TR: AOSTA VALLLEY, ITALY 03-11 MARCH 2024

A snowHead

DAY 2: MONDAY 04 MARCH 2024

Breakfast buffet was a bargain at 5 euros each.

Our car doesn't have snow tyres, so we picked up a set of snow socks for 45 euros in a local car store (like Halfords).

We'd brought a load of the high cost, low use items with us - oil, salt, sugar, pepper, breakfast cereals etc - and stocked up on ridiculously cheap fizz, white & red wine for the apartment and continued our journey south.

With heavy snow falling the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we were unsure what the road conditions would be like once we got through the Mont Blanc Tunnel but we arrived just after lunch to clear roads, blue skies, and pristine snow covered slopes.

We took the 'old' road down passing through Courmayeur and the smaller villages which lined the road to Aosta admiring the scenery, the castles, and the churches.

Our accommodation for the next 6 nights was in the Capoluogo area above Charvensod, about 10 mins drive from the Pila Telecabine car park.

We booked the 1-bedroom apartment through booking.com for £296.50 for 6 nights which we felt was an absolute bargain.

The apartment had everything we needed. Well appointed, clean, dry, warm, full kitchen, private parking. Along with great views across the valley and a nice 5-min walk to a local church and pizza restaurant.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/la-maison-de-papagran-charvensod.en-gb.html?

After checking in and unpacking our stuff we headed back down to Aosta for the evening.

Parked up in the free Pila Telecabine car park and strolled in to town. Glorious weather and glorious views all around.

We bar hopped enjoying cocktails at Eden Bistrot https://edenbistrot.it/ and 'Guess the glass of wine' at the wonderful La Vineria http://www.lavineria-aosta.it/ which became one of our two go-to bars.

The beauty of imbibing in Italy is the free 'Aperitivo' snacks which accompany your tipple. Thin slices of local meats and cheeses on bread in most places. More elaborate canape like tastes in places like Eden Bistrot.

Over the week we found that with a big breakfast, mid-morning coffee & cake, and late traditional Italian lunch there was no need for dinner once we'd nibbled on 3-5 Aperitivo snacks.

If we did feel peckish we'd continue our drinking back at the apartment along with local cheeses and crackers.

Still trying to work out how to post pics within the thread

In the meantime, first pics on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5TDe8UC8Dm/?img_index=1

A snowHead

@Mike Pow, "..Still trying to work out how to post pics within the thread.."

I now use https://imgur.com/ : They give you a link to copy into your post

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

Thanks

I’ve tried to join but can’t seem to do it in my region

Can you just upload and get a link?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Thanks both

Not sure about their terms & conditions though

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Mike Pow, you're a super-snowhead, so there should be a "Post Image" button below the text entry field.

After all it is free · Last edited by After all it is free on Thu 4-04-24 9:16; edited 1 time in total

deleted

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

DAY 3: TUESDAY 05 MARCH 2024

Sunrise in the small village of Charvensod overlooking the city of Aosta.

Our neighbour was a dairy farmer who wintered his small herd in a shed between his house and our apartment.

Each morning he would begin his day in the blue before dawn mucking out the cowshed, cleaning and massaging his small herd, and feeding them.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5VemqHMDtM/?img_index=1

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@Mike Pow, thanks for sharing the link to your Instagram - some absolutely beautiful images there, great photography.

snow reports

DAY 3: TUESDAY 05 MARCH 2024

Continued:

After a sunrise stroll around the village and a hearty breakfast we took the short drive down to the Pila Telecabine car park to catch the lift up to the slopes for our first day on snow.

Destination Pila.

We'd pre-bought our 3-day lift tickets online which gave us the opportunity to ski 2 days at Pila and 1 day at another Aosta Valley resort or all 3 days at Pila.

Booking online saved us queuing at the ticket office and gave us a discount on the walk-up price.

It worked out at 41.20 euros per day including the 2 euro cost of the plastic lift ticket.

On arrival at the car park we saw a lot of people milling around and queuing - unsurprising as it was a bluebird day and most of the lifts has been closed the previous two days because of weather.

We quickly found out that there was an electrical fault with the lift and with no indication of when it would be fixed we jumped back in to the car and drove up to the resort parking in the car park beside the Telecabine terminus.

Self-drive for the win!

We were already skiing before the Telecabine started back up so it was worth the 'Gumball Rally' ascent up the winding mountain road.

Pila Piste Map
https://pila.it/p12021l4/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/skirama_web.pdf

We spent the first couple of runs on the Grimond Piste (Blue 15), 5km of perfectly groomed, wide, quiet slopes with astounding views. Every resort should have that as a warm-up run.

We lapped the Leisse chair dropping into the red run variations (Red 14 & 25) before heading skiers right off the chair and lapping the red run variations on that side (Red 9, 12, 13, 30).

The Leisse chair was the highest operating lift. Patrol were still doing avalanche work and there were plenty of triggered and natural slides which had run on to the pistes above us.

Nerys had a quick coffee in the Hermitage restaurant while I went for a little explore in the trees. The east and south facing slopes were a little baked but the west and north facing slopes held boot top to knee dry, light powder.

After the break we skied the runs off the Chamole and La Nouva chairs with Du Bois (Red 2) our favourite. Stunning turns and stunning views practically to ourselves.

Took a late al-fresco lunch around 14:30 at Hermitage. 25.50 euros for two pasta dishes, 2 x 500ml carafes of wine, and 1 litre of sparkling water. Excellent and filling.

https://pila.it/en/hotel/hermitage/

Skied back to the car and drove back down to the apartment before heading into Aosta for the late afternoon/evening.

Strolled the streets and bar hopped again enjoying cocktails at Eden Bistrot https://edenbistrot.it/ and gin at Baretto Di Sant'Orso Gintoneria https://www.facebook.com/baretto.di.s.orso/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5X_8SuMnUw/?img_index=1

You know it makes sense.

DAY 4: WEDNESDAY 06 MARCH 2024

Our second day on the slopes and it was a return to Pila in the hope that time, clear skies, and no wind would see more lifts and terrain open up.

We weren’t disappointed.

No problems with the Pila Telecabine this morning and 20 minutes later we were on skis and ready to go.

We warmed up on the Grimond Piste (Blue 15) before progressing to the red run variations.

As we were about to head over to the Chamole and La Nouva chairs Nerys spotted the Grimondet chair moving for the first time in 4 days.

We hightailed it over and spent the next couple of hours lapping the perfectly groomed pistes which wound their way through the trees before heading into the featherlight boot top powder skier’s left of the Variante Grimondet (18 Red).

Another fantastic day on the slopes with more of the resort to explore followed by another great late lunch at the Hermitage restaurant

Instagram Images
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5fWnrUC31A/?img_index=1

Videos
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5ah-CUMGdU/
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5f_Y6aCNKc/

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

DAY 4: WEDNESDAY 06 MARCH 2024

Continued :

Aosta in the late afternoon sunshine.

Beautiful light and heavy shadows on the main plaza and amongst the labyrinthine side streets.

Enjoying aperitivos at @edenbistrot @la_vineria_aosta and Baretto Di Sant’Orso Gintoneria and the Italian custom of passeggiata - strolling the streets post-food.

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5iggd8CKV-/?img_index=1
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5kcf_FCrgY/

A snowHead

@Mike Pow, superb. I love your bar crawl style and your urban photos.

A snowHead

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

What a great selection of lovely pictures - I'm a keen amateur photographer and I really like them. I love the simplicity of Italian mountain life.

Thanks for posting.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

DAY 5: THURSDAY 07 MARCH 2024

Sunrise in Charvensod

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5nN8bHCwER/?img_index=1

You'll need to Register first of course.

DAY 5: THURSDAY 07 MARCH 2024

Continued :

Our third and final day at Pila

Wall to wall sunshine

Excellent

There was still untracked powder off the Grimondet chair which was a little heavier than yesterday

But a great warm up for the terrain off the Couis 2 chair which opened for the first time this week

The pistes off Couis 2 were very good. A little 'glassy' in places where people had skidded them off

The boot top powder to the sides was well skied but still very enjoyable

I traversed the full length of the bowl skiers left of the lift and had untracked boot top powder back down to the Couis 2 piste which I went straight over and dropped into the trees below where it was boot top to knee deep

I lapped that pretty much all day before a late lunch at the Hermitage restaurant and a final ski down Du Bois (Red 2) on to the Plan Praz piste (Red 26) to the mid-stage of the Pila Telecabine

Three fantastic days at Pila

Highly recommended

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5qQYuQC8vC/?img_index=1

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5swNXwiMVJ/?img_index=1

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

DAY 6: FRIDAY 08 MARCH 2024

After three fantastic days at Pila it was time to explore the other resorts in the Aosta Valley

Today's destination, the small but perfectly formed resort of Cogne

The trip from Aosta took around 45 minutes passing through picturesque small villages before the final approach through a winding canyon

The snow level increased as we gradually rose from Aosta's 583m to the base of Cogne's Funivie Gran Paradiso lift at 1,500m

The two lifts take you to 2,300m and above that is the Gran Paradiso, the only 4,000m peak which is completely in Italian territory

It was a grey day but we had glimpses of the views on offer. And they were spectacular

€35 for the day, and when you look at how few runs there are - 1 Blue; 4 Reds; 1 Black - you might feel it’s a rip off

But when there are only 30 people on the mountain, every run felt like you were skiing at a private resort

The red runs were proper reds too. Steep, winding, double fall lines

With great grooming and great conditions under foot you could really let the skis run, and that's exactly what we did

We stopped at the small but welcoming Bar Invernale located mid-mountain for coffee & cake mid-morning and then panini late afternoon before calling it a day

I had a couple of runs in the trees and under the lifts which reminded me of skiing in N America

Even four days after the last snowfall there was loads of untracked knee deep powder off-piste from dry & light through to porridge at the base

Cogne is one of 11 resorts in the Aosta Valley on the Magic Skipass, a multi-day pass which can be used for 6-days at any of the small ski areas of the Aosta Valley (the pass can be used for a maximum of 3 days of skiing at any one area).

And all for the ridiculously low price of 100 euros (80 euros for children 9-14 years of age; free to children 8 years old and under).

There are some real gems on this pass and if you're happy driving around the Aosta Valley you won't get a better deal in the Alps.

https://www.skilife.ski/en/promo-sci-piccoli-borghi-2/?_gl=1

Cogne is the type of village you'd like to get snowed in at. A deserted ski area combined with a pretty village full of excellent cafes, bars & restaurants

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5vbXtqiBPH/?img_index=1

After all it is free

DAY 6: FRIDAY 08 MARCH 2024

Continued :

Enjoying aperitivos at Baretto Di Sant’Orso Gintoneria @la_vineria_aosta and @gekooaosta

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/C50vyRGM6t_/?img_index=1

Amazing pics as always snowHead

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

DAY 7: SATURDAY 09 MARCH 2024

For our final day on snow we headed 30 minutes north of Aosta on the road to the St Bernard Tunnel to the small resort of Crevacol.

https://www.crevacol.it/

Ski Map
https://www.dovesciare.it/sites/default/files/cartina-crevacol.jpg

It was snowing lightly as we arrived at the car park and within 5 mins we were on the lift and heading up into the clouds.

Unfortunately that's the best visibility we had all day. It was was like skiing inside a golf ball. The only respite was when we hit the trees just above the Seggiovia chair.

Nerys called it a day after 4 runs. I went a bit longer having a nose around.

The south facing slopes were a little crunchy after a week of sunshine but there was already a 10-15cm covering with more coming down and much more forecast.

On a clear day with fresh snow this place would be fantastic. Will definitely return and highly recommended.

Lunch in the highest restaurant was excellent.

Great write up here

https://www.powderhounds.com/Europe/Italy/Crevacol.aspx

Crevacol is one of 11 resorts in the Aosta Valley on the Magic Skipass, a multi-day pass which can be used for 6-days at any of the small ski areas of the Aosta Valley (the pass can be used for a maximum of 3 days of skiing at any one area).

And all for the ridiculously low price of 100 euros (80 euros for children 9-14 years of age; free to children 8 years old and under).

There are some real gems on this pass and if you're happy driving around the Aosta Valley you won't get a better deal in the Alps.

https://www.skilife.ski/en/promo-sci-piccoli-borghi-2/?_gl=1

Artwork on the way back to Aosta in the small hamlet of Saint-Oyen

snow reports

DAY 8: SUNDAY 10 MARCH 2024

Our final morning in the Aosta Valley and it was a race to get to the Mont Blanc Tunnel before it would be necessary to put the snow socks on the car.

We left a wet Aosta at 07:15 but by the time we reached the outskirts of Courmayeur everything was white and snow was starting to stick to the road.

As had happened the previous weekend another big storm was sweeping through the valley bringing what would result in 70-90cm of new snow by Monday afternoon (11th March).

It was a wrench to be driving away from a storm but we'd had a great week.

Thankfully we made it to the border crossing without the need for snow socks and when we emerged at the other end of the tunnel the skies were clear and there wasn't a fleck of snow on the roads or the fields.

An easy drive saw us arrive in Troyes, France around 3pm. Plenty of time to check-in at Le Papillon beside Saint-Pierre Saint-Paul Cathederal. Wonderful apartment and location. Free parking on a Sunday

https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/le-papillon-de-la-cathedrale-bouchon-de-champagne.en-gb.html

And a short walk to Le Drop Kick Bar where we watched France trounce Wales in the 6 Nations rugby. Great welcome in the bar. Top food and cider too.

Then we spent the evening walking the streets enjoying a few drinks. No titbits to accompany the alcohol unfortunately Sad

DAY 9: MONDAY 11 MARCH 2024

Great night's sleep despite being right next door to the cathedral bells.

Packed up and had an uneventful journey back to the Chunnel and onwards to Cardiff.

A fantastic trip all round.

@Mike Pow, a really wonderful trip report, thank you. I love to read about all the peripheral activities and sights, as well as your time on snow. Very Happy

You know it makes sense.

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

Thanks for the report and photos @Mike Pow. You'll have to go back to explore the other ski areas in the valley! Smile

A snowHead

A snowHead

Hi Mike,

I went to Aosta valley multiple times, both winter and summer. My #1 in the Alps.

I just wonder. You had Chamois and Champorcher on your pass, but did not go there. Why? Too far away?

Chamois is nice skiing, and fabulous sights on Matterhorn and Monte Rosa.

And Champorcher is out of the way, plus had absolutely massive amounts of snow. It is the most loaded area in a retour d'est.

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

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@Mike Pow, such great photographs and writing. Really makes me want to explore the area.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

I've not been to that region either and would now really like to go.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

TAKING STOCK : WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

Not learned but confirmed. Snowheads is invaluable when organising a trip. Thanks everyone.

If the price is right, the Chunnel is far better than the ferry.

Drive up the night before and stay near Folkestone so we can be on an early train. Gives more daylight driving and the chance to get to a French resort that night (It's a 4hr drive from Cardiff to Folkestone).

Ski somewhere in France on the way down and / or back.

Go for longer. We did 9 days total with 5 days skiing this trip. 14 days total would be ideal with 8-10 days skiing.

That would allow us to explore more of the bigger and smaller resorts in the valley.

Stay in Aosta town itself not on the outskirts.

Schedule a day or do a couple of half-days to explore the surroundings even more - castles, museums etc - which are closed by the time we get off snow.

Buy loads of booze to bring home. That could save us 250 euros post-trip with ease (at least 5 euros less per bottle compared with the UK).

Help!!

TR: AOSTA VALLLEY, ITALY 03-11 MARCH 2024

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Resort Reviews and Trip Reports