 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello All - I am heading to Courmayeur next week to ski Thursday-Sunday and fancied doing a day in La Thuile. I wondered if anybody had a view of the best day to try and get there, i.e. is it worth trying to avoid going there say on a Saturday as it is usually very busy, or perhaps changeover day? I am getting a guide for some OP one day so trying to get that scheduled in to reduce lift queues in both areas which I assume swell a little at the weekends. Thanks for any advice.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I was in La Thuile last year and Saturday was not too busy. Sunday was by far the busiest day with loads of people so probably best to avoid that day
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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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Thursday last week was quiet even with the practice for the women's downhill and half term. Had two excellent days guiding in courmayeur with Gianni Carbonne if you need a recommendation!
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I was skiing in both Courmayeur and La Thuile last week.
Courmayeur is a much more pleasant resort/town, I've skied there many times over years and still go back to it. BUT, be aware that the skiing is limited! Nice though it is, a good skier would cover most if not all of the terrain in a day, and wonder what to do next. Simples, go ski in La Thuile! Without doubt La Thuile has much better and varied skiing, and links into La Rosiere in France. (Not much to La Rosiere really as the better skiing is on the Italian side). Both resorts had a significant dump of snow a couple of days before I arrived, and all pistes at all levels were in superb condition. Even off piste was fresh-ish on north facing slopes, but quite tracked. Even though it was the late date half term I was often skiing on virtually empty pistes. The trick with Courmayeur is to avoid the main town cable car to get up the mountain to Plan Checrouit. Take the cable car from Val Veny, its much less crowded, and takes you away from the central bottlenecks. Try to avoid the Vielle Maison chair lift as well - lots of beginners/Brits clogging that one!
Be aware that the upper cablecars to Youla and Arp get crowded, and if you are not going OP from either of these the run in from Youla is not worth the 15/20 minute wait. That's the only uplift I actually queued for the whole of the week.
La Thuile has some great cruising black runs, No 2 is my fave, it drops back to resort level, is the ladies downhill/GS course, a very flattering black, lots of space, and really a dark red run!
On mountain eateries are decent, not too expensive but Courmayeur is slightly pricier. I'd reccommend the restaurant La Grolla half way down to Zerrotta from the Val Veny cable Car. AND even the left hand restaurant at the bottom of Zerrotta, which serves spit roasted suckling pick,cooked up on a rather large wood burning BarBQ.
Enjoyed my skiing again at both resorts, will go back again in the future, great for 4/5 days break, but for a week I'd want more skiing and would take a trip to Champoluc defo.
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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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Thanks, very helpful. Will aim to get over to La Thuile on Saturday then. Noted on the lack of piste KM. I am already booked in for a bit of guiding, just hope I will be able to see in all the snow that's forecast later this week! If anything I can follow my nose to the place that serves suckling pig, now that does sound good.
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| boon123 wrote: |
| If anything I can follow my nose to the place that serves suckling pig, now that does sound good. |
It does sound and look good. It was however the only time I was disappointed in the on mountain restaurant experience in Courmayeur. A really long wait, followed by a pizza delivered to one of the group (which was by all accounts very good) about fifteen minutes before the suckling pig arrived for the rest of the group, which was a small selection of leftovers - no loin area, rump or shouder, but head, trotter, lower leg and some random lumps which may have been belly. To top it off we were charged for fries weren't ordered or delivered and when we objected it was like WW3. All in all not great, but that was my only experience of that spot.
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@rogg, I've only eaten there once but it was good. Our favorite however is Chiecco. Which is not cheap but is amazing.
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Roast pig place (le Petite Mont Blanc) really is excellent- but busy so a) worth booking a table and b) order drinks as you are shown to table and food when drink arrives (if not already ordered with drinks) otherwise you might spend 20mins trying to catch a waitress's eye! La Chaumiere (just above Plan Chacourie) also really good especially for pizzas - again you will need to book a table (one of the ones in the solarium if weather is dodgy). La Garolla and Chiecco both also very good. Managed to gain 5kg over 1/2 term week courtesy of the above!
Great off piste from Hellbrunner, Arp and Youla but unless you are a man of the mountain type best (=essential) to get a guide. Piste accessible off piste can be had down Dollone valley (accessed by crossing the slalom training run - full valley runs down from Arp) and also down through trees to Bellotinni lift - but according to Gianni (see above) he didn't recommend doing either without full transceiver kit etc.
La Thuille good but for one day (if you have a car) I'd get to Pila.
Very jealous as we're done for the season.
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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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Thanks for the info, it does sound like a great place. Hoping to get as much OP as possible, but only with a guide. We will be getting a bus or taxi so probably only go as far as La Thuile this time. 5kg weight gain is a good effort!
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@boon123, And don't forget Bar Roma on Via Roma in Courmayeur has a very nice complimentary cold table from 4.30 pm onwards. Get there early the food goes quick.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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What's the link to La Rosiere from La Thuile like (both ways,) and what about evening eateries, particularly prices, we're thinking of going B&B ?
How long is the bus trip to Courmayeur (and cost) ?
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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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bus trip is about 25 minutes, it was about €2 per person each way I think. Used to be free with the lift pass but no more 
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Worth picking up the Piste maps on both the La Thuile and La Rosiere sides. The La Thuile piste map shows routes back to La Thuile with last times to make the connections. On both sides, lifts indicate which ones connect to France/Italy.
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You know it makes sense.
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What are the restaurant prices like in town ?
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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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The link TO La Rosiere is great. Just a long cruisey blue- hardly need to make any turns. The way back is the notoriously long T Bar drag. I didn't find it that bad. You have a great view of Mont Blanc all the way. I think it's about 7 minutes in all (but if it's cold and windy would probably seem like more). After the first drag you can head off left and do a nice red run before getting a chair back over. If it's not a cold day, I suggest you get to La Ros ASAP. When I was there the runs turned to mush at lunchtime. IMHO the skiing is much better on the Italian side but it's nice to go across for the adventure.
We took B&B in La Thuile and were really impressed by the restaurant options. I'm sure there will be just as many (if not more) in Courm. The prices were slightly cheaper than UK restaurant prices if anything. But if you are skint you can have a pretty good fill for free in Bar Roma, as skimastaaah mentions.
A tip: if you likes spas and relaxation. Pay Pre St Dider Spa (between LT and Courm) a visit one evening. I think after 5pm they do a reduced rate (with another 5% off with lift pass). You get a small buffet as well and the outside pools have amazing view of Mont Blanc at sunset. I'm not really into this sort of thing but my wife was keen. I liked it so much we went back a couple more times!
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Poster: A snowHead
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@EdYarker, Cheers for that.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@bruisedskier, good restaurants in La Thuile include Pipetta which is excellent and La Grotta. Both will pick you up and drop you at the lifts at lunchtime. Chalet Eden used to be good and accessible by skiing through the trees. They will also drop off at lunchtime. All are very reasonable, much cheaper than in France. Accessibility to La Rosiere and back is easy, but just be careful if the wind picks up as they can close the lifts. There is a long Poma lift back, but the at the top the snow on the left hand side of the piste down to The St Bernard Pass is usually worth the drag!
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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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@EdYarker, looking on the piste map, on the way back to La Thuile there's a red Bouquetin on the map, what's that like (I have to consider my wife who is very piste colour conscious.) I take it you have to take the top of Red 7 down from the Chaz Dura on the way to La Rosiere, what is that like ?
@Goliard, The long St Bernard Pass, what is that like, I heard there are no really steep sections ?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@bruisedskier, I am also piste colour conscious and I found the red back to La Thuile fine. From what I remember, the steepest/narrowest bit is towards the beginning, so don't be put off by that bit - it's very brief, and isn't that bad at all! I'm really quite rubbish with narrow bits unless they're flat, so if it didn't stress me out, I'm sure your wife will be OK. The good thing is that the run will probably be very quiet, if it's anything like when we were there last week.
I can't comment on the whole of the St Bernard Pass back to La Thuile (run 7) - we didn't ski it on our return from La Rosiere the one day we went over, and for the rest of the week that whole area seemed to be closed every time we were near it - but I did ski the last section of it a few times (joined it via a blue from nearish the bottom of the Chalets Express lift) and really enjoyed it. My snowboarding partner found it boring and too flat in places, but it was great for me as a somewhat tentative skier. It's a nice pleasant run through the woods - that part doesn't have any really steep sections, and the steepest bits are very wide. Again, this part of the run, despite being one of the main home runs to La Thuile, was always really quiet when I was on it.
Red 7 down from Chaz Dura on the way to La Rosiere was also fine (yes, you will need to take the first part of this). It starts off as a bit of a flat trail - can't remember too much about the rest of it as it was our first day, but I managed it without much issue in very poor visibility, so it can't have been too bad 
Hope you enjoy your weekend. I'm hoping to write a full trip report sometime soon when I get round to it - we had a great week.
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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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PS, weirdly the Sunday was the quietest day on the pistes for us, which seems different from everyone else's experiences! It seemed to be a big Italian changeover day, judging by our hotel, anyway - but also, we did have poor weather, which might have explained it. The slopes generally seemed to get very quiet from mid-afternoon onwards.
Couple of other points, thinking of your wife: I really enjoyed some of the blue and red runs down from the top of the Argillien Express chair. (Blues are 24, 20 - one of them did have a bit of an uphill/poling section if you took it all the way down to Les Suches, but can't remember which. Red 31 was brilliant - generally easy, wide, no narrow bits, just a little steeper section towards the end that did start getting a little bumpy towards the end of the day.) Reds 9 and 10 from top of Chaz Dura Express are also great, with no nasty surprises!
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@catclaires, thanks.
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The St Bernard Pass has no steep sections and is an easy cruise. Most of the reds over to La Thuile are not complicated. Good snow conditions and the longer daylight hours make the La Thuile/La Rosiere link very enjoyable. [/b]
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