 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all
So today was our first day of a week in Cervinia and no skiing was done whatsoever. The wind was so strong that only the lifts on the baby slopes were open. Even Valtournenche was not open. On the other hand, everything in Zermatt was open, except of course the link over to here.
I've had a look at the weather forecast and we are heading for at least two or three days as windy as today in the forthcoming weeks.
Does anyone have any suggestions for alternatives on these days? My wife doesn't like me driving in snow/ice so we hired a car from Milan. So we can't even drive each day to eg Champoluc.
Having visited here twice before over New Year - I should have known this was a possibility. But it does seem worse than when I've been here previously.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A couple of years ago we were in Champoluc for Christmas but there was only one run open. The tour operator (Ski-2) took us round to Cervinia to ski on a couple of days, I think it took about an hour or 90 minutes each way. The drive is pretty easy so no real reason not to do it. I think Pila might be the shortest drive for an alternative - one hour down to Aosta for the gondola up to Pila. If you don't want to drive might be worth asking if there are any regular buses?
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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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Was a week in Cervinia a few years ago, lots of wind, actually was never colder in my life! Zermatt was completely different weather so tried to get over there any days lifts were running.
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The drive down to Aosta valley is a doddle all toll roads if you want and itll take 90mins ish. Big car park at the lift station.
Theres also a couple of small resorts worth checking out. Little gems the lot of them!
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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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In Aosta itself is the Link to Pila (gondola car park is in the city itself), but Aosta was suffering last week with unseasonably fair weather and it was 18degrees in the Valley several days!!! You can uplift to Pila via Gondola so don't have to drive up, but its not that high and i didn't visit this time as i suspected the snow would be hammered due to the fair weather. La Thuile is another good option as is Courmayeur but La Thuile was suffering from bad winds last weekend also and had most of the resort closed including the international link to La Rosiere. Both La Thuile and Courmayeur can be accessed on the main valley roads (Courmayeur needs no mountain driving like Pila as is accessed by the gondola station on the main strada statale past Pre St Didier) and even in La Thuile in the village my snow tyres touched no actual snow.....
A lot of the time the valley is clear of snow anyway and the snow is up in the resorts. The motorway is seriously expensive and generally unused due to this. The strada statale ss26 that runs through is pretty good and fast moving and doesn't take a huge amount of time longer.
The wind can be a bad when it does come...I remembered why i don't usually go in December!
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Valtournenche is significantly lower than Cervinia and the lower lifts are more sheltered. Worth checking to see if they are running
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| tronic wrote: |
| Does anyone have any suggestions for alternatives on these days? My wife doesn't like me driving in snow/ice so we hired a car from Milan. So we can't even drive each day to eg Champoluc. |
I'm confused, if you have a hire car, why can't you drive somewhere? Am I missing something?
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“My wife doesn't like me driving in snow/ice”
Not being cheeky (being cheeky) why drive? And what’s the problem anyway? Summer tyres?
Anyway, the roads aren’t that bad over there are they?
Mind you, if you are restricted in Cervinia, I’m not sure you won’t have problems in Champoluc. You have the advantage that you can probably ski around Champoluc/Frachey even if you can’t get to Gressoney, etc.
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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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You'd be lucky to find snow and ice on any of the main roads in the Valle D'Aosta at the mo, especially in the valley....Aosta is 14degrees at the moment.
The roads are always well kept, and snow is never usually an issue, even when i have been there and there has been loads of snow you rarely need to actually drive on snow or ice...
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I've had a number of days in Cervinia with the lifts shut due to wind or too much snow. Not a huge amount to do in town. Bowling?
We've resorted to the following desperate acts...
hiking up for a short run down
building a kicker
drinking
I've always hoped that Torgnon or Chamois would be open when Cervinia isn't, but it hasn't worked out that way for us.
We've had days where the lifts open up gradually from none to some to many through the course of a day.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Windy again this morning. No lifts of any significant use open as yet (at 9.37)
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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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My only trip to Cervinia, the wind was strong enough to shake the building, it blew out a 2m x 2.5m window in the bar we were in and full face mask & goggles were needed just to get from hotel to the bar. Otherwise we had some good skiing 
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@Adam123, think it may be too mild for the lower down resort of Torgnon and Chamois
@tangowaggon, that sounds like quite some storm you experienced!!
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You know it makes sense.
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Sorry guys, original poster again, I meant to say in the first post: my wife doesn't like me driving on mountains so we *didn't* hire a car...
Anyway after six days here, two days (including today) Zermatt link was open, the other four not, on two most of Cervinia was closed as well.
On one of those worst two days we skied Valtournenche which opened at around 10.30, and on the other we got a (seriously pricey) taxi to Courmayeur to meet some friends and ski there.
This is our third new year's week in Cervinia in the last seven years and by far the worst affected by wind - though it has been sunny blue skies for six days this time round! Will not be returning here again at this time of year.
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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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| tronic wrote: |
Sorry guys, original poster again, I meant to say in the first post: my wife doesn't like me driving on mountains so we *didn't* hire a car...
Anyway after six days here, two days (including today) Zermatt link was open, the other four not, on two most of Cervinia was closed as well.
On one of those worst two days we skied Valtournenche which opened at around 10.30, and on the other we got a (seriously pricey) taxi to Courmayeur to meet some friends and ski there.
This is our third new year's week in Cervinia in the last seven years and by far the worst affected by wind - though it has been sunny blue skies for six days this time round! Will not be returning here again at this time of year. |
Taxi from Cervinia to Courmayeur.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Do people think the Val d'Aosta is just generally windy (in early season)? Or is it just Cervinia / Monte Rosa in particular (which is more likely just to be because they're high and on the main Alpine ridge).
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The one weakness of the area. La Thuile can be seriously windy too. Not sure if any time of year is particularly susceptible.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@denfinella, Well La Thuile was proper windy this Christmas just gone, to the point of barely anything being open. Courmayeur and Cervinia were also suffering (though as to how bad i couldn't say as i wasn't there).
In many other trips to La Thuile in Jan Feb and March i have had generally great weather with abundent snow and sun!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Sweedish, good to know (and sorry it happened to you!). Wind-affected skiing holidays are annoying.
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Another windy day today, partial opening in the morning then shut down for all except a few lifts low down.
In summary over the last 7 days there has only been 2 days that were fully open.
The other 5 have had major closures, effectively leaving only 2 low down runs available
So if you are anything other than a beginner or quickly becomes very tedious and results in an early finish, instead of standing in huge queues for just a few hundred metres of vertical.
Grrrrrrr, won't be coming back to cervinia.
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| ajdetpwm wrote: |
Another windy day today, partial opening in the morning then shut down for all except a few lifts low down.
In summary over the last 7 days there has only been 2 days that were fully open.
The other 5 have had major closures, effectively leaving only 2 low down runs available
So if you are anything other than a beginner or quickly becomes very tedious and results in an early finish, instead of standing in huge queues for just a few hundred metres of vertical.
Grrrrrrr, won't be coming back to cervinia. |
i was there that weekend. so f-ing frustrating. the following day, (sunday 6th jan), the whole area was on lock down due to winds. we ended up driving to pila for a rather pleasant day's skiing. i'm heading back on monday..... start skiing tuesday... when the winds and clouds return. if the forecast is right i'm giving up skiing.
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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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I didn't realise that it was affected by winds this late in the season! Thought it was supposed to be a good choice at this time of year...
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@tronic, They are talking about early January.
"I went really high up in the alps in the depths of Winter and it was windy", is roughly what they are saying. Go figure!
Go somewhere lined with trees at that time would be my advice.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Pruman, Posted on Saturday 30th March: "i'm heading back on monday..... start skiing tuesday... when the winds and clouds return"
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