Having previously visited Champoluc several times, we decided to try Monterosa in reverse this year and 10 of us descended on Alagna for half term. We stayed 5 nights with a Sunday departure and late Friday return (Easyjet to Milan Malpensa) with 5 full day's skiing. Alagna is about 2 hours drive from the airport on good roads.
Snow quantity was 'moderate', seemingly more at the mid-mountain level than the top. Our B&B host and mountain guide Roberto explained that the cold temperatures in January meant much of the powder at high altitude had simply blown away! Having said that, the overall altitude of the ski area and immaculate grooming meant that on-piste conditions were good to excellent, with just a few hard areas. Luckily we had about 10cms top up during the week.
Get going
Tony H has already posted a great Monterosa / Champoluc trip report this year and I won't try to re-write his detailed description of the skiing, suffice to say that if you stay in Alagna, at the Eastern end of the region, you do it all in reverse! The disadvantage is that there are fewer pisted slopes directly above the village when compared to Champoluc, but you do start the day on some great cruisers and even at half term it was almost deserted.
There is also a ton of off-piste, either next to the main slopes or further afield if you go with a guide. Tony described the home run down to Alagna from Pianalunga as the worst in the area and certainly on the first few days of our trip, icy conditions made it a tough end to the day. After some fresh snow however it was fine. Timid skiers can easily take the gondola down. We also took the opportunity to ski Gressoney's 'home' slopes more this year, a handful of varied reds and a black, which twist and turn through the trees. The two chairs here are long and slow but the lack of other skiers and a couple of great restaurants make this a nice place to spend half the day.
Overall I think the skiing is fantastic, the round trip across all three valleys (about 40km skiing according to SkiTracks app) is a great day out. Clearly there is not enough to make every day unique but overall our whole group couldn't fault it; altitude, excellent grooming and stunning high mountain views add to the experience. Also, given that we still have to ski at half term, I cannot stress enough the advantage of the lack of crowds, especially on weekdays. It is so much more enjoyable to cruise around without the noise and hassle of thousands of other skiers, not to mention the risk of collisions that we have seen and experienced elsewhere. NB I have read that the altitude can make some lifts prone to closure in high winds. In a total of 7 visits, ranging from December to April, we have never experienced a lift closure, so I'm sure it cannot be that prevalent.
Get out
Alagna itself is still more mountain village than ski resort. There are a few hotels and apartment blocks, but overall it retains a charming, rustic appeal with attractive architecture in the traditional Walser wood and stone. It would certainly be too quiet for many, but there are a couple of pleasant restaurants which offer great food and great value. We stayed at a B&B in a village just down the road so needed a car to get to the lift each day, fortunately our non skiing friends acted as taxi driver for the week (cheers Mick and Lyn!) so it was no hassle. At peak times, there was no traffic on the road or at the lift station. We were dropped at the foot of the steps up to the gondola (no queue!) every morning with the local "vecchio Guglielmo" seemingly not worried about the "authorised vehicles only" sign!
Get stuffed
Our other favourite thing about Monterosa is the food and drink! Almost without exception*, we find the quality and value to be exceptional. Punta Jolanda restaurant, at 2300m above Gressoney, has table service in a cozy rustic dining room. A dish like crespella or pasta with venison ragu was around 8 Eur, delicious and freshly made. A 0.5L carafe of really decent house red was 4 Eur and common to most mountain restaurants here, served with proper, spotlessly clean wine glasses. They have a modified snowcat which takes you up here in the evening if staying in Gressoney. Table service is generally the norm, but it's relatively informal, often a case of finding a table then ordering at the bar. If you want heat lamp desiccated burger and chips on a tray, in an overpriced, overcrowded self service cafeteria then this really is not the place for you!
*we found one exception to the rule, La Tana del Lupo. A lovely looking place above Champoluc, with a row of colourful deckchairs on a sunny plateau, but food and drink about 50% more expensive than elsewhere, chaotic service from a nice lad bullied around by the owner and below standard food. Plus dishwasher stained tumblers for the red wine (or was it vinegar?). One to avoid unless you just fancy a beer in the sun.
Get your kit on
2013 has been a new kit year. Boots, skis and headcam. My old boots had finally mutilated my size 12's enough, so I bought a pair of Atomic Live Fit 90, they have compliant rubber sections in the shell on either side at the widest part of the foot which provide some 'give' when you ski without compromising the stiffness of the boot. Brilliant. I have never had such comfortable and effective boots. Mrs JS96 got some too (they are a little smaller than mine). We hire skis and both had Salomon BBR's, basically because the guy in the shop said "why don't you try them?". They look a bit weird, very wide at the tip, more like strapping a couple of surfboards to your feet. So how do they perform? Well I'm no expert ski reviewer but I felt they were very stable and smooth in the turn, especially at higher speed, with no 'chatter' evident. Off-piste there was not very much powder but again the skis were fine and controlled. On icy patches however, we both felt that it was difficult to hold the edge, with the extravagant profile of the ski seeming to reduce grip. I would be interested to hear the views of more accomplished ski reviewers, but personally I don't think the BBR will be as groundbreaking as Salomon would wish. Finally, I spent much of the week with a Contour Roam 2 HD headcam strapped to my (helmet free) head. Light and compact with great picture quality, I prefer using this to the strange looking go pro heroes that a couple of others in our group were using. Once I've finished the time consuming edit, I will post the result on here.
Get outta here
So once again Monterosa delivers what we want from our holiday. Unspoilt mountain environment, friendly and laid back vibe, fantastic food and drink. And great skiing. All for a price that means we can afford a short 4 day ski at the beginning of April too.
Just don't tell anyone else!
