comes into play for snow transformation. Got the lifts up, arriving at Bontadini to find it shut. Checked the time, 1559 and already a fair number of cross people. It’s supposed to shut at 4. For us, drinks at Bontadini instead of Teodulo and a last run of 1km vert instead of 1.3kms. For some others, it looked like this was going to be the start of a lot more problems. Turns out the hot chocolate is just as good and the Calimero a bit stronger.
It feels significantly hotter today. Can barely hear the après ski music over the sound of running melt water. Maybe The George is having an afternoon off. Sitting on the balcony feeling hot in the skimpiest clothing. Yesterday I was in a fleece. The slope in front now has lots of greenery poking through and the ski in piste has brown patches.
Snow at village level, just about
Son regretted leaving his sunglasses on his bed this morning and the wooly hats we usually don for lunch didn’t leave the pocket. 11.25 kms vertical today, curtailed by a liftie taking an early finish.
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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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Day 6
The traverse was still intact. Cretaz randomly started at 8.45 so there was no queue. We took the usual 5 chairs in a row with 1 crusty downhill to skip straight over to Switzerland for some decent morning snow.
The reds off Furggsattel were very nice but there was a bit of a queue, despite it being a fast 6pack. We moved onto Hirli where it was slightly firm on the route down but we did various loops on the upper red and black and the lower reds, just as they came into condition.
Whole mountain caught
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and snow conditions were changing rapidly. After managing to miss the top of the Matterhorn at a photo op, we went round via Staffelalp to do it again. This was enough to realise it was time to get out of there. Unfortunately it is quite a long traverse. It’s even worse going straight from Staffelalp with 2 fair uphill sections so we got pretty hot, sweaty and fed up on the way to Italy.
Had to wait quite a while for food at Pousett but it was just as delicious after a fairly easy morning as it had been after the 6 hour, 10+kms vertical morning of day 4.
Hit the sunny quiet upper reds of Valtournenche followed by Cielo Alto in the afternoon, then up to Teodulo for a hot drink and a long last run home. Got on Bontadini with cheery waves and, I think, “plenty time, not shutting for another 10 minutes“. Checked the time, 1558. He’d already shut at this time yesterday.
Where turning left could cost 6hrs and £400
Nice ski down, at least to the start of 3 around Plan Torrette, which as usual got softer and busier as it went on. Got back to the hotel room, had a small beer and a large snooze in the sun. Woke up just in time to see it go behind the mountains. Shower, long slow dinner, a couple of frames of pool and a reasonably sensible bedtime.
3 days ago this was mostly white
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You know it makes sense.
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Great report and photos, thanks for sharing. @what...snow,
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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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Day 7
The first hour was a repeat of yesterday, blazing sunshine, further snow loss overnight and a firm start. Forecast was for things to change around lunchtime so we planned to head straight for Rothorn, right on the far side of the Zermatt area. Started with 5 chairs in a row and a long cruise down. The first sign, in retrospect, of trouble was a big crowd around a shut 75, no queue at Furggsattel and an ‘experts only’ sign on the red down from Trockener Steg.
At Furi, headed for Riffelberg but saw lots of red lights and advice for anyone from Italy to head back now. Turned around for MGE (departs from the other side) to see it stopped, with people in the cabins, and the entry blocked.
Hmmm. Got asked by some else what to do but didn’t have a clue. Then saw an enormous gaggle of racers and coaches mostly dressed in either the Red EA7 or blue of the Italian Maestre di Sci. Followed them back into the building for the gondola to Riffelberg but into a pen to the right for the Cable Car back to Trockener Steg. Another walk through the enormous complex, onto MGP2 and back to Italy, unless you were actually staying in Zermatt and being obtuse.
Lots of Italian ski coaches, not especially worried about having to go back to Italy
Skied 1800m vertical to Cervinia, not bad even at the bottom, thanks to increasing cloud cover. Did a couple of turns around Pancheron, which turned into 3 as the red across to Chalet Etoile was blocked off for race training. Another lovely plate of pasta, eaten outside, then over to Goillet, where it started snowing (1320) then Cielo Alto as when it starts to snow, head to the trees, right? The falling snow didn’t last though, just half an hour.
In the sun on Cielo Alto, looking across the ski area to Monte Cervino and Furggen
At least we then were first back in the sun and the top half of the run was lovely. Finished with a few turns around the 3 chairs above Plan Maison but cloud stayed persistently below Theodulpass so we didn’t go to the top very often. Even my tame-ish teenager is feeling the pace with another >11km vertical, 70kms ski day and we headed home about 3.45. No sunshine so only lasted 1 beer on the balcony.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Day 8 (and some reflections)
Woke up to thick claggy cloud, so you could barely see the ski run in front of the hotel, never mind Cretaz or the village. Expected, but quite a change from the blazing sun. Still seemed pretty damp rather than frozen but not actually raining.
Checked out of the hotel, which was very smooth. They let us leave the car and offered us showering facilities when we finished skiing for the day. Very much appreciated.
Got out a bit later than usual, due as much to the state of the weather as the packing and had a look at the traverse to 3. Looked ropey so went down the closed run, which was fine as it hadn’t properly frozen.
Definitely not the ideal first run
Up Cretaz, things actually looked slightly better than expected but on Pancheron it became very foggy. Up the 3 chairs to Theodulpass, no visibility at all and the run to Switzerland was shut. Instead we went down to Plan Maison and tried the other side of Cervinia. Goillet was so foggy you couldn’t see the chair in front. At Gran Sometta, things were a bit better so we ploughed on over du Col and found we could actually see reasonably well down Bec Carré so did variations on runs 5, 15 and 6, then went for a slightly early lunch to Ski Grill Motta, which was 1 run to the left, and a decent choice for a hearty lunch, indoors for the first time all holiday.
When we got out again, if anything things looked even worse so we navigated across to Bec Carré for a final lift out of Valtournenche and headed to Cielo Alto to see if this was any better. Went through the tunnel to just be able to pick out some chairs, not moving. Stopped, turned around and started heading uphill when the lift started moving again. No one else around and after 1 run in no visibility, we moved on. As soon as we got on the run into Cervinia though, the visibility improved substantially as we had dropped below the clouds. Then, on the gondola out of Cervinia at 1.30, we were about to quit but I had a look at the Cervino App and it showed Zermatt connections open and a photo of parted clouds up at Plateau Rosa, so we carried on up the mountain on the lifts. Visibility reasonable but snow a bit slow, especially from Trockener Steg to Furgg. Not sure if I’ve worn all the wax off my skis? Even though this is only ‘most’ of the run, it’s still >1000m vertical. Easy to forget how far you are travelling.
Witnessed classic American Gen Z behaviour on the lift up to Klein Matterhorn. Think she’d left her phone somewhere but you would have thought she’d lost her parents for the amount of noise, hand wringing, tears etc she made about it. Even the elderly lady sat near her telling her “this is Switzerland, nobody steals anything“ wasn’t enough to prevent her meltdown. Would have been no surprise if she had left her skis somewhere else while looking for her phone.
Son decided he wanted to go to his favourite Refugio, Teodulo for 1 last hot chocolate on the way back so we did a turn around Bontadini during our 1800m descent. Again this was inside and the picture windows were redundant.
Some fine cloud
Overall impressions of this ski area: it’s quite big and well integrated. Despite the obvious Swiss/Italian border crossing at 3500m issue we actually managed to use the lifts on both sides every day. The Italian side has better food and had better snow. The Swiss side has better scenery and a bit more variety. In a low season week, the lifts coped fine but I guess those 3 4packs in the centre of Cervinia struggle in high season. Fornet is fairly short and they were state of the art, in the early 90’s but they just worked for us.
The PM-CBL gondola looks fairly short on the piste map but feels very long for not much vertical gain IRL. The upgrade of Gran Sometta from T-bar to modern 6pack must have been a fantastic improvement. There’s all sorts of equipment on the Swiss side, much big and new but there are some older 4 man’s still clinging on, and some very large lift stations, involving a fair trek from lift to piste. There are also some uphill pistes! The food on the slopes and in Cervinia was fantastic. Lots of great restaurants. The only issue I see is that everywhere is quite a long way from everywhere else. I can see why people get stuck, especially when the vital lift has opening hours depending upon the whim of the liftie. Do not push your luck is my advice. The international lift pass is pretty pricey. Earlier in the season, I’d be tempted by trips to other Italian ski areas, especially Chamois which is not far down the road, instead, but it feels more like one ski resort than I expected.
The drive was fine, even returning the car was easy, in contrast to getting it, and of course our worst meal of the week was at Malpensa.
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