 Poster: A snowHead
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We took the opportunity to make a day trip to Passo Tonale last week (from our base for the week in Madonna di Campiglio). I last skied there in 2009, when I was still learning (or attempting to learn) to parallel turn, and was very much an early intermediate, so was keen to see the resort again and check if I was right to recommend it as a good value resort for beginners and early intermediates.
Mostly, Passo Tonale was just as I remembered it: bleak, with not a tree in sight. Even in the relatively good weather last Thursday the wind was still whistling around the tops of the runs. The blue runs were, however, a lot less steep than I remembered  We saw a lot of ski schools, full of beginners and intermediates.
Most of the skiing in Passo Tonale is a series of runs down one side of a mountain. Although the piste map shows lots of parallel runs, it's possible to traverse from one side to the other by cutting across lifts. In 2009, I was in ski school every morning, and only skied the blue runs in this area, with a couple of (not particularly successful) adventures down red runs (22: Bleis and 35: Tonale Occidentale).
I had hoped to head up to the Presena Glacier and ski the long black (37: Paradiso) down, but with the wind whistling around at lower altitudes, the prospect of a bleak glacier didn't seem very appealing.
We started out by heading up the Valbioli lift, then had a quick run down each of the red runs reached from there:
35: Tonale Occidentale - marked as red on the piste map, but has blue poles, and I remember my ski instructor swearing it's actually blue, so it makes a great first "red" run. 36: Contrabbandieri - a lovely sweeping red run, but not very long. Then the cruise back down the long blue 34: Valbioli is OK, but really very flat - boarders beware! And if you want to get back towards the main lifts you need to get a bit of speed up as there is a sharp uphill section that peels off to the right that you need to get up - otherwise you're in for a bit of a walk, or another loop up the lift and down Valbioli.
After that we headed fairly straight across the resort to head up and ski the long reds on the far side:
22: Bleis - nice and fairly straightforward red (not what I remember from last time  ) 20: Alpino - nice long sweeping red, which takes you round the other side of a peak - again not particularly tricky, but a good view and more of a sense of travel than elsewhere in Passo Tonale The interesting bit for me was then heading down to Ponte di Legno. I'd been down blue run 18: Tonalino several times in 2009, and even then it felt flat, but I'd only been as far as the midstation of the gondola linking Passo Tonale and Ponte di Legno - beyond that point there is a sign saying that continuing on the track you'll have to ski a black run - in 2009 that might have well said "Here be dragons". This time we carried on, and followed a nice red which then leads to a fairly flat, picturesque trail to the bottom of the valley, where the only way out is a fairly old chairlift leading into the Ponte di Legno ski area. What a lovely area it is! Fairly wide red and black pistes in amongst the trees - nothing too scary. Clearly the place to be if bad weather strikes, but totally inappropriate for novices and early intermediates. I can only imagine the locals generally have the area pretty much to themselves, as Passo Tonale isn't somewhere experienced skiers are likely to choose for a week's skiing.
We stopped for lunch at a fantastic pizzeria in Ponte di Legno, called the Rustica. If you go through the underpass that leads from the ski area to the town, you can see it on a road just across and to the right. (Far cheaper than restaurants on the mountain - e.g. 6.50eu for a calzone and some fabulous homemade pasta dishes).
When we arrived back in Passo Tonale, the light had flattened off completely, and the snow soon started. With it's complete lack of any features (rocks, trees, etc.) Passo had become the white wilderness that I remembered. There's nowhere for novices and early intermediates to go to get away from the flat light.
Overall, my impression of Passo Tonale as a great value location for beginners and early intermediates remains unchanged. There's a great progression through easy blues, to slightly more difficult blues, to easy reds (that are apparently actually blues) and fairly straightforward reds. It's snow sure, with a good selection of HB hotels at a reasonable price, all close to the slopes, so it's a great choice for novices. The infrastructure is also good in Passo Tonale with mostly new lifts, many of which have bubbles.
However, it's still bleak. And I'm not sure I'd want to spend a whole week there (however nice the runs in Ponte di Legno might be). We didn't make it across to the Temu runs, but I got the impression they were similar to the ones we did ski in Ponte di Legno.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Off there in just over 3 weeks. Not a great endorsement of the place. I am hoping it will be suitable for my wife, myself and our son. me and the lad have 2 previous ski trips and I would describe us as confident intermediates who towards the end of our last trip were happy to go down any run apart from blacks.
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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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alangibson73, where have you been in the past?
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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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Montgenevre and Serre Chevalier.
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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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Pretty much what I remember of Passo Tonale. The village itself is not pretty, basically a few buildings strung out alongside a busy road. The ski area is reasonably large, well-maintained and generally quite easy. For tree skiing you have to head down to Ponte di Legno, the whole of Passo Tonale is above the tree line and visibility is very poor when it snows. Incidentally on my trip to Passo Tonale the highlight for me was the day trip to Madonna...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I agree def bette than working. Think it will be a good resort for us as improvers and will just be good to get out on the slopes, work on technique and stay safe.
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alangibson73, are you going to be in ski school?
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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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Yes. 3 of us are booked in for lessons.
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Nice TR
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Does that mean transfer?
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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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or Trip review - excuse my daftness
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alangibson73, you'll have a great time. There should be ski school groups at the right level for you, and they'll have you jumping on and off the side of the piste.
Make sure you have goggles or glasses with lenses that are good for flat light, as it really does get flat in Passo Tonale.
One thing I didn't mention in my first post, as we were only there for the day, is that I'm fairly sure there is still floodlit skiing on Tuesday and Thursday evenings on the Valena run, which is definitely worth trying at least once. It's quite a strange experience being on a chairlift in the dark. The mix of skiers is also a bit different, as quite a few locals seemed to come out to play. Wrap up warm, and be prepared for iced up pistes, but definitely give it a go.
We also tried snowboarding for an afternoon in Passo Tonale, which was great fun. My other half never did put his skis back on.
SM.
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks for that SM. I had a look on the piste map after reading the review and I am sure it will be all good. Looks like a decent amount of nice reds. I have some goggles that I got from Trespass and also decent sunglasses - what would you recommend for flat light and I presume that means bad visibility with difficulty seeing the piste edge. Or does it mean something else.
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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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I always think of flat light as not being able to see the edge of the piste, but also more importantly, not being able to tell what angle it's at. In really flat light, you sometimes can't see the ups and downs on a piste. The latter is the most disconcerting, and can really unbalance you. I'm sure someone else could describe this far better than me. There's a definition in the AtoZ in the Bend ze Knees forum. Last week in Passo, one of my friends and I both found ourselves unexpectedly skiing off piste, as we hadn't been able to pick out the edge of the piste.
To counter flat light, you generally need goggles/sunglasses with pink or yellowish lenses. If you're not sure you've got the right think, if you pop a post in the equipment section I'm sure someone could give you better advice than me. The right goggles can also make a lot of difference if it snows and you've got no treelined skiing to escape to.
If you're skiing reds in Passo Tonale, you'll probably be OK on some of the runs in Ponte di Legno. I'd suggest taking the gondola down there, then starting with one of the reds if you do. The restaurant I mentioned above is only a couple of minutes' walk through the underpass by the gondola station in Ponte di Legno.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Did you ski the runs down from the glacier? We will def head down tp Ponte.
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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 for the trip report and ruin advice.
Making our first week trip to passo tonale in a month. Wife and and are advanced skiers and usually go the big French resorts but our young kids are getting to the point of wanting to ski with us in the afternoon plus we're going with another family with several complete beginners so PT will be great for that... Assuming no flat light.
I've fallen over In really flat light / a white out because I couldn't tell if I was moving or not!
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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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| alangibson73 wrote: |
| Did you ski the runs down from the glacier? We will def head down tp Ponte. |
No, we only had a day, and it was windy enough without going higher.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| mehrar wrote: |
| I've fallen over In really flat light / a white out because I couldn't tell if I was moving or not! |
I'll always remember skiing down Serpentine in Flaine, when the first I knew about having fallen over was when I realised my hip was touching the snow. Twas a very odd experience.
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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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For a novice skier or someone trying to fit in a cheap extra sneaky week, PT and PdiL are a good choice. The standard of hotel for the money is very good. There is a variety of terrain with Passo being completely different to Ponte. Its a good resort to learn to board and a great resort for a novice family as most runs all seem to meet at pretty much the same place, so if members of the family progress to different runs, it is still easy to meet up at lunchtime.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Sfc wrote: |
| For a novice skier or someone trying to fit in a cheap extra sneaky week, PT and PdiL are a good choice. The standard of hotel for the money is very good. There is a variety of terrain with Passo being completely different to Ponte. Its a good resort to learn to board and a great resort for a novice family as most runs all seem to meet at pretty much the same place, so if members of the family progress to different runs, it is still easy to meet up at lunchtime. |
Thats exactly why we went to PT, shoehorned an extra week in a couple of seasons ago, HB in a nice 4* hotel with spa and it worked out about half the price all in of a week in one of the big, high, French ski areas we usually go to.
Yes the skiing is not hugely expansive, but a significant dump while we there made it entertaining. On balance I think if you take into account the value PT can deliver its worth the visit.
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landlockedpirate and Sfc, I fully agree. Passo Tonale is a fantastic value resort. When people tell me they're looking for a fairly cheap week to learn to ski and that they've been looking at Bulgaria as there are ready cheap packages, I always steer them towards Passo Tonale. Bulgaria may look cheap, but you may not have snow or decent equipment - neither of these is a problem in Passo, which is why I think it's much better value.
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FAQ
Gotta be better than working 
