 Poster: A snowHead
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Our club has a trip to Aosta in February. We have been to the Aosta Valley before and stayed in Courmayeur. This year we are staying in the town of Aosta (Shopping, Sights, Transport).
Here is our plan – Not everyone will do every resort.
Pila
Courmayeur
La Thuile, Italy to La Rosiere - I know, has to be done! 
Chamonix France
The Valée Blanche Glacier (Mer de Glace) run from Italy to Chamonix France
Cervinia, Italy to interconnected Zermatt, Switzerland
Day trip to Milan by train (Shopping/sights)
Anyone have suggestions of any additional good places to ski/ride that are convenient to Aosta?
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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TheWorldTour, Unless you have too...not sure about Milan - but then I'm not a great shopper ! Are you good skiers ? If so then a trip to Argentiere, Grands Montets (past Chamonix) is probably worth a go.
The city of Aosta has some Roman walls and a Amphitheatre too look at too
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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 Monterosa area (Champoluc, Gressoney & Alagna) is good for intermediates and above on-piste, and has great off-piste if conditions are good. Easiest access from Aosta is to drive to Champoluc, and would take about the same time as driving to Cervinia.
If you feel like driving a bit further you can get to Verbier fairly easily through the Grand St Bernard tunnel.
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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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The best thing about Milan (that I've seen) is the rooftop walk at the Duomo. Other than that's it's quite nice, but I wouldn't take a day out of skiing to visit it - I would schedule my travel arrangements to give me a few hours there though if flying to/from it. You'll probably find it expensive for shopping anyway.
If you're interested in more local stuff, there's a good agricultural produce (not just food) type shop at the bottom of the road up to Cervinia. It sells good local produce and is not purely used by visitors.
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Thanks for all the good info (keep it coming!). We are a club and have a mixed crowed as the trip is during February High/Secondary school break. We have some people that are none skiers/boarders on the trip for sightseeing and others that will ski/ride every day.
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How many weeks are you coming for?
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The non-skiers may find this useful: http://www.regione.vda.it/turismo/patrimoine_e.asp
It's worth them spending some time visiting dome of the castles and villages such as Pont-Saint-Martin, all of which are close to Aosta. Also, the train up to Pre-Saint-Didier is quite a good way to see the valley, and there's apparently a good spa in the village (not been to it but I've been told it's good).
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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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Just one week February 18–25, 2007.
Our group size will be 30+ and not everyone will ski/ride every/the same resorts, so I am looking for options.
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| TheWorldTour wrote: |
Just one week February 18–25, 2007.
Our group size will be 30+ and not everyone will ski/ride every/the same resorts, so I am looking for options. |
You will have your work cut out to do justice to what you have already mentioned.
I would stick to one or two of them, unless the idea is to tick boxes -' been there, skied that'.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I think it will be difficult to get round all the resorts mentioned in a week. I was in Plia last Feb in half-term week and will be in La Thuile this year (feb 2007 rather) with a group that same week. If you don't moind getting up early and driving to different resorts I expect it is do-able but I wouldn't fancy it. Think Courmayeur is meant to be a fairly easy option from Pila.
Thought I'd read elsewhere on here that teh St Bernard tunnel is closed in Winter due to snow but may be wrong.
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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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| aidancostello wrote: |
| I think it will be difficult to get round all the resorts mentioned in a week. |
As I said not everyone will go to every resort - I'm just looking for options, I’ve been to the Aosta Valley a few times but mainly to the areas I listed. Just trying to take advantage if the “knowledge” here and maybe change the itinerary based on your feedback or let the group know of other options.
We do have a bunch of people that want the ' been there, skied that' experience, however most want the best the area has to offer (considering we are traveling from the USA). We usually have our own coach (with bar) and two years ago we visited eight areas, three countries in six days! We still had plenty of late nights parting in Courmayeur. Having a coach/bus helped a lot. Also our American group does not mind getting up in the morning (unlike my Irish friends!).
Thanks
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| Quote: |
Thought I'd read elsewhere on here that teh St Bernard tunnel is closed in Winter due to snow but may be wrong.
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I think the GStB pass itself closes, but that is why they built the tunnel underneath! Seems a bit of a waste of money if the tunnel closes too.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
| Think Courmayeur is meant to be a fairly easy option from Pila. |
From Aosta it's 20-30 minutes on the motorway. La Thuile is not that much further.
The GStB tunnel is open in winter normally (I've been through it), but there may be times when the road gets closed in heavy snow?
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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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TheWorldTour,
I think you can heli-ski the Ruitor glacier which can be arranged from La thuile. Its something I will be looking into this season
try his link for an idea
http://www.heliskivalgrisenche.it/
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Poster: A snowHead
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| JT wrote: |
TheWorldTour,
I think you can heli-ski the Ruitor glacier which can be arranged from La thuile. Its something I will be looking into this season
try his link for an idea
http://www.heliskivalgrisenche.it/ |
I visited the web site, looks great but no pricing, etc. I sent them and e-mail requesting more info. Do you have any feedback from anyone who has used this company before?
Thanks everyone for all the good feedback!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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TheWorldTour,
I don't yet, although David @ Trax might have an inside lead. I have mailed them and have been away so haven't got a reply yet.
I've used a few companies in the last 5 years and the price ranged from £70 for a trip up to Chateau des dames in Cervinia
to 240eu for the Monterosa but that was from Gressoney and is a 65km round trip....!!!! The easier- shorter- trip might be better and cheaper out of Cervinia which is quite near your base. I would say that Gressoney is a bit too far.. Champoluc is a bit closer.
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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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(Ah - I've just looked at your website, and as you did pretty much the same in 2005 you probably know most of what I've written below)
TheWorldTour, if you're looking for the "been there, done that" ticks in boxes, the top of the list must be the Vallee Blanche, which you should be able to combine with half a day in Courmayeur. I'm not quite sure from your description of quite how mixed your bunch is, but I would expect that to be fine even if you have early-intermediates (provided they can genuinely stop when needed) upwards. (caveat: I've only done it from the Italian side after hiking across from the French side, so I'm not sure how competent people need to be for the entry - skanky should be able to advise you on that better). Your lower level skiers may need to do the Classic Route from the French side, but the downside there is that there's nothing it connects to - but they'll probably ski slower so end up taking more of the day just doing the VB. With the size of party you have you could split into several groups at the top and get something interesting for everyone. You absolutely must though get guides for this, they will take up to 8 clients per guide for the easier routes, but drop to 6 or 4 per guide for the more complicated routes.
As ski says above, getting up the Grands Montets at Argentiere (about half an hour up the road from Chamonix centre) is also a must - there are two main piste from the very top which would be something like a single black diamond, but one of them (Pointe de Vue) gives you some of the most stunning scenery you'll ever see from a piste. Your more experienced off-pisters can also rack it up as high as they like, and if the conditions are good the chutes through the trees down to the valley floor are staggering (but these are only for genuine experts - I've only looked at them longingly so far). One of the good things about Argentiere is that there are open bowl areas that you can ski quite happily without guides, so relatively akin to the NA approach to things - but it's not officially avalanche controlled, so only do it if you're reasonably mountain-aware. To go a bit more off the beaten track though, you really must do it with local guides (although, as direction-finding is not all that difficult there, if you have genuine backcountry experts they may be able to get suitable guidance about what can be done unguided from the local guides offices).
For your more experienced back-country skiers, they should also go to Gressoney/Alagna (mentioned above by the ice perv), which has a good selection of chutes - but don't expect thigh-deep powder (ankle deep cement is more likely ). Maybe about 2 hrs drive from Aosta to Gressoney, but probably not such a good idea for your weaker skiers though. There are a dozen or so pistes, of intermediate level up, but not really the mileage that groomer-cruisers would be looking for. I think that having guides is more of a requirement for here than for Argentiere as it's much less obvious where the good stuff is. There is also a fairly regular heli trip that takes you up to one of the Monte Rosa peaks from where you ski down into Zermatt then back up through the lift system through Cervinia and down to Gressoney - supposedly a fantastic (although quite long) day. Unfortunately there wasn't enough snow when I was there to do it - so my description is probably as inaccurate as it is sketchy! It's something like 6 or 8 people to make a heli load. Maybe you could tie something like that in with your Cervinia leg.
There is some interesting skiing on the south side of the valley, but it's not lift-served so (other than heli operations as mentioned by JT) that requires touring kit (and timescales), so not really recommendable for you. There's also a load of stuff that any back country addicts you may have would love at the Gd St Bernard pass, (you can hike up to the Monstery from the road, and to the surrounding peaks, staying and/or eating in the Monastery itself) but again probably not consistent with your timescale.
On one trip last year I was talking to a fairly hard-core bunch of your countrymen who had got about 10 days, and did about 3 in Argentiere, 3 in La Grave (which I'm not recommending as a bit far afield for where you're looking, and doesn't really have anything to offer for your weaker skiers) and 3 in Gressoney/Alagna - so getting a tick in each of the top three Alpine boxes .
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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GrahamN – Thanks for all the info. I am not encouraging or arranging any backcountry stuff but will pass along your recommendations. I completely agree with the need for a guide on soem of the areas.
We did not find the Valley Blanche difficult, but found the hike out and the Chamonix decent difficult as we were all tired by the end of it. I will be recommending and arranging it – A great day!
I am interested in the “heli trip that takes you up to one of the Monte Rosa peaks from where you ski down into Zermatt then back up through the lift system through Cervinia and down to Gressoney”. We would like a taste of Heli-Skiing but don’t want to break the bank. We should be easily to com up with a group to fill the chopper. Do you know what company offers this?
JT
I contact the Heli Ski Company, did not request any trips as yet but they told me they have a new web and current site here:
www.heliski-valgrisenche.it
Thanks
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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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TheWorldTour,
The Monterosa Heli trip can run from Gressoney/Champoluc, Cervinia and Zermatt. The drop will typically be to the Colle del Lys whcih is nearest to Gressoney. From Champoluc, you will probably have to pick the Heli up from Bettaforca which is the lift to Gressoney, and then you fly to the Colle. The shortest route will be from Zermatt which will be half a day, Cervinia will be 4-5 hours amd Champoluc/Gressoney is getting on for 60 plus kms depending from where you start.
Most Gressoney/Champuloc heli-trips are run from the Hotel Dufour in La trinte.
H.dufour@libero.it is the e-mail address I last used...
info@hoteldufour.it is the one from their website
http://www.hoteldufour.it/english/contatti.htm
I will need to swot up the Cervinia operation
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Sat 11-11-06 10:53; edited 1 time in total
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TheWorldTour, wot JT said . David Murdoch is probably the other authority here on Champoluc/Gressoney/Alagna.
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Well if you have your own coach and will consider helicopters then that opens up lots of possibilities.
David M does seem to be the authoriy on the area. I thought I had read one of his posts saying the tunnel is closed in Winter - more likely the approaching roads. Apologies if my well-intentioned comments have casued any confusion! Hopefully David will be along to clairfy the position soon.
Sounds like a great trip anyway - enjoy!
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| Quote: |
| (caveat: I've only done it from the Italian side after hiking across from the French side, so I'm not sure how competent people need to be for the entry - skanky should be able to advise you on that better). |
I did it many years ago, so no high ability needed. I reckon the ability will be similar to that of from the French side. You get the bus back from Chamonix.
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