 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello fellow  ,
I'm back from my much anticipated trip to Courmayeur and had the bestest time. Thought I'd summarise my trip as follows rather than attempt an essay... 
Good bits:
• Courmayeur itself; a lovely traditional Italian town rather than a purpose-built ski resort. Lots of shops, nice bars and amusing blingy people to laugh at...
• The all-important snow; hit the jackpot here. Arrived in glorious sunshine to be followed by two days of heavy snowfall (but only very top lifts closed). This was then followed by four days of sunshine and near perfect conditions. However the temperature was very warm on the last couple of days so we had patches of slush on the lower runs by afternoon. More snow forecast next weekend apparently...
• Meeting up with people I skied with last year, it really didn't seem like a year had passed and so nice to have instant ski buddies...
• Ski area; perfect for someone like me. I skied all the blues and reds plus a couple of blacks. Wasn't overkeen on the blacks (I'm a wuss) but the rest of the runs were fabulous. Not a huge area, but different conditions meant that the same run didn't feel quite the same twice, plus there is plenty of variety to the runs. A great area for a week for all ranges of intermediates. Probably not that good for beginners though, not many blue runs and some a very reddish shade of blue...
• My skiing! Even though I'm not all that confident and something of an invalid I managed to ski all week and didn't hold up my ski buddies too much. I was also starting to get the hang of the bumpy bits towards the end of the week but I still go to pieces when it gets very steep!
• Hotel Astoria; although situated some way from town which I was a bit concerned about to start with, this is a great family-run hotel. The family have a long established skiing heritage (even a semi famous racing name!) and really can't do enough for you. Nice food, comfortable rooms and a minibus at our beck and call to take us to/from the bubble lift and town centre...
• Ski and boot lockers and warmers at Plan Checrouit (main lift station). No carrying skis about and walking anywhere with the equivalent of a plaster cast on each foot. Brilliant!
• Mountain restaurants; lots of them and not too expensive. With a reasonable exchange rate they'd actually be quite cheap!
• Crystal! Very good, knowledgable and friendly reps and everything ran like clockwork. The best service I've ever experienced from the mighty TUI. Journey each way door to door in under 7 hours. Can't fault them...
• No injuries or even close shaves. Lovely uncrowded pistes and lifts. The resort only really got busy on Saturday when the fantastic conditions enticed the Italians on to the slopes. Not a huge problem as they only really spend two hours on the slopes and the rest of the time posing/sunbathing outside the mountain huts...
• Italian culture/food/people/ambience; laid back, friendly and enjoyable. Surely one of the nicest nationalities in Europe...
• Views; some of the best I've ever seen in the Alps, especially seeing Mont Blanc and its numerous glaciers at close quarters...
• Bombardino; yummy! 
Bad bits:
• Never again will I doubt the wisdom of the snowheads boot boffins. Let's just say I spent the week in hired boots and will be selling my brand new Nordicas on Ebay very soon...
• Our hotel had a noisy party of teenage college students from Glasgow...
• The Bar Roma shut down halfway through the week for emergency sound proofing repairs. This was a mini disaster as it was by far the best après bar in the town...
• Didn't make it to either La Thuile or Pila as it would have meant ditching the convenient ski/boot lockers and carrying stuff back to the hotel (bubble lift and minibus ride away) and then to the bus station each morning/evening. Far too much hassle. Looking at a possible actual holiday to La Thuile next season instead...
Funny bits:
• One of the girls with us had a 'Bridget Jones' moment and failed to get off a chairlift...
• We, the 'Snow Warriors' (said in voice over man stylee), won the quiz night...
• One chap had to do a forfeit of wearing a leopard print thong to ski in. I do have some photographic evidence on my camera but it doesn't really capture the bum wiggle style of skiing that accompanied his attire...
• Bread on head incident (photograph to follow)...
Phew! Time to unpack and load up the washer now. 51 weeks and counting 'til next season's trip...
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sat 28-03-09 12:41; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Had many happy skiing days in Courmayeur. Glad you like it.
I once worked in Saudi with a young Italian professor who was based in Milan. He told me that he finally bought a property in Courmayeur for the skiing hobby. I asked him what's wrong with Dolomites and he said there were too many people. He prefers the village charm of Courmayeur.
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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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saikee, Are the dolomites particularly crowded and full of people?
I'm sure I've heard Courmayeur is v. busy at weekends, with people coming from the northern cities of Italy.
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queen bodecia,
Nice report, sounds like you had fun !
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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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Christopher, wouldn't have said very busy at weekends but certainly busier than during the week. Given that conditions were perfect yesterday, good snow and sunshine, we didn't have to queue for any lifts longer than a couple of minutes and the pistes certainly weren't congested. However it was quite different to the rest of the week where most of the time it felt like we had the pistes to ourselves!
Would definitely recommend Courmayeur to intermediates who like stunning scenery and resort charm and don't want to spend a small fortune. It ticks all those boxes. I've no idea when it comes to expert or off-piste stuff but there certainly seemed to be a few people on the lifts with big backpacks, bushy beards and those strange enormous fat skis, so I daresay it ticks some of those boxes too...
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Christopher,
I wouldn't say so myself as I rather like Dolomites myself. However here was a local guy who could have chosen Courmayeur because it wasn't the popular taste. You know some academics have a direction of their own and can see things that we don't.
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Not a massive fan of Courmayeur myself as it seems it has far too many south-facing slopes. Off there again though on Thursday - should be fun!
What was the snow like - decent base or not? Fingers crossed for another dump between now and Friday!
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masopa, snow conditions were absolutely perfect the week I was there. Good deep base which was topped up the first two days I was there. However, the temperatures have been very high since then and I would imagine the lower slopes are getting a bit patchy. It was certainly a bit potatoey down by Zerotta on my last couple of days. Not sure when the next snowfall is due. It originally said this weekend but that seems to have disappeared from the radar. Fingers crossed for you...
Also, I didn't think any of the slopes were south-facing. The section above Checrouit seemed to get more sun in the morning and above Zerotta in the afternoon, but not sure how this equates to compass points. Many slopes on the Zerotta side are tree-lined and somewhat sheltered from the sun...
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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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QB - you may well be right re: direction of the slopes as my sense of direction is pretty hopeless, even with a big yellow sun in the sky!
Thanks for the update - sounds like it should be a bit better than last year (same time of year). We'll probably do Zermatt/Cerv and maybe La Thuile another day. There's only one day (Saturday) we absolutely have to be in Courmayeur...
I know come Sunday afternoon I won't care what the snow's like, I'll just not want to leave!!
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masopa, have a great time. Although a relatively small ski area, Courmayeur is great. The same run never felt quite the same twice. Most runs are groomed impeccably (I like this), but if you like the ungroomed bumpy stuff, Dell-Orso is never groomed and Dzeleuna/2 Variante only twice a week...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Courmayeur's off piste is amazing. Great tree runs from the chair lifts. And from the two tin can cable cars, there are wonderful routes but guide recommended.
And be prepared for quite a hike/skate back to civilisation.
I have definitely fallen in love with Courmayeur this year.
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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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cp1000, glad to hear you enjoyed Courmayeur. Can't comment on off-piste myself as I never venture outside of the piste boundaries...
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You know it makes sense.
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cp1000, I agree on the off piste. We had a day there the other week, never been there before - superb terrain, loved the rickety cable cars, gives a real feeling of anticipation for what's coming up.
As you say, not the most boarder friendly finishes on the routes we did.
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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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queen bodecia, lovely photos. And what enormous pizzas! 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Hurtle, thanks. They were rather yummy as well as enormous!
Cheekily added a pic of my ickle bike too. Hopefully back on the road in a month or so...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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hey queen b, we're looking at heading there for the first time next feb. one question: roughly how long does it take from getting in the gondola at the resort to doing your first run of the day? Am i right in thinking that firstly you have to take the gondola to Plan Checrouit, then catch a further lift to the top of the pistes? 
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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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headfirst, in essence yes. There are three ways up the mountain. Cable cars from central Courmayeur and Val Veny (further up the valley towards Mont Blanc) or the bubble lift from Dolonne which is where most of the hotel minibuses drop people off. The bubble lift takes 7 minutes (we timed it!) and goes up to Plan Checrouit which is the main lift station. The cable car from Courmayeur goes to this point too...
We kept our equipment in lockers at Plan Checrouit. It's almost a mini resort in itself with a few bars/shops/restaurants. From here there's another bubble lift up the main Checrouit side, an old two-pack chairlift about halfway up or a six-pack chairlift up to Pra Neyron, which links with the Val Vany/Zerotta side of the ski area...
I would say from getting in the bubble lift at Dolonne, to putting boots on, gathering skis, then getting the bubble lift up to Col Checrouit and getting ready for the first run of the day takes about 30-40 minutes. But it's all quite well-timed. The lift at Dolonne starts running at 8.40am and the lifts up at Plan start half an hour later...
You can actually ski back down to Dolonne at the end of the day rather than getting the bubble lift down. But it's a narrow and sometimes steepish snow road (red piste) and it's definitely more convenient to leave your equipment up at Plan as pretty much all of the accommodation is a minibus or public bus ride away...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Courmayeur and Banff, in their different ways, are undoubtedly the best towns with ski resorts that I know of. Imust go t Courmayeur in the summer; apparently, it's like Chamonix without the attitude.
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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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richmond, what would Chamonix be without the attitude?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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richmond, I think that's one of the things I liked about Courmayeur. The fact that it's a proper town and not just a ski resort. Kitzbuhel is a bit like that too...
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| under a new name wrote: |
| richmond, what would Chamonix be without the attitude? |
Courmayeur?
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richmond, ROFLOL... 
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FAQ
