Vialattea Milky Way Sauze Sestriere

A snowHead

We’ve not used them, but a taxi from Turin to Fenestrelle area cost €125 each way with a guy my wife found in Pinerolo. If you search for taxi transfers in Pinerolo you may find him - in th meantime I’ll ask my wife for his details. The car was a Passat estate - not sure if he is geared-up for skis etc. but he may have a rack or another vehicle.

Given the extra distance to Sauze, he might be the same as the price you have, but it was a very professional and prompt service.

As I recall, tolls on the Susa valley route are quite modest - not like some French tolls. I think there is one on the Turin Ring road of a couple of euros and the other toll is probably about a tenner. I just use my credit card, so pay less attention than I should.

Normally, we just hire a car. Turin to Sauze is all motorway and very quick and easy.

Alternatively, there is a train to Oulx from Turin, but I think you’d have to go from the airport to the city centre and then back out. I imagine there is a public transport transfer from Oulx station up the hill. It’s not very far. As the train line is the main one to France, I expect there are plenty of trains. Never tried it myself though.

A snowHead

Sorry, one more thought. There are express coaches to Via Lattea from Turin too. I think the bus company is called Sadem Line or something. Certainly. They run up to Sestriere Via the Chisone valley, and I’m sure they must also go to Sauze Via the Suza valley.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Cost of a hire cars are much cheaper than transfer costs. What is parking like in centre of Sauze? We have an apartment booked for a week at start of March.

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Solid sun at the moment....was very warm in the vill this afternoon but then cooling quickly in the evening. Cobbles remain clear...first day up the hill tomorrow will conform piste conditions...

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Bluebird skies again today. Pistes much quieter after the weekend and snow is holding up well on piste. Off-piste is cruddy, in the main, although some stashes can be found. Generally pretty good.

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@Game of snows
Thanks for the info. Would normally drive too, but by the time that we get a car big enough for 4 with ski bags etc there really doesn't look like that much difference on the cost and we are not planning to use the car once there and so the transfer just looks like the more convenient (lazy) option.

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I used Sauzeonline for our transfers from Turin last year. We were also a group of 4 and also paid €300 return - so at least no inflation! We were happy with the service - both from the drivers and from James at the website.

After all it is free

I see parking is restricted in Sauze? Where can you leave the car? Are you allowed to drive to an apartment drop off luggage? Any website with more info. Thanks.

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White out conditions this morning and colder but only a dusting as forecast to cover the pistes. Some hard spots on the busier home runs into Sauze can be avoided by keeping to the edges. Sestriere has the most consistent piste conditions, side country tracked out everywhere. Day trip to Montgenevre tomorrow...

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Fantastic week in Dauze this week, we had sunshine until yesterday when it clouded and snowed, but visibility was still good and the fresh dusting great, temperatures have dropped so a little icy in places but today more cloud and sun and slopes in great shape, one of the best weeks we have ever had snowHead

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Good week in Sauze but slopes now getting icey everywhere, artificial on homeruns getting scraped off before lunch. Montgenevre pistes a different class altogether...still squeaky and lots of untracked side country. Sauze could do with another dump and soon....

Great conditions the last 2 days. The pistes higher up are holding up well and are not too cut up due to the cold. Lower down it’s spring conditions. Let’s see what the next few days hold. It’s going to be cold.

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Day 2 of this years sauze season. Snowed steadily yesterday, a little overnight, and a little today.... but plenty of untracked easy offpiste this am, so not sure where everyone was yesterday! Snowing heavily for a couple of hours tonight, but (as at 21.00) has eased off. No wind to speak of. All links open. Snow is 'slightly heavy' - champagne powder it ain't, but the drag lift en-route to Moncrons yielded some lovely untracked forest routes this pm, and the Borget bowl (on the way to Sestriere) was nice in the morning, but tracked out by the pm.
Weather not great - low cloud reduced vis to 30m at times, although patches of clear in the trees. Kept the crowds away!
Certainly not 'spring' conditions - the pistes lower down are 'grippy' but in a nice way - yes, there are the odd ice patches, but they are easily visible. Offpiste lower down is 'heavy' but still fun. And more snow forecast!

A snowHead

Question to all the regulars. Do any of the ski schools run off piste days where one can join in? I would be keen to join a group if possible although I could get a guide to my self for two half days if I needed to (less preferred, more expensive!). TIA.

A snowHead

@Rishie, yes, we have used Ski Max. Their offering is quite basic, you pay 'by the hour' for an 'instructor', if you want to go offpiste, tell them - IIRC its' about 55euros an hour, reducing slightly for groups. We used them last season, and had a great day for 3 of us diving thro' forests and farms in some lovely 'spring snow' conditions. I get the feeling there are not so many organised offpiste groups (although we did hear of one running tomorrow for a stag party, although that involved shots and beers...). I should also point out that the SCGB rep has an 'offpiste' day usually scheduled on a Thursday, and certainly over the next 2 weeks will be looking for opportunities to get a guide in...

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

how cold! Bergfex suggest about -20c, and it felt like it. Sunny patches, and frozen trees, above the cloud, made the valley look beautiful, but one of those days where it was 'ski for 2 hours then stop for a hot drink'. Powder a bit chopped up, but the cold has dried it out, so lighter than yesterday. Stayed on Sauze side and mostly played in the trees. A few piste runs, pistes pretty quiet and quite flat, nice to carve some turns on my newly tuned Sir Francis Bacon's. (Paolo at Clotes lift knows his stuff!)

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@hamilton, thanks, that's useful. Smile

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Also, any recommendations for a an instructor for the other half? Thanks.

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Another F**** cold day, esp on the Sestriere side - doing the Olimpica down to Sansicario thought my hands would fall off, and serious 'ice cream headache' from the wind... suppose I could have slowed down, but the light was good, the pistes firm and mostly empty, so dropped the hammer. A nice coffee at Madeira (top of the Sansi 'baby' chair), then a very happy morning lapping the Sellette chair - the area under the chair is 'easy' offpiste, and largely untouched in the trees - boot deep soft dry powder! Weather was patchy cloud and sun until about 1pm, when it started to snow lightly... and has pretty much continued. Light really flat, so lunch at Soleil Boeuf, and headed back to Sauze to play in the trees under Sportinia. the forests in Sauze are really under-rated, the trees are nicely spaced and pitches not too steep, so hanging with some 'silver+' offpiste SCGB types - smiles all round. Bombardinos in Sosta on the way home - save the legs for tomorrow, if Bergfex is right (and its been spot on tomorrow), it'll be a 'first chair and sod the guests' day. Oh, and hopefully a bit warmer.

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@SnowVillan, cheers.

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@sequoiaboard, thank you.

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What is most reliable source weather reports in Sestriere area? WeatherProHD (app in Apple's iOS) was forecasting sunshine for most of week 8/2018 when we were there. Fortunately it was wrong as it was snowing heavily during the last three days. Borgata forests off chair lift 17 (Nube d'Argento) were covered by thick powder, have a look:
http://youtube.com/v/Zx35n9vQM0w

snow reports

@Tramper, bergfex.com has been pretty accurate over the last week. Btw, that's a sweet edit!

@Tramper, Nice edit, that was probably my favourite area when I was there in January! I found www.yr.no to be pretty spot on when I was there.

You know it makes sense.

@Tramper - yes, did some great off-piste there in w-c 05-02-18. Some great pitches, forgiving tree-spacing and very little tracked out.
Nice vid!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Thanks for the links re: weather forecasts. Though the amount of new snow in the morning of 21 Feb was a nice surprise, I'd rather know in advance what's to come... I agree video is nice but editing was made easy as the day (23 Feb) was really great.

Another nice powder spot is the small forest left of drag lift 5 (Bourget) in Sauze d'Oulx. Though the area is small, it is also pretty steep (as is the lift), therefore not too many other skiers there. We had several nice runs there on 22 Feb but as the snow was just accumulating, video may not appear as good, therefore I have not been in too much of hurry to edit that.

Unfortunately the neighbouring chair lift 4 (Cote Faure) was not in operation at all during the w/c 19 Feb so presumably large areas of untracked snow there. This was my first time in Via Lattea area and it certainly exceeded my expectations. I am, though, wondering why quite many lifts marked on the piste map were not in operation at all or only occasionally...

A snowHead

@Tramper Since the lifts are privately owned, the owners open when they want. The 3-man chairlift up to Moncrons, for example, only opens at the weekend.

A snowHead

@Tramper, The slow or non-opening of lifts was the main problem I experienced as mentioned earlier in this thread. On the two best powder days they didn't even open Nube d'Argento and the link lift was closed the whole time. This uncertainly is the only thing that might stop me going back - but maybe the excellent potential for powder in the trees is worth the risk.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Great day in vialattea today, 3-5 cm fresh snow monday overnight adding to great piste conditions, cold with hazy sunshine and less weekenders. Weather set fair for the rest of the week, loving this area.

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It's getting me very excited! Flying out on the 18th!

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We are there just for 4 days from the 17th. Getting excited that the snow seems great.

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In Sestriere. Blue skies. Below freezing but not too bad. The snow is in exceptional condition to resort level.
Epic day of piste skiing.

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Another bright start, but several degrees warmer today. Getting a little slushy by 2pm but nothing serious. It then clouded over and started to get a bit icy up high. Again, not terrible but the light was a bit flat so didn't push ourselves as much. Not sure what tomorrow will bring, possible snow or rain?

A fair dusting of snow today, maybe 5-10cm. Very low cloud though, so zero visibility as soon as you got above resort level which made skiing quite dangerous at times. More of the same tomorrow by the looks of it.

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Vialattea Milky Way Sauze Sestriere

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