 Poster: A snowHead
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Still deciding where to go at Christmas, 4 adults and 4 kids, good skiers, adults like vast linked areas, nice coffee and restaurants ( hence preference for Italy) . Kids want to try snowboarding this year so will need lessons. Budget is a bit tight so options that seem well priced are in Sestriere or Canazei, which of the two would suit our needs better? We have been to La Thuile and Champoluc - are these similar ? Really wanted to go to Cervinia again ( my first choice) or try Dolomites resorts such as Corvara or Val Gardena but to pricy… we limited by school holidays of course, can do either Christmas or NY weeks but obviously Christmas week should be cheaper and less busy
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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if on a tight budget -- Sestiere
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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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Thanks, yes seems much cheaper indeed but how is the skiing and food?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Sestriere doesn't always get much early season snow. If you are unlucky you will find very restricted skiing.
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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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| Bella2015 wrote: |
| Thanks, yes seems much cheaper indeed but how is the skiing and food? |
Food is good, but I believe the skiing/snow/snow making/lifts in the dolomites are superior !
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Bella2015 wrote: |
| Still deciding where to go at Christmas, 4 adults and 4 kids, good skiers, adults like vast linked areas, nice coffee and restaurants ( hence preference for Italy) . Kids want to try snowboarding this year so will need lessons. Budget is a bit tight so options that seem well priced are in Sestriere or Canazei, which of the two would suit our needs better? We have been to La Thuile and Champoluc - are these similar ? Really wanted to go to Cervinia again ( my first choice) or try Dolomites resorts such as Corvara or Val Gardena but to pricy… we limited by school holidays of course, can do either Christmas or NY weeks but obviously Christmas week should be cheaper and less busy |
I think either could suit you. Snow can be sparse early season in both, but snowmaking and grooming in the Dolomites is second to none, so would edge toward Canazei for that.
IMHO, the scenery and charm of the Dolomites is nicer than the Milky Way too. You also have the huge Sella Ronda linked area on your doorstep.
I stayed in Canazei a few years back and there was a family in the Chalet who had two lads who were first time snowboarders. They came on leaps and bounds and were even doing jumps on the giant air bag in the Belvedere sector above Canazei.
The gondola in Canazei can be busy in the morning, but the queue keeps moving. Hit it early or later to beat the rush...or catch the bus up to Alba which has lifts in two directions so is less subscribed.
New Year is generally the busiest week of the season in Italy, so best avoided if you don't like crowds, though Italian crowds are always fun to watch! 
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There is the Campitello option.. 
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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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La Thuile.
Rated for good value and a reasonable altitude for snow at that time.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thank you all. We have already done La Thuile and although we enjoyed not rushing back just yet. So sounds like Canazei would be a better choice although more expensive than Sestriere
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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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And l saw that Campitello is more cost efficient choice but seems quite a lot lower and faff to get up and down
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| Bella2015 wrote: |
| And l saw that Campitello is more cost efficient choice but seems quite a lot lower and faff to get up and down |
It's about budget I guess? Campitello is a bit faffier than Canazei, but compared to Arabba, Selva, Corvara and Colfosco, Canazei is pretty faffy. The thing being, from all of these villages you're skiing the Sella Ronda and everything around it. This is world class skiing, period. You can pick your village according to how good a deal you can find.
Sestriere, on the other hand is small and nice enough, but the skiing isn't in the same league in my opinion.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Mollerski, thank you.. so you think the difference between the faff of Campitello vs Canazei is not that material? We don’t mind a bit of faff but as our kids will be learning snowboarding somewhere in the beginner area with a private instructor l hope ( for 4 of them should work out the same as group lessons ) our plan was two days adults meet the kids for lunch , two days we don’t meet them for lunch , two days they switch to skis and ski with us to experience the area properly. I wonder if being in Canazei or Campitello would make the days we want to meet the kids for lunch too restrictive for us in terms skiing - we probably won’t have time to go very far? Not sure how long everything takes as have never been to Dolomites
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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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@Bella2015, My point being that Canazei isn't faff free. It's a one lift village and the accommodation can be a fair schlep from the lift. If there's a significant financial saving in staying in Campitello, over Canazei. I don't think that by opting for Campitello, you'd be upping the faff levels significantly. Does that make sense?
This is probably more of my opinion than you may welcome, but how about asking your kids whether they want to ski or snowboard and sticking with whichever they choose? I'm a Dad whom dragged 4 kids out to the area for years. 3 skiers and one snowboarder. When they'd chosen their preferred 'ride', that was it. Stick with it a go with it. Otherwise, in my opinion you could waste a heap of money producing some very average skiers and/or snowboarders when they swap about and never fully engage with one or the other. Call me old fashioned. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Mollerski, thank you. The kids can all ski already but want to give snowboarding a try. If they like it they can stick with it all week, if not we want to give him an option to swap to ski in the last couple of days so that the can enjoy the are beyond beginner friendly runs
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Double post
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Sat 5-10-24 11:59; edited 1 time in total
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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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| Bella2015 wrote: |
| @Mollerski, thank you. The kids can all ski already but want to give snowboarding a try. If they like it they can stick with it all week, if not we want to give him an option to swap to ski in the last couple of days so that the can enjoy the are beyond beginner friendly runs |
Yep, I'm definitely a parent of the 'old school'. What our's wanted and what they got weren't always the same thing. We laugh about it now. Our youngest is 28. Enjoy.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Mollerski, haha. Up to a certain point my parents made the decisions on how my holidays should be spent. I'm only a bit sad that winter sports weren't on the agenda (for all sorts of good reasons, which I understood).
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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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@Bella2015 I would pick Sestriere over Canazei of the two you suggest, then add Pila into the mix if that could be organised
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Sauze d'Oulx.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| @Mollerski, haha. Up to a certain point my parents made the decisions on how my holidays should be spent. I'm only a bit sad that winter sports weren't on the agenda (for all sorts of good reasons, which I understood). |
Heck! Only the aristocracy enjoyed family ski hols back in the late 70s.  I was lucky that my Old Man coughed up for a couple of school ski trips which blew me away tbf.
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@toyah807, Sestriere and Pila don’t seem that close.. have been to Pila before, lovely resort but small, and probably a bit risky at Christmas
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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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@Whitegold, yes, l guess this is an option alongside Sestriere but lower
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| Bella2015 wrote: |
| @toyah807, Sestriere and Pila don’t seem that close.. have been to Pila before, lovely resort but small, and probably a bit risky at Christmas |
Yeah, they're completely opposite directions from Turin airport, so about 3hrs away from each other.
Pila is a pretty little snowbowl with some great runs, but would be too small for a week for mile hungry skiers.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Sat 5-10-24 19:47; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Bella2015 wrote: |
| And l saw that Campitello is more cost efficient choice but seems quite a lot lower and faff to get up and down |
It's barely any lower (1,448m vs 1,450m), it's the next village along the valley floor, just a short gap between them.
The cablecar at Campitello actually whisks you up to one of the higher points (2,395m) on the Sella Ronda in less than 5 mins. The skiing is at altitude (mostly 1800-2400m) and there is no home run down to the village at Campitello, so you need to download at the end of the ski day.
To understand the faff, to do with that the cablecar can be queue prone at busy times, you need to read some relevant posts in this other recent thread...
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=170299
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Sat 5-10-24 19:55; edited 4 times in total
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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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| Bella2015 wrote: |
| @Mollerski, thank you.. so you think the difference between the faff of Campitello vs Canazei is not that material? We don’t mind a bit of faff but as our kids will be learning snowboarding somewhere in the beginner area with a private instructor l hope ( for 4 of them should work out the same as group lessons ) our plan was two days adults meet the kids for lunch , two days we don’t meet them for lunch , two days they switch to skis and ski with us to experience the area properly. I wonder if being in Canazei or Campitello would make the days we want to meet the kids for lunch too restrictive for us in terms skiing - we probably won’t have time to go very far? Not sure how long everything takes as have never been to Dolomites |
Wherever you go, if you're restricted to kids ski school timings, it's going to limit how far you can go.
I doubt you could complete the Sella Ronda before lunch, unless you got going early, knew it really well and skied it fast, but you could head over to explore Arabba from Canazei, or the Plan de Gralba side of Selva from Campitello in a morning. Plenty of nice runs to choose from.
https://skimaps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Sella-Ronda-ski-map.png
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Sat 5-10-24 20:01; edited 1 time in total
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@luigi, thank you that’s really informative.. if we go for it , guess we will do Sella Ronda on the days we don’t depend on kids ski school times
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You know it makes sense.
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| Bella2015 wrote: |
| @luigi, thank you that’s really informative.. if we go for it , guess we will do Sella Ronda on the days we don’t depend on kids ski school times |
You probably need to do the Sella Ronda once, just to say you've done it, but sometimes it's best used to access areas off the main circuit that are a bit quieter.
There's the choice of which way to do it, clockwise or anti-. People have their preference, but not much in it really, as you travel through the same route and scenery, albeit in a different direction on different lifts and runs.
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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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| luigi wrote: |
There's the choice of which way to do it, clockwise or anti-. People have their preference, but not much in it really, as you travel through the same route and scenery, albeit in a different direction on different lifts and runs. |
We tend to prefer orange (clockwise) as green is very lift heavy from Corvara to Dantercepies (Selva).
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Poster: A snowHead
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Mind you just had a thought ...how about looking further up the valley at Alba ...there is some quite nice accomadation up there and its faf free getting up to the Belevdere area and on the other side you have Ciampac and the run over to Possa ..............One note of warning on the Sella...make sure you get back before the last lift ...it is cheaper to stop overnight than to get a taxi back ....I know to my cost ..there are some quite difficult runs coming back from Selva anti clockwise ..especially the No 6 from the top of the gondola ( i have forgotten the name) later in the day ...it says red but but the fallen bodies and the moguls make it hard 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Blue bit is the Ciampinoi restaurant : My Piste numers might be wrong !! (I think the right hand one might be 5)
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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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@DaveD, thank you. Any recommendations for accommodation in Alba. Happy to DIY but so far haven’t found anything reasonable
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@luigi, I never managed to find that....but I wish I had lol we only got caught 'cos we went to the war museum and had lunch there ...
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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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@DaveD, thank you!
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FAQ
It's hardly recognisable now from back then. 