 Poster: A snowHead
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@denfinella, Hairpins? I think that going from Bormio to Santa Caterina there are NONE!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| denfinella wrote: |
Mon 4 Mar - Madesimo
Piste map here.
A lovely sunny day at Madesimo (Valchiavenna) today. Packed lunch to maximise skiing time.
The ski area is a 75 minute drive from Primaluna (our previous base), so an early start required to reach the car park at 8am. A wiggly mountain road down a gorge to Bellano, then miles of dual carriageways in tunnels along Lake Como. Next, an excruciatingly slow road up Valchiavenna, through a million towns with near-constant 50kph speed limits, tractors and speed cameras. To top it all off, there are over 20 hairpins at the very end, before the main (free) day-tripper parking is reached at 1100m. (Want to continue to Madesimo itself? That'll be another dozen hairpins.)
The ski area is accessed by an underground funicular up to Motta at 1700m; check the timetable as it mostly only runs every half an hour. We were in good time for the second, 8.15 departure which gets you up in time for 8.30 lift opening.
Madesimo has (an accurate) 37km of slopes, of which the vast majority spread across a west facing hillside with altitudes between 1550m and 2250m. Motta is at the southern end with mostly open slopes, while the resort of Madesimo is at the northern end with lots of trees.
6 fast chairs and a gondola seem to deal well with weekend queues (there weren't any), plus there are a couple of slow chairs serving beginner slopes. Runs are mostly of red gradient, with a handful of proper blues, several traverses and a couple of twisty blacks. The top to bottom Interpista (black then red) was particularly enjoyable, but there are a lot of lovely reds all over.
Above this main sector, a smallish cable car climbs to the Pizzo Groppera at almost 3000m, with two spectacularly scenic reds off the back (one shut - insufficient snow despite the altitude and northeast aspect!) overlooking the Lago de Lei and a sea of high peaks. We headed here first, with only 5 others sharing the cable car, so near-deserted pistes - and it stayed like this for the next hour and a half. The rickety two-seater chair back up is the only barrier to efficient lapping.
There is also the famous Canalone off-piste run back down a valley to the front side. Apparently this used to be a proper piste (a hard black), but is no longer so. With avalanche risk at 1/5 we were sorely tempted, but snow cover looked extremely thin and rocky (and probably icy), so we took the cable car back down. Some people were skiing down though.
Worth mentioning that the cable car only seems to operate on perfect weather days - today (Saturday) was only the second time it's been open this week.
Snowmaking is not quite so comprehensive here as it was in Piani di Bobbio, and 5 or so runs were shut, while some others were a bit stony / brown. Surface conditions were otherwise mostly excellent, with the freezing level around 2000m.
Overall we liked Madesimo a lot, for a day at least. Excellent red runs. Off-pisters could have a ball in good snow conditions. €49 (ouch) for the lift pass (booked online yesterday to avoid potential queueing, but no cost saving). Some of the pistes were quite busy with some dangerously fast skiers - it would no doubt be quieter during the week.
Currently in the passenger seat driving up the main Valtellina road to our next Airbnb, which I'll report on later. 15°C down here in the valley, with traces of snow just visible on the highest peaks... |
Yes the off-piste/ski-route/black under the top cable car was the highlight when I was there. A bit of a mogul field in parts as I recall particularly at the top. There is also an off-piste that goes from the backside all the way around which I unfortunately didn't do as it would have needed a guide or a local. I too parked and travelled up on the lift from the valley also arriving for first lift  .
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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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Above this main sector, a smallish cable car climbs to the Pizzo Groppera at almost 3000m, with two spectacularly scenic reds off the back
I'm already looking forward to the photos on this one.
One of my favourite ski photos ever is from the top of Andalo - small Italian resorts have ludicrous views.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@denfinella, great reporting. Good to hear you had good snow on first day. I spent three days in Madesimo, but it was a snowy three days, I liked it there, stayed in hotel right beside funicular base. Next stop for you Valmalenco?
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Sun 5 Mar - Livigno
We're now based in a single, central location for the rest of this trip: Mazzo di Valtellina (alt. 600m), just off the main valley road. The full array of Valtellinese resorts (and beyond) spider out in all directions from here.
This Airbnb is a bit more expensive than the last one at nearly £47/night. Budget choices are scarce around here, and this is the most we've ever paid for ski hol accommodation. We have the entire ground floor of a chalet, with spacious room sizes, full kitchen and beds to sleep five. Shower great, bed comfy and wifi is provided. A small gripe: some practical bits and bobs are lacking - no clothes horse or hooks for airing ski gear / drying towels, and all the cupboards are full of random clutter so clothes have to stay in our suitcase.
The village setting is idyllic, looking across the valley with rustic public fountain / washing area in the street, cocks crowing and donkeys braying in the morning etc. Of course there are nearby pizzerias - the takeaway we tried this evening was excellent (starting from €4.50 this time)!
View of / from the Airbnb
Today's weather forecast was for sunshine again before a run of potentially iffy days starting tomorrow. We therefore opted for a (very) early start to visit Livigno, as it's high and almost treeless. This is one of the most inaccessible resorts in the Alps: access for us from the south is a 90 minute drive via the winding Foscagno Pass (2,300m), while the only route from the north is via an expensive tunnel from Switzerland, only open to traffic in alternate directions. It's a tax haven, with petrol 50 cents / litre cheaper than elsewhere in the Valtellina.
Livigno town spreads along a high valley (1800m+) with slopes on each side and several lift bases. 115km of pistes are claimed, but apparently the real figure is about 70km - almost doable in a single day. High altitude combined with the inneralpine location and excellent snowmaking surely makes it one of the most snowsure areas in the Alps for piste skiers. Even in this drought year the hillsides are mostly white. It's a known frost hollow, and was -10°C when we arrived, rising just above freezing later.
Livigno caters to keen skiers extremely well - the Cassana gondola was already open when we pulled into the car park at 7.50am, and some lifts (including the big Mottolino gondola) don't close until 5.15pm. With packed lunch on the lifts, we therefore managed 9 hours of uninterrupted skiing. Commendable, and almost justifies the hefty €59 "peak season" day ticket (prices decrease from the end of March). All car parks are free throughout the winter season.
Cassana gondola early in the day
Resort branding is very smart here. An eagle emblem for the Carosello sector; a ringed "m" for Mottolino which must appear several hundred times on that side of the ski area! Plus associated slogans, photo points and official merchandise. All very fancy, which means it jars somewhat with the horrible piste map: runs are handdrawn and bear little resemblance to the layout on the ground. The map also fails to show piste names or numbers, so it's hard to remember which ones you've done. Sort it out, Livigno!
We started on the east facing side of the valley, where the Carosello-Costaccia sector reaches 2750m. Gondolas and chairs start from main three lift bases (Carosello, Botarei, Cassana), with the extremities linked along a ridge. Valley runs at the Carosello end were quite steep and scraped - beware. A few were closed higher up due to lack of snow, otherwise everything was open. A bit busy on some main runs. Best pistes: Blesaccia / Polvere reds from top to bottom at Carosello, Bellavista blue along the ridge, Cune Bella red at Costaccia.
Livigno, Tagliede gondola & learner slopes
Larici (black) at Costaccia
Cuna Bella swoops around the back at Costaccia
Bella Vista (blue) along the ridge under the Valandrea-Vetta chair
Rin (red) under the Fontane Vetta chair
Red piste back to the Carosello gondola base
Zuelli (black) down to the Carosello gondola base
Polvere (red) - skier's right from the top of Carosello 3000
There's a chair over the back too (Federia), with numerous off piste routes available here with varying degrees of hiking.
Heading to the back side via Diagonale (red)
Snowy scenery from Diagonale (red)
Federia (red) - a bit busy
Carosello terrain park from the top of the Federia chair
At 2pm we switched to the other, Mottolino side via a short shuttle bus. This sector mostly faces northwest, but spills north / east over to the Foscagno Pass in a couple of places. Excellent, steepish runs of 750m vertical down to the two main Livigno lift bases, and it was quieter here. Pistes were slightly icy in places; the wind was blowing uphill, stripping the powdery top layer. Again, a couple of runs closed either due to ice or lack of snow.
Valfin-Monte delle Neve chair & various black / red pistes
Summit of Monte delle Neve
Scoiattolo (black) from Monte delle Neve
Pernice (red) by the Planan drag
Sponda (red) & Monte Sponda chair
Giorgio Rocca (black) to Teola
Finally a nod to the extremely impressive lift system: virtually all gondolas and fast chairs with wind protectors. The Carosello 3000 gondola is particularly luxurious, with heated leather seats, slots for skis inside the cabin, onboard WiFi and serving a useful 900m vertical. Hopefully we'll get a chance to go back to Livigno during the week ahead, but I suspect the weather won't be as lovely! On a sunny day like today, it's well worth the long journey.
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Fri 24-11-23 0:08; edited 4 times in total
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Really interesting reading so far, sounding like a great trip.
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@element, going well so far!
Mon 6 Mar - Ponte di Legno-Tonale
Piste map here.
Today was a planned excursion out of the Valtellina region to the adjacent Oglio valley, and the ski area of Ponte di Legno-Tonale. 75 mins drive over the lowish but slightly narrow Aprica Pass, passing Aprica ski area en route (which looked a bit bare - will find out next weekend!). We booked lift passes back in December, which with dynamic pricing reduced day tickets to a reasonable €42pp. This brings obvious risks re. weather, but since the forecast is similar for almost all of the next week (cloud and light snow / rain) it doesn't really matter which order we visit everywhere. We parked in the massive, free underground car park at the Ponte di Legno lift base. Another early start - the main gondola was already open at 7.50am and closes at 5.15pm!
During the morning drive we'd glimpsed clear summits above mid level cloud, so we decided to head up the (very long) gondola to Passo Tonale first, in search of sun at altitude. That didn't really work - it was mostly foggy (pole to pole navigation at times) with only a few pockets of better visibility.
Malga Valbiola chair
Valbiolo (blue)
The bulk of Passo Tonale's slopes are on the south-facing side of the resort / 1900m pass, with a long row of lifts and parallel pistes reminiscent of The Lecht in Scotland.
Passo Tonale from Guiliana (red)
The pistes in the middle are pretty dull but chairs at either end go a little higher with some decent long reds down various minor valleys.
Alpino (red) to the Nigritella chair
After all these we headed up to the Presena glacier area on the opposite side of the pass, via three stages of gondola (five stages if you start from Ponte di Legno!). This has a nice, easy black at the top - in a gap between fog layers, but with working snow cannons to avoid; crazy that natural snow is insufficient at 2900m on a north facing slope in early March 
Ghiacciaio Presena (black) from the top gondola
Below this there's an annoyingly flat blue / red middle stage, and finally a lovely long black back to the pass (pity about the visibility). This all adds up to a long descent of >1,100 metres vertical (>1,600m if you continue to Ponte di Legno), and we had it almost entirely to ourselves, with most skiers sticking to the roadside blues.
Paradiso (black) from the bottom gondola in the chain
Passo Tonale from Paradiso (black)
Packed lunch on the lifts again, then at 2pm we skied the long, slushy blue-then-red back to Ponte di Legno.
Tonalina (blue) towards Ponte di Legno
Fiume Oglio at the bottom of Pegra (red)
The Ponte di Legno sector is very different: lower (1100-2100m) and wooded, but north facing and appreciably steeper; reds in Ponte di Legno are steeper than the blacks in Passo Tonale, and there are several blacks too.
Ponte di Legno from Corno d'Aola (black)
Valbione, Ponte di Legno's mid-mountain
Valbione (red) from the Valbione chair
The steep Angelo draglift - the third successive lift above Ponte di Legno - leads to a lovely, quiet red along a ridge, which can be extended via blacks back to the valley.
Angelo (red)
The lift network zigzags across the hillside towards another lift base at Temu.
Doss delle Pertiche (red) en route from Ponte di Legno to Temu
Temu village is reached by an excellent twisty black run. Snow cannons must have been doing a good job down here, west facing at 1100m.
Temu (black)
Temu (black)
All this side was generally just below the cloud base, so better visibility here. Any (light) precipitation was of snow right down to valley level, so no rain to contend with. 4°C when we left, so must have been just the right side of marginal.
Summing up, overall I think Ponte di Legno-Tonale is a good ski area if you treat it as a small one - but many visitors consider it a big, week-long resort and are left disappointed. The claimed 100km of slopes is again an exaggeration (probably two thirds of that), and we skied virtually all the pistes. We got a bit bored when we spent 3.5 days here in 2018. The lift system is pretty good with weather protectors on most chairlifts (handy today), though there are a few weak spots (a few slow chairs). There haven't been any new lifts built since I last visited in late March 2018, so perhaps a few are due. All runs bar one were open with good cover. The same can't be said for off piste. Snow quality was quite variable due to the numerous slope orientations and altitudes - we experienced a few centimetres of powder, corduroy, hard pack, slush and ice; in the case of the Angelo to Ponte di Legno piste, all of them in the same run!
A quick stop in Edolo on the drive back - nice old bridge and waterfall right in the centre, with mountains on all sides:
Then back in the Valtellina, a whistlestop tour of Tirano. Ornate basilica...
...imposing old tower...
...and also famous for being the start of the Trenino Rossa to St Moritz:
Otherwise, the town centre seemed a bit functional. Off towards Bormio tomorrow!
Last edited by After all it is free  on Wed 15-03-23 15:44; edited 3 times 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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Excellent report. Love the reviews of the runs.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Nice reports again, are all ski resort piste kms inflated?
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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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Fabulous
Madesimo has gotten expensive
33 euros a day when I was there in '18
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| Quote: |
Madesimo has gotten expensive
33 euros a day when I was there in '18
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Yea, prices in Livigno have rocketed too over the last few years. It was an insane bargain for a while, but its beginning to level out with other comparable alpine areas. You can still get incredible pizza al trancio for 3.50 euro though, and lessons are really good value (45euro/hr).
Shame its been such a dry year, but looking forward to hearing about Bormio, will be rolling through myself on Saturday.
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You know it makes sense.
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@turboblackbeard, @ElzP, thanks. Pizza prices are for the random valley town pizzerias - in the ski resorts they seem to be almost double that. Still possible to get a decent meal in mountain restaurants for under €10 though.
@ozski, most resorts - not all - do tend to inflate their figures, including almost all the Italian ones. A few don't - the largest of which is the little-known Espace Diamant in France.
@Mike Pow, oof, that's a big increase then!
@element, we skied Bormio this morning! Ironically the weather forecast is a bit dodgy for Saturday, but hopefully the top lifts will be open for some powder.
Report to follow.
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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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Your industry is appreciated, @denfinella. Either you have an extraordinary memory or you make copious notes. I've lost track of one run once I've done the rest..... 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Tue 7 Mar - Bormio & Cima Piazzi
Bormio piste map here.
Cima Piazzi piste map here.
Some local drama this evening, as there appears to have been a serious accident on the little road through our village. Multiple emergency vehicles in attendance when we arrived back at 7pm local time. We've heard several more sirens since then, and a helicopter has landed a few hundred metres downhill from our Airbnb
Today's post is an even longer one than usual - sorry - lots to report! This was the first day of a pre-booked (dynamic pricing) 3-day pass covering the ski areas of Bormio / Cima Piazzi / Santa Caterina. €111.75pp or €37/day: decent value. Other lift passes are available with an option to add Livigno, but it was cheaper and more flexible to separate the two. Physical keycards for lift passes are available free of charge here (piles of them at the lift base), and are a generic "Snowit" card valid at most Italian resorts. The same cards had a €5 refundable deposit at Ponte di Legno yesterday, so theoretically you could make a load of cash by scooping up multiple passes and transporting them to Ponte di Legno 
Of the three ski areas on the lift pass, Cima Piazzi is very small so after consulting the weather forecast we decided on a split day, starting in Bormio then driving to Cima Piazzi later. Easy 25-min drive to Bormio on a fast valley road mainly in tunnels. Big car parks at the gondola base but with €5 & €8 daily charges, or a third one around the corner which is free for 4 hours - ideal for us today.
Bormio claims 50km of northwest facing slopes directly above the town. It's a very tall ski area with Italy's biggest on-piste vertical (1200-3000m), but also very narrow, with a smallish total number of pistes. The world cup downhill run is quite famous.
The bottom half is served by a single gondola to 2000m, with direct red back down (or blue partial escape option).
Stelvio (red) race piste / home run
Above mid mountain (Bormio 2000), a cable car climbs directly to the top (where there was a big colony of choughs), or two fast chairs allow you to keep your skis on. There are a couple more chairs further across to skier's right. Most of the runs are red, with the few blues mostly cat tracks. Weather was good, with patchy sunshine on the lower slopes, a thin inversion layer, and sunshine above the clouds at the top.
Valbella-Bormio 3000 chair to the top
Cima Bianca cable car
View from Cima Bianca
Stella Alpina (red) from the top - quite steep
Bimbi al Sole (red) from the top
Bimbi al Sole (red) at mid mountain
Bormio 2000
Snow quality varied with altitude, with quite a few small stones mashed into the highest pistes, decent in the middle part, and hard packed verging on icy towards the bottom. A few higher runs were shut, but looked (and proved to be) easily skiable with just a few rocks to avoid.
To sum up Bormio, it's all about the vertical!. Top to bottom then repeat, and doesn't really matter which branches you choose.
Off to Cima Piazzi at noon, a short drive up the valley towards Livigno. The ski area has two lift bases, with their respective slopes joining on the bare domed summit of Monte Masucco (2350m).
Bormio seen from the red northeast off Monte Masucco
The piste map is atrocious, with runs not named or numbered and with several missing - so it undersells the area. Some maps (including on the official website) show two further drag lifts and associated pistes up to the higher Le Pone summit, but they have been abandoned.
With those negatives out of the way, in reality there's quite a lot to do here. The pistes themselves were superb: mostly long, fairly steep and wide, with sharp bends through the forest. They were almost completely deserted - we hardly saw any other skiers around and soon recognised them when we did. 90% of the pistes face north or northeast so snow stayed in great condition under cloudy skies, with the freezing level the lowest of the week at about 1500m. However, about a third of the runs were closed, probably because they don't have snowmaking.
Four lifts (3 slow chairs and a button) form a chain up from the eastern, Le Motte side (1420m):
Red to the Le Motte lift base
Red to the Fort-Tade chair
Red descending to skier's left from the Fort-Tade chair
Monte Masucco draglift, with the abandoned Le Pone sector beyond
Meanwhile, getting to the top from the west base (1350m, where we parked) requires three lifts: garish pink gondola, t-bar and button:
Doss Alt (red) home run on the Isolaccia side
Doss Alt (red)
Masucco (red) from the Masucco drag
The area seems to have an identity crisis - I've seen it referred to as Cima Piazzi, San Colombano, Happy Mountain, Oga, Isolaccia, Valdidentro and Le Motte - or often a combination of the above. On piste signage also uses a variety of the above names, which makes navigation tricky - I recommend using Open Snow Map which shows the pistes well, but ignoring the abandoned lifts mentioned above. The €49 daily lift pass price borders on ridiculous, so only worth visiting as part of the multi-day, multi-area passes. The area was bigger than we expected and we didn't quite manage to ski all the open pistes before closing time, though the ancient lifts and long lunch may have had something to do with that!
Lunch was at the Le Motte / Oga lift base, where the rather fancy restaurant had a menu full of local dishes (primi piattis €9-13). We ticked off Pizzoccheri (buckwheat pasta, potatoes, cabbage), Valtellinese bresaola (with local porcini mushrooms & grana padano), schiatt (delicious buckwheat fritters with camera cheese) and Malfatti (unidentified green stodge with local bitto cheese). Quite a feast.
Bresaola, schiatt
Pizzoccheri
General thoughts about Cima Piazzi - this place has so much potential. If some of the lifts were upgraded, the abandoned ones were reopened and snowmaking was extended, the area would rival nearby Bormio for quality. The pistes that were open were consistently excellent. But first they need to decide what name to use for the area!
After the lifts closed we visited the alpacas / llamas in the field next to the car park (!)...
...then returned to Bormio, found an hour's free parking and went for a wander around the medieval centre.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Fri 24-03-23 0:23; edited 5 times 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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| Quote: |
Lunch was at the Le Motte / Oga lift base, where the rather fancy restaurant had a menu full of local dishes (primi piattis €9-13). We ticked off Pizzocheri (buckwheat pasta, potatoes, cabbage), Valtellinese bresaola (with local porcini mushrooms & grana padano), schiatt (delicious buckwheat fritters with camera cheese) and Malfatti (unidentified green stodge with local bitto cheese). Quite a feast.
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 No wonder you didn't get round all the pistes......
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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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For the older readers of this travelog Oga-Al Forte was in the Swans (remember them?) brochure in the 1970's - most definitely their smallest resort.
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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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@denfinella, Cima Piazzi has alot of names! Website https://www.cimapiazzi.eu but all those other names get a mention. Next week I'll be staying right beside those South American wooly animals. Why are there different parking prices in Bormio, €8 and €5?
I got 7 days in Bormio, Cima Piazzi and Santa Caterina for €172 with advanced purchase, seemed to be at least two weeks in advance to get this 25% off.
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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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| pam w wrote: |
| Either you have an extraordinary memory or you make copious notes. |
I don't make any notes, but it's easy to remember as long as I write it up the same day. And yes, it was a lot of food and an uncharacteristically long meal for us!
@Nemisis, I'm too young to remember that, but will have to add Oga-Al Forte to the ever-growing list of possible names!
@ozski, it's €5 for the underground car park, €8 for the open air one (strangely). Those are great prices re. lift passes! We got 25% off too, but it's relatively more expensive for fewer days.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Wed 8 Mar - Santa Caterina
Santa Caterina piste map here.
Since Monday, this part of Italy has straddled the boundary between good weather to the northwest and cloud / snow to the southeast. From today onwards, that theme continues but with directions reversed: bad weather to the northwest. The upshot is that weather forecasts have been very changeable, making it difficult to choose where to go each day. We opted for high, exposed Santa Caterina as the forecast suggested the chance of sunshine. Have to admit my heart sank a little when clouds thickened on the 45-min drive to Bormio and then up the Valfurva beyond, and the peaks were shrouded when we arrived at 8.30am.
Santa Caterina is covered by our multi-day Bormio pass, and has about 20km of pistes. The ski area has recently embarked on an aggressive "lift consolidation" project even more extreme than Cairngorm's, and there are currently only 2 main lifts: a 1,000m-vertical, two-stage gondola from top to bottom (with a short third stage to access a restaurant / beginner area beyond the ridge) from a multi storey car park on the valley road (€3, or park for free closer to the town), and a fast chairs with weather protectors on the back of the ridge.
View from the ridge to the back side of the ski area
View from the ridge - front side
There's an obvious problem with the minimal uplift - the two former lift bases within the town itself now have pistes back to them, but no lift back up. A new lift is planned to fill one of these gaps, but in the meantime there is a frequent shuttle bus back to the gondola. A bit of a faff, also involving lots of stairs. Meanwhile, beginners can't currently get home from the nursery slopes without walking uphill to the mid station, or tackling a steep red!
Fortunately the weather rapidly improved with sunshine from 10am, and it stayed fairly nice until late afternoon when thicker cloud approached from the southwest. Freezing level around 1900m in the afternoon, and with all the skiing between 1700m and 2900m, piste quality was the best it's been all week: perfect packed winter snow all over.
Of the three main top to bottom runs, the excellent Deborah Compagnoni (black then red) starts with a few zigzags then follows the fall line - it never really approaches genuine black gradient. Adler (black) was shut due to lack of snow but looked similar.
Deborah Compagnoni (black top section)
Deborah Compagnoni (red lower section)
Dell'Alpe (red) is surely the resort's signature piste: it starts by heading off the back then curls left round the side of the mountain, giving views in all directions as it gradually regains the front side. Worth visiting for this run alone.
Dell'Alpe (red)
Dell'Alpe (red)
Dell'Alpe (red) from Edelweiss (red)
The Vallalpe chair on the back of the mountain reaches the area high point at nearly 2,900 and serves two gentle, sunny and scenic reds which would be blue in France. Off piste looks decent here.
Vallalpe chair & Del Sole (red)
Vallalpe (red) from the same chair
View from the top of Vallalpe
Vallalpe (red)
Cameraccia (red) from the ridge to the Vallalpe sector
There aren't any proper blue pistes but cautious intermediates could be OK on the reds as long as they avoid dropping below the gondola mid station, where gradients steepen considerably.
Edelweiss (red), accessed by a black or a steep drag
Slopes were generally quiet, except learner slopes which were busy with school trips. The clientele was seemingly 50% Italian and the rest mostly Czech - it is holiday season there. Lunch menus at the Refuge Sci 2000 were printed in Italian, English (for the first time this trip!) and Czech. Food was more suited to fussy international visitors than the more authentic places we'd been to earlier in the week: we had a couple of reasonable burgers (~€10), with pizzas (€7+) and pasta (~€10) also available.
Mid mountain on the front side
To sum up Santa Caterina: superb pistes but a bit small (quality over quantity), and the lift system is too skeletal. Glad we got to enjoy it in good weather and snow.
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Thu 16-03-23 14:33; edited 1 time in total
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@denfinella, seems to be a trend taking out lifts and not replacing them! Where did you eat? Powderhounds rates off-piste highly in Santa Caterina (with snow!). I think of combination of small numbers off-piste and plenty of accessible terrain off the main ridge line.
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Loving it
Keep it coming
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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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The red you speak of sounds gorgeous! Are the drags shown on the map still there?
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@ozski, we ate at the Refuge Sci 2000. It was OK - not sure if any better or worse than the other places!
@Mike Pow, thanks, will do.
@ElzP, yes it was! Seems to have been a theme of all the ski areas we've visited this trip - they all have one or two outstanding pistes even if they are quite small overall. The two drags are still there but one is a beginner lift and the other only really useful for race teams.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thu 9 Mar - Bormio & Cima Piazzi (again)
Today was the last day of our Bormio-Cima Piazzi-Santa Caterina ski passes. We enjoyed the first two of these so much on Tuesday that we decided to revisit them both, again with a split day. EasyJet also released next winter's flights shortly before we were due to leave this morning, so the planning for next January begins now...
Overnight rain left a dusting of snow down to just above Bormio town level: just enough to cover the corduroy, making for lovely velvety conditions early on. The pistes at the top had noticeably improved - Tuesday's stones mysteriously vanished. Like on Tuesday, there was sunshine above a mid-level inversion (with Cima Piazzi in the fog), but this soon burnt off with sunshine for the rest of the day.
We finished off the remaining unexplored runs in Bormio (some very quiet ones in the middle which are a bit hard to find the starts to), and repeated our favourites. First prize goes to the Bimbi al Sole red, first along a ridge from the top chair, then plunging west into a north facing bowl beyond the cable car - the far right piste on the ski map.
Some pics, starting with the summit area:
Cima Bianca cable car
Stella Alpina (red)
Bimbi al Sole (red)
Bimbi al Sole (red)
Skiweg Palo (red) - small boardercross here
The pistes around the Fontanalonga-Valbella chair to skier's right of midmountain are more extensive than at first appears, and the lift was quieter than the other fast chairs.
View from the Fontanalonga-Valbella chair
Fontanalonga-Valbella chair
Fontanalonga-Valbella chair at Chalet Rododendri
Ermellini - a nice blue, but inaccessible without skiing reds
Bormio 2000
Looking upslope from Bormio 2000
Betulle (black) to the left, or avoid to the right!
While admiring the view from the top at 3,000m, we suddenly realised it was 12.20pm and our car parking space 2,000m below was only valid until 12.30 - so a quick final descent
Stelvio (red) back to town
Stelvio (red)
It was feeling warm down at valley level and the end of the home run was already slushy when we finished up. After cold temperatures at the top, it was strange skiing through such big temperature gradients.
Lunch at the Trattoria Tipica Montana on the outskirts of Bormio along with with lots of locals who all seemed to know each other. 5 generous courses between us came to €36 including the coperto (cover charge): schiatt and gnocchi from the primi piattis; pollo al forno and veal, both with chips and grilled veg, from the secondi; mixed fruits with gelato in a wafer "boat" for dessert.
Up the hill to Cima Piazzi (east base this time, free parking just above the chairlift) for the rest of the afternoon. It felt very springlike - perhaps 10°C - at the bottom and I was half expecting the pistes to be quite slushy. Fortunately the steep northerly exposure and tree cover kept the snow in good condition, and it was even quieter than yesterday; we only saw about 10 people in the entire afternoon, excluding pisteurs and organised groups on the training piste / learners area. A very enjoyable afternoon, in pretty much our own private ski area.
Pics from the east side, from the summit downwards:
Monte Masucco drag, abandoned Le Pone sector beyond
Red east along the ridge from Monte Masucco, Bormio beyond
Blue piste under the La Rossa-San Colombano chair
View up the same piste from the chairlift itself
Red to skier's left from the Forte-Tade chair
Now the west side, again from summit downwards:
Masucco top drag
Masucco drag
Masucco (red) next to the same lift
Palancana T-bar & adjacent red
Home red to Isolaccia under the gondola
For dinner we had a takeaway from the Red Fox bar / restaurant in Grosotto. A vast array of pizzas starting from €5, or tasty piadinas from €4. And lots of bar snacks lying around while we were waiting 
Tomorrow might potentially be a bit damp but hopefully it won't spoil the skiing too much.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Thu 16-03-23 18:13; edited 2 times in total
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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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Very good, I saw a joke on Facebook that this season California has 12m of snow and Italy 12mm! Hopefully this area will get some decent snowfall on Mon/Tues which is in forecast, but as you say pistes holding up well with northern orientation.
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@ozski, that doesn't sound too far off the mark Tuesday's snowline looks like being great for Livigno, Santa Caterina, most of Bormio etc... but I think it might damage the home runs in Cima Piazzi and Bormio.
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You know it makes sense.
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@denfinella, this TR is a treasure trove of info. It's a pity you've not got top conditions, but seems like they have as usual done well with what they've got. Loving to hear about Cima Piazzi. I've a friend who's a competent early stage intermediate who spent a few days in Bormio, Livigno and Cima Piazzi last month. He absolutely raved about Cima Piazzi, I think in large part due to the quietness and the grooming. I must organise to visit sometime. I'm heading to Livigno tomorrow and praying the forecast comes through for next week. Enjoy the rest of the trip and keep it coming.
P.s. you've reminded me to order some Sciatt
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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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@element, thanks. I agree with your friend - Cima Piazzi had much better skiing than expected, maybe because my expectations were low. (Whereas Santa Caterina maybe had a bit less to do than I was expecting.) Enjoy Livigno - we may be there too tomorrow.
Sciatt is delicious!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Fri 10 Mar - Chiesa in Valmalenco
Piste map here.
A trip to Valmalenco today, in a side valley above the Valtellinese capital of Sondrio. 75 min drive, and my goodness it was tedious! The main road downvalley to Sondrio passes through near-continuous towns with 50kph speed limits, with heavy rush hour traffic, constant rain and a police car just behind us. We then got stuck behind an oil tanker ALL the way up the mountain road beyond 
Free car park at the cable car base, where it was 5°C but the rain relented temporarily while we changed into ski boots etc. First lift up at 8.45am.
Valmalenco is a smallish ski area (50km claimed, probably more like 25km), but with a good lift system, reasonable altitudes (pistes 1550m to 2350m) and lots of trees. The area is quite sheltered as it sits in a sort of cradle surrounded by 3,000m peaks. €36 weekday lift pass (weekends / holidays €48 ). For just €9 each we added a lunch voucher entitling us to a primi piatti (pizzocheri; spaghetti amatriciana), secondi piatti (pork shin; veal in sauce), side dish (chips; polenta) and drink. The food was canteen-style but no complaints for the price!
Light precipitation was forecast all day, with snow fortunately at all skiing altitudes for most of the day. Snow was heavier than expected in the morning with cloud / falling snow (making navigation tricky, not helped by a slightly unclear piste map), but mostly cleared at 12.15 as we finished lunch (having eaten early after checking the precipitation radar!).
Heavy morning snow at the Screrscen-Cima Motta chair
In the afternoon it was often dry, with intermittent sunshine revealing tantalising glimpses of the surrounding mountains. ~2-8cm of powder on the pistes. Mostly lovely to ski on, except for low down later as it warmed up.
Peaks peeking out (& the top cable car station) from Cima Motta
An impressive cable car (Snow Eagle) rises steeply from the valley at 980m to Alpe Palu (2,050m), from where you ski down to the main bowl / hub, with tiny funicular railway back up.
Main bowl from Del Dosso (red)
Above the bowl and its nursery slopes (slow chair, magic carpet) the steep 2-seater Del Dosso chair to the south serves very short blue / red / black runs.
Del Dosso chair
To the east is a longer chain of three fast chairs where almost all the most interesting slopes are. First is Alpe Palu-Cima Motta, with weather protectors, serving an easy, scenic black, short red and longer blue.
Alpe Palu-Cima Motta chair
Nana Sasso Alto (black)
Second is the Scerson-Cima Motta, probably with the best runs of all: lovely blue, red and black options.
Scerson-Cima Motta chair & Thoeni (black)
Dosso dei Vetti (blue)
Dosso dei Vetti (red)
Dosso dei Vetti (red)
Last in the chain is the Bocchel del Torno chair, serving the the highest, but sunniest, piste in the area.
Bocchel del Torno (red)
Bocchel del Torno (red)
To the north there's Nordic skiing and a (frozen) lake, visible from the Bocchel del Torno sector:
Finally, a long red (or partially closed blue) descends to a secondary lift base at San Giuseppe (1550m), with two-stage fast chair back up. The lowest run to San Giuseppe became very grabby indeed; my OH described the sticky sensation as being like driving a car in limp home mode!
Mid-station of the chair up from San Giuseppe
Foot of the red to San Giuseppe
Everything was open except Del Dosso mogul black run (reserved for training), bottom part of the blue variant to San Giuseppe, and top part of the Thoeni black (bit thin, but we skied it anyway). The powder hid a few icy / thin areas on the small number of sunny runs. Quiet main pistes, but busy learner's area where what appeared to be an entire (French+speaking!) school were having lessons. Not sure why they would come all the way to Valmalenco.
Thoughts on Valmalenco: small but nice, friendly-feeling area, somehow seemed quite different from the other areas we've visited this trip.
Top of the cable car, looking down on Chiesa in Valmalenco
Quick look around Sondrio afterwards - not worth a big detour, but maybe if you're passing:
Sondrio
Sondrio
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sat 18-03-23 22:57; edited 3 times 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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| Quote: |
having eaten early after checking the precipitation radar!
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Your attention to details is exemplary, @denfinella
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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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@denfinella, I had a day in Valmalenco, can't remember that much! I do recall they had a decent half pipe and impressive views of some big surrounding mountains.
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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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@pam w, I don't usually check it, but comes in useful on changeable days when it's worth making the most of any breaks in the weather. Ditto back in Scotland!
@ozski, definitely not enough for a halfpipe this season!
@element, powder in Livigno this morning! How are you getting here?
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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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| Quote: |
element, powder in Livigno this morning! How are you getting here?
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Yass! I'm travelling today, bus from Milan so won't make it in time to ski. Hope you get the best of it!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@element, thanks, all the same to you for tomorrow onwards.
Sat 11 Mar - Livigno day 2
After reading some of the weather / snow threads on the forum, I reckon we hit the Alpine jackpot today. Fresh snow, no rain, negligible wind closures and good visibility (edit: along with parts of Austria apparently).
Livigno is also famously quiet on Saturdays. It's transfer day, and the tunnel from Switzerland / Austria is only open to outbound traffic in the morning, and inbound traffic in the afternoon, so no-one can ski on Saturdays from the north. To the south, there are no major Italian cities within a ~3 hour drive, so very few day trippers. As a bonus, Saturday lift passes are discounted to €46.
Snow arrived from the northwest overnight (snowline about 1500m), just reaching Livigno but petering out before it reached the rest of the Valtellina. Therefore the 2,300m Foscagno Pass was relatively snow free on the Bormio side, but progressively snowier as we descended towards Livigno. We parked at the Trepalle lift base which saved having to negotiate the hairpins down to the town. First lift on this side opens at 8.30am (later than the other side).
Sponda (red) under the Monte Sponda chair
Giorgio Rocca (black) to Teola
OK, it wasn't face-shots all day by any means, but there was probably a good 10cm on the upper slopes, or twice that where it had drifted onto sheltered slopes. On top of smooth corduroy, lovely! Virtually all Livigno's lifts are gondolas or chairs with weather protectors, so easy to warm up between runs. And... deserted pistes, especially on the Mottolino side:
Valfin-Monte delle Neve top chair over an hour after it opened - powder & deserted pistes
View from Monte Sponda, up Della Cime (blue) to Monte delle Neve
A bit busier off the Mottolino gondola - view down Degli Amanti (blue) & Yepi Lift
The Mottolino side fared better with weather: light snowfall early on and intermittent sunshine thereafter. However we spent the middle chunk of the day on the Carosello side. This was nearer to the storm to the NW, and consequently there was light to moderate snow most of the day here. Visibility was fine as the cloud base stayed above the tops. There were a couple of temporary lift closures due to wind on the ridge, but they all seemed to open after lunch. Morning piste / snow highlights were the pistes from the top section of the Tagliede gondola, and the blues off the Valandrea-Vetta chair above it.
Livigno & Botarel chair
Larici (black) from the Tagliede-Costaccia gondola
Lunch at the Astoria near the Carosello gondola. Ski resort prices but perfectly reasonable (€10 carbonara, €10 aubergine parmigiana pizza, €5 tiramisu, €4 bombardino) and good food. Bombardino is said to have been invented in Livigno, so has to be tried if you visit.
Then onto the Carosello gondola, where the reds on the top half of the mountain were best:
Polvere (red) - skier's right from the Carosello gondola
Pistes had hardly bumped up at all when we returned to the Mottolino side at 3pm. Autostrada red and the reds to the Monte Sponda chair all excellent.
Yepi Lift & Degli Amanti (blue) just before closing time
Last run - Trepalle 2 (red) back to the car park
Powder was nice and light in the morning, but became heavy / scraped below the gondola mid stations later. Overall I think conditions have improved a bit on the upper slopes since we visited last weekend, but are a bit worse lower down. Most of the fresh snow falling on bare ground has already melted.
We skied until just before last lift at 5pm, topped up with tax-free petrol at one of the two petrol stations at the top of the pass, now driving back through sunny but snowless Bormio.
Nice view from the car park - roads back to black now
Last day skiing tomorrow...
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Thu 16-03-23 19:49; edited 3 times in total
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@ElzP, ahh so you were also one of the lucky few!
Sun 12 Mar - Aprica
Piste map here.
Our last skiing day today. 45 min drive up the wiggly road to Aprica, free parking by the Magnolta gondola. €46 weekend lift pass, lifts officially open at 8.10am but we got on the gondola well before that.
Aprica is a bit low for warm weather (1150m) but goes up to 2250m and is entirely north facing, which helped limit widespread slush to a couple of hours in the afternoon. Conditions were generally otherwise fine but there's noticeably less snow around than on our previous visit in late March 2018, with a few pistes closed. It was briefly busy late morning but almost all the skiers seemed to vanish at lunchtime, never to reappear - strange. Sunshine all day with freezing level just above top lifts. It looked cloudy to the north / east - perhaps @element can confirm from Livigno?
The 50km of mostly wooded are owned by three separate lift companies (unusual nowadays for such a small area), but the ski pass covers all of them. Each sector is essentially its own narrow mountain; the whole area has superb views along the length of the lower Valtellina.
At the east end of the area, the Baradello sector is great for efficient skiing: a single, 800m vertical, unusually fast chairlift with mid station. Blue, red and black options back down; the wide, long Superpanoramica blue is one of the best beginner runs I've skied - like Marvel (green) in Morillon but with even better views.
Superpanoramica (blue)
Valscesa Ovest (black) & Est (red)
Baradello midstation & Direttissima (black)
There's an extensive learner's area - not sure which company this belongs to...
The taller Palabione sector forms Aprica's central portion. Three successive lifts (gondola, slow chair, drag) provide the main access, again with runs of all grades. The top drag is located in a snowy bowl above the treeline, with more "high-alpine" scenery than the other areas. Some fun off-piste here, even today.
Mont Palabione & the top Dosso Paso drag
Dosso Passo (red)
Dosso Passo (red)
Quadrifoglio chair - upgrade please!
Salina (red) from the quiet Salina drag
Palabione mid mountain
Palabione (red) back to the gondola base
The third sector, Magnolta, has a long, old gondola (due to be replaced this summer) and a new but disappointingly slow chair. Gradients start off gentle with blues at the top, then reds, then a black back to the car park.
Piana dei Galli (blue) from the top chair
Magnolta (black)
Magnolta (black)
Each sector is linked to the others by blue traverses. This layout works quite well, though the link tracks lack snowmaking: the upper traverses are fine...
...but some of the lower ones are getting a bit thin!
Aprica seems a superb place for a first ski holiday; it used to be a popular school trip location, and I can see why. It also has an obviously down-market feel - ugly resort, terrible toilets and potholed car parks. None of that really impacts on the skiing, which is quite good for a day.
Finished at 4.30pm, then back to Barzio to return hired skis. Sunday evening traffic leaving the Valtellina was heavy, and our schedule was starting to look tight (car hire due back at 9pm), with dinner under threat.
At the time of typing we've met an almighty traffic jam on the road above Lecco - probably a crash in the tunnels - so a major detour now necessary. Traffic further on looks awful on Google Maps too. Dinner plans have been axed and Goldcar at Malpensa may be looking at their watches later with eager anticipation of penalty charges!
Last edited by After all it is free on Sun 16-07-23 1:15; edited 5 times 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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@denfinella,
Good luck with the return car, thanks for the great reporting 
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| T Bar wrote: |
@denfinella,
Good luck with the return car, thanks for the great reporting |
+1
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FAQ
