 Poster: A snowHead
|
Hi everyone. I just booked a week's skiing in Paso Tonale between 5/2 and 12/2. Looking at the forum I can see a 2005 review, but I was wondering if someone has a more up to date opinion. With regards to Italy we were in La Tuile a couple of years ago and we loved it, so I am hoping that Paso Tonale will be similar. We have spent a few skiing holidays in Saas Fee, Zermat, Garmish and Obergugl before, so we fancied a change this time. Any tips/advice is most welcomed!
Many thanks
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
I did a trip report in 2018, staying in Pointe di Legno which is part of the same ski area. Link here: https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=137154. We visited a few other resorts as well so you'll need to sift through to find the relevant parts.
The skiing directly above Passo Tonale is a little bit dull - lots of short, parallel runs with similar scenery. The small glacier and the larger area above Ponte di Legno are more interesting and the latter good for bad weather days.
I would recommend visiting other nearby areas (there is a shared lift pass) such as Folgarida and Pejo, if you have a car.
The skiing and scenery might not quite be on a level with Zermatt and La Thuile, but likely to be much cheaper than the former! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
I was there a couple of weeks ago and basically wot @denfinella said! PT is a bunch of up-and-downs, with a longish red/blue combo at the far end of town, furthest from Ponte di Legno. There is a longer 4.5km red that sweeps around the mountain on the other side but it was closed when we went - despite being high altitude, it was suffering from a lack of fresh snow and off piste was looking very bare. There's also a long glacier run (red/blue from the top leading into a black, but you can skip that if needed by taking the gondola down).
Our hotel was the Grand Paradiso and it was perfectly located for the lifts, including the long connecting gondola to Ponte di Legno (you can also ski directly there as long as you don't mind a bit of easy black along the way...) - we preferred the runs there as they were more the interconnecting tree lined ones we are used to from Austria. But it's lower altitude and they were also suffering from lack of snow. Hopefully you'll have more by the time you go.
By the way, mask wearing was getting quite rigidly enforced on the lifts, there were multilingual announcements, and people even being pulled up for not having the correct FFP2 style. One thing you have to learn is getting your mask back in place when you're coming to the end of a run - takes a bit of practise when wearing gloves!
Green pass checks were also getting more common when going into bars and restaurants - including those higher up the mountain.
Anyway, in summary, it was a place we went to because we were short of options rather than as a 1st/2nd/3rd choice, but we still got a decent week of skiing despite the limited snow and somewhat disjointed layout.
Favourite cafe/restaurant was La Tana del Orso, which was on the red run connecting PT to PdL, rather more sophisticated than your typical mountain cafe, and a great place to stop for a mid morning coffee...
I just realised that this was basically a mini TR, so if a mod wants to split it off to a separate thread, that's fine with me!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Was there in 2019 with middle boy's IAPS slalom competition: which says something. It is (was?) very popular with school groups and is well set up for that. Easy to get to via Verona. Sadly, the core of PT has little of interest (save for the far end referenced by ratechaser and the glacier). By contrast, Ponte di Legno, while small, is perfectly formed and I'd very happily spend a day or two (or longer!) there. Although the lady who missed the turn off to the bubble taking her back down to PdL and found herself facing a the red/black route home with two very small boys may have thought differently. (Two of us did a looooong thigh burning guided snowplow with the kids to the home run).
Extremely reasonable restaurant prices and mostly fabulous food (if you avoid the uninspiring buffets).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
@ratechaser, thank you for your mini review.
I’m going to PT this Saturday 15th primarily to teach my 21 year old daughter to board. She’s been skiing since she was 6. Those straight up and down runs look good for that and hopefully with a combination of snowboard school and my snowboard instructor quails I did in Canada in 2015 she’ll be flying by day 3 so should be able to get across to ponte. We’ve only bought the local pass as I think there should be enough to occupy us. She might even break the skis out for a couple of days.
This might have been exhausted elsewhere but do we need to get the super green pass app or will the fact that our vaccination QR codes are held in Apple wallets for each of us suffice?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Off topic: Tonale is also the name of the new Alfa Romeo out this year - a smaller SUV after the Stelvio. I see a theme now (after using girls names, Giulietta and Giulia)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@eat>sleep>ride>r, your NHS vaccination QR codes are absolutely fine, we did get a couple of glitches where they were initially rejected but then ok on the second scan. We also printed off and laminated copies for the kids, as their phone batteries have a tendency to get exhausted by lunchtime!
And yes, the up and downs are perfect for beginner boarders, and the children both switched from skis midweek for a bit of variety (note that we were charged a €10pp 'admin' fee in the hire shop for doing that, never happened to us before in Austria).
There's also Tuesday/Thursday night skiing until 11pm on the very easy blue Valena run - which also has the snow park next to it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@ratechaser, thanks night skiing sounds cool. What time do lifts open and close on a normal day?(last question honest) 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
@eat>sleep>ride>r, open... don't know, we took a pretty leisurely approach and weren't on the slopes before 9.30 most days! But the last runs up were between 4.30-4.50, with the piste bashers lying in wait to get going as soon as the coast was clear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you very much for your posts. I appreciate any information i receive as we have not being skiing since before the pandemic, and it feels we have not done so for 100 years...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
