 Poster: A snowHead
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I've booked flights to Milan Linate for Saturday the 5th March, coming back the following Sunday. I plan to ski with friends who live in Milan on the first Sunday and then two of us ski on for the rest of the week. Probably won't hire a car as a bit expensive for two of us so will rely on public transport. With this in mind the Aosta Valley seems a good option although snow is not amazing there at the moment.
Anyway the resorts that appear to be the best in this area are:
Cervinia - + can get bus direct from Milan, large pisted area, reasonable snow
- not sure are runs challenging enough, no tree skiiing, windy
Pila - + ski to hotel, good transfer time
- snow poor at the moment, limited piste area for a week
Courmayeur + seems to be a nice village with nightlife
- longer bus journey, snow poor at the moment, not sure are lodgings expensive
La Thuile + nice village, La Rosiere has good snow
- La Thuille snow poor, not sure is there any apres ski, not sure can I get a direct transfer from Milan.
I suppose what I want is somewhere with a reasonable sized ski area, some snow!! some apres ski, some tree skiing (for if the weather is bad), some challenge and is accessible in no more than 3/3.5 hours of Milan. Other suggestions welcome 
From a snow and ski area size point of view Cervinia and La Thuille look best at the moment although I'm worried about being blown of the mountain in Cervinia and not having any apres ski in La Thuille!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Cervinia's not always windy (I've never been there when it's been windy).
Have a look at Gressony as well.
[/url=http://www.regione.vda.it/turismo/stations_e.asp?stag=i]Resorts in Val d'Aosta[/url].
At the moment, I'd look to go high though as the snow's apparently pretty awful (esp. the lower you go), unless they get some more soon. None/not much expected over the next couple of days, but there might be some small amounts next week (Mon/Tue & Thur, possibly). It is very cold though, so you may want to look at the places with most artificial stuff.
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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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skanky, I note the poor snow evwrywhere, I should have gone to Austria!!! However the depth in Cervinia look good 110 to 150 I think. I know about the Monterosa area but more difficult to get transport to and worried about the nightlife being dead.
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No idea about nightlife, but public transport should be relatively easy.
There are regular buses from Milan (they used to start at the bus station in front of the castle - but the bus station has moved, see below), to Aosta & Courmayeur stop at a place called Pont St. Martin (though not all year round, I think), from where there is a regular service up to Gressony.
http://www.savda.it/orari_tariffe.htm
http://www.regione.vda.it/trasporti/eleextraurbane_i.asp?txtcomune=Milano
http://www.regione.vda.it/trasporti/orariolinea_i.asp?codlinea=162
I've got the Milan<->Aosta bus before and it's pretty straight forward, but that was when they went from in front of the castle. Nowadays the bus station is at Porta Garibaldi, on Piazza Freud. It's in the northern half of the city centre and not far from the Central Station (to where you can get a train from the airport).
Pont-Saint-Martin is quite a nice little village/town as well, so it's a good place to change if you have to.
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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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Peter Ross, La Thuile - nice village, good skiing (if there is enough snow - which apparently there is not) but DEAD AS A DOORNAIL - apres ski just ain't there - Cervinia better option and if you want more challenging skiing, start trek over to Zermatt side early in the morning
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Does it take long to get to Zermatt? How much of Zermatt's terrain might be covered before last lifts back?
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Incidentally, that bus info above is also good for the other places in Aosta. The trains go as far as Morgex (change at Aosta) which is just down from La Thuile & Courmayeur and you'll need a bus or taxi the remainder of the way.
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I suppose what I want is somewhere with a reasonable sized ski area, some snow!! some apres ski, some tree skiing (for if the weather is bad), some challenge and is accessible in no more than 3/3.5 hours of Milan
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How about Chamonix?! Seriously tho, all the resorts you have mentioned have "some" apres-ski, but if you are looking for something to rival Val d'Isere or St Anton you have picked the wrong area. Courmayeur probably best of the bunch in that respect. Cervinia's skiing is tedious in the extreme unless you hop over the border to Zermatt. Not been to La Thuile. Pila does have a great little area with plenty of variation, but it is on the small side, and if off-piste conditions are poor you will get bored. Monterosa is a good area but apres is v quiet mid-week.
If you can live without riotous apres go for Gressoney, otherwise head for Courmayeur.
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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 Rosiere is full of Italians every day, a sure sign that snow conditions are not good. Skied La Thuile twice this week, all runs are open but some pistes very hard and icy. Fourclaz and Piccolo San Bernardo sectors which are usually terrific for off-piste are not so at the moment, lots of bare patches. It's also very cold -15 in La Thuile yesterday.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Courmayeur is a very pleasant little town, with the advantage of having been there for hundreds of years (I think it may be Roman or earlier in origin). The nightlife is (or was about 12 years ago) a bit more sophsticated than your average ski resort (not hard). There were some very decent restaurants and bars. If the snow isn't good, 'though, don't bother; when it's bad, it's bloody awful.
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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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the ice perv, that 100km will include Rientro and Youla which are are open no more than 50% of the time, and may include Punta Helbrunner. Both Rientro & Youla are not that convenient (Rientro goes down to Dolonne so is really an end of day run and Youla you can wait for half an hour for what can be a 30 second run if you can't go off-piste). We regularly cover the whole mountain in a day (one side in the morning and the other in the afternoon) and though yes, it's fine for a week, I don't see it as that much bigger than Pila - if Rientro's closed (which it will be at the moment, I'm sure), then Pila is over 2/3 the size of Courmayeur. 
I'm not putting Courmayer down, I just think the practical run lengths are closer than the piste guides make out. However, if it is doable (check with the guides) then the Vallee Blanche is reason enough to pick Courmayeur over Pila.
Of course, with the Val d'Aosta ski pass, it's possible to ski in them all for a week.
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You know it makes sense.
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skanky, you are obviously a Courmayeur expert, I bow to your in-depth knowledge! 
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Does it take long to get to Zermatt? How much of Zermatt's terrain might be covered before last lifts back?
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Only 3 gondola rides up to the dividing ridge between the 2 resorts and away you go. This takes you to the Klein Matterhorn area, but the remaining half of Zermatt's slopes are a pain to get to, as you have to get down to the village then across (I think).
I've only been to Cervinia for the w/end, and I never ventured over to the farthest area of Zermatt, so maybe someone else can tell you how easy it is?
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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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the ice perv, well it's a little out of date these days. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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No night life in Gressoney La trinte but then the skiing sorts out everyone. They go there for cheap heli-skiing and you don't do that on a hang-over. So expect just a few bars open till late. Gressoney St Jean is supposed to be better for nightlife but does not access the main area so you will bus up the valley to La Trinte and ski across, which is good access or you get the bus straight upto to Staffal another 10 mins up the valley. IMO the best place to stay is La trinite for the skiing.
Don't know about Champoluc which is over in the next valley but some people say it is better all round. Alagna is very quite but at least has a new link over into Gressoney but the snow cover needs to be good as the village is about 1300. All three villages have long transfers and even though Alanga may be the nearest to Milan the train only goes half way up. Ideally speaking a hire car would be best for all three valleys.
Crevinia is the furthest away from Milan but better served with public transport. Again it has a long ride up the valley, about 35 mins minimum as per Gressoney La T. But the skiing is more suitable and accessible allround. The nightlife is much better than La T as well. As for skiing over into Zermatt you will need an early start if you want to get to Sunnega and Gornergrat. most people bomb around the Klein Matterhorn and Schwarzsee as the link back is easy. The queue for the Klien Matterhorn Cable is likely to be long so take the very long drags but give yourself time.
So out of the resorts I have mentioned I would say Cervinia for all-round destination follwed by La T for something different.
Get upto date snow reports as the area is fed by different winds than the French side, I think.
Apart from Courmayeur which Skanky has covered, I haven't been to the rest
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thanks, great comments. Does anyone know anything about Valtournenche in the Cervinia area, accommodation seems to be cheaper there. Is it quiet (do all the tourists saty in Cervinia? How easy is it to get to the Cervinia piste area from there? Is is possible to ski back to Valtournenche?
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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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Peter Ross, Valtournenche is down the valley a little, and notably lower. It's small and I should imagine the nightlife's not great - but it'll be concentrated. You can ski down to it if the snow's good (and in fact it's worth a trip). I'm not overly sure whether it's worth staying there as teh actual skiing around it is small, and it's a bit of a pfaff getting up to Cervinia - that would be off-set a bit by a potential 22km run home every evening.
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skanky, what is "and it's a bit of a pfaff ". I assume you mean it's a bit of a journey. I was offered what looks like a really good B and B there for €55 a night for 2 which seems a really good deal. But I don't want to go there if the village is dead and not easy to get to and from. Do you know is there a free bus to and from Cervinia?
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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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Peter Ross, bit of a pfaff = four lifts (I think) to the link-up section. It's two years now since I went, so I can't remember how long it took, it seemed a hassle at the time, but we were heading home - might be worth a check. I have no idea about nightlife, though many people have been saying that Cervinia's a bit quiet (it's not amazingly lively, but we found enough to keep us happy). The two are close enough for a taxi ride, I should think. Also don't know about free buses (try http://www.cervinia.it/Default_inglese.lasso), but the scheduled buses stop at both places. You may find a shuttle (or your hotel may run one) and if you do, it'll drop you off above "The Steps", so it'll seem less hassle than a hotel in the town. Looking at the website, Valtournenche looks bigger than it seemed when we skied down to it though.
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I see, Still I'm tempted by Valtournenche but I'm afraid of arriving in a place with few native English speakers in resort or ski school and then paying the difference in price taxing up and down to Cervinia to get a bit of night life!
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I was in Cervinia earlier this year and visited Valtournenche one day. Valtournenche seemed very quiet and the lift links between the two villages were regularly closed due to high winds. From my experience taxis are expensive in Italy too.
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Peter Ross, there are some links to some Cervinia taxi firms on the Cervinia website. Only one states prices, and they're 25Euros from Cervinia to Valtournenche. However, I would try the tourist office and your hotel and see what they say. I wouldn't write it off yet - but you could be right. Would that make it worth hiring a car (the cervinia cable car car park is skiable to and the entrance from it misses out part of the potential queueing area - it's the bottom of Ventina).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I have found on the Cervinia website bus information, it's only 20 minutes between the two towns so that's not bad and they run until about 8pm. That Taxi fare each way is steep, I don't think a car is worth hiring for 2 as the cost by bus of getting there and back from Milan is only about €30 return. 
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