Poster: A snowHead
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Hello, we have just come back from a week in Pila. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
We are thinking about returning next year and wondering whether to go in February half term or take kids out of school in January and risk getting fined - £240. Does anyone have experience of Pila in UK half term ? Think shroveTuesday is that week too which i read is some Italian carnival time. Or is a fine and going late January better. We prefer not to have the freeze thaw conditions that we got a bit of this holiday. Any suggestions would be grateful.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We are also potentially looking at Pila. When did you go and how did you find the skiing - was it busy?
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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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We went 5-12 March. Family of 4, kids 10 and 7. We really liked it and it suited us. We would do a run first thing, drop kids off at ski school from10-1pm. We would ski /board, drink coffee and admire view. Pick up kids, have lunch then ski afternoon with them. We don't mind doing the same runs and liked the resort being small. There were no queues, perhaps one Or two minute waits in couple of them. Most slopes were very quiet but a few were busy, but not ridiculous. Whilst we were out of uk school holidays we still noticed a few uk interski groups and quite a lot of Italian young children. We liked it enough to consider going back next year but just trying to gauge if it will be overly busy at half term, as we went out of school holidays.
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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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I was here last week for two days and although the car park was full, we had almost no queues at all. Some slower yet populair lift maybe a couple of minutes, but nothing worse. Pistes were almost empty.
But; friday was a very sunny day, the carpark was even fuller and it was a bit less empty. Due the perfect locatiom for daytrips (no mountain roads, just a highway exit away) I really can imagine that Pila is really busy in weekends or holidays with good weather (for Italians sunny = good) with locals...
So I cant really help you on that...but Pila is awesome, great sunny slopes, treelined runs, really compact but a bit small for a whole week (if you are a good skiër). If you've got your own wheels, a drive to Cervinia, Courmayeur or anything else in de Valle d'Aosta is a Nice day trip (and covered on the skipass).
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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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Was in Pila the week before half term this year, it wasn't overly busy and we never had to queue more than a minute or two for the lifts.. It was however significantly busier on the final Saturday.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Hils68, Carnivale is always a busy week. Queues at Chamole & Leisse about 15-25 minutes before lunch, and if it's sunny you can get queues on Cois 1 & Cois 2.
Sunshine will make a big difference, if the weather isn't sunny you'll get less day trippers from Milan.
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Thanks, does anyone know when Carnival is for Aosta next season?
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@skifans1, earlier, 11 feb
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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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Carnivale in Italy is always the week in which Ash Wednesday falls and is a movable feast day. In 2018 Ash Wednesday is Feb 14. This is the busiest week of the season .
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Typical, our half term 2018 is 11 Feb. This doesn't clash with Paris but does with just zone 1. Do you reckon resorts like Pila will be busier than similar small french resorts that week?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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Handy for France but doesn't have Italian holidays
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Italian schools don't break for half term.
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You know it makes sense.
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I don't know about other regions but Aosta does - vacanze d'inverno - and that is what contributes to queues on Leisse because the clubs train there
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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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I was there for the first weekend of our half term - Sat 18th to Mon 20th.
The weather was gorgeous and the Sat and Sun were very busy with queues of 15-20 minutes on some lifts.
Monday, however was sooo quiet in comparison and there were no lift queues at all.
I would have no qualms about going half term, but be prepared for busy weekends - especially if the weather is nice.
We stayed in Aosta and would do that again. Mrs Z isn't skiing at the moment so had some shops to wander round during the day, and there were plenty of choice for restaurants for the evening.
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Poster: A snowHead
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We did half term this year, no probs at all until the Saturday. It was very , very busy at the lifts but once you got on the pistes it quietened down...until you wanted to get on a lift again. Fortunately my knees tell me that 5 days skiing is enough at my age so cut Saturday short and played at being a tourist down in Aosta.
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