Latest posts for the topic "Cervinia and Courmayer"

Cervinia and Courmayer

Tony_H — GMT

A couple of Italian resorts I am considering for next season, mainly because they are high and have god ski areas connected. Anyone got any comments on either resort, positive or negative? Much appreciated.

Re:Cervinia and Courmayer

Wanderer — GMT

Hi Tony Went to Courmayer a number of years ago on only my second ski trip. It is a beautiful village - very chic in a classic Italian way, with great Italian food, etc available (and more fur than I have ever seen in my life - lots of wealthy Italians from Milan)!!! However, in my view, there are two major downsides: 1. the skiing is not extensive - my memory was that there were only about 21 runs in total (the Crystal rep used to run a "Ski the entire resort in one day" guiding tour). So, unless they have expanded in the meantime, be prepared to repeat the runs regularly. 2. the village is on the other side of the mountain from the skiing - you have a take a cable car across the valley in the morning to get across to the base of the mountain. The queues for this can be quite long, particularly at weekends. Hope that is some use.

Re:Cervinia and Courmayer

Admin — GMT

Had good times in both but would pick Courmayeur of the two. Cervinia Generally excellent snow cover (because of the altitude) but can suffer from the wind (altitude!). A good skier might be looking for more excitement after a couple of days as the ski area is not the most varied - but it's very good for intermediates looking for mileage. Possible to ski over to Zermatt which will keep the experts happy, but the link can be closed if windy. Scenery is spectacular (Matterhorn et al). Village itself lacks the character of other Italian resorts but is reasonably lively. Courmayeur Not a huge ski area but well-connected with a good variety of runs; fun Blues, challenging Reds and a serious Black or two. Some easy freeride between the pistes up top and some good steeps if you go looking. Possibility to do the Italian side descent of Mont Blanc - not done that myself but on my list of must-do runs for the future. Scenery spectacular (Mont Blanc)! Attractive village centre with good restos and a chilled-out apres (recall several bars full of lazy sofas and open fires). Bars and ski shops tend to be on the pricy side for Italy but if you have a car you can get out of town (or to Aosta city) for better value. Very popular at weekends with day-trippers but 99% of them "ski to lunch"; pistes very busy between 11:00 and 12:00 on Sunday and virtually deserted from 12:00 until 15:00 - fantastic time to ski! 8) Verdict You'll have a great time in either - if you're doing it DIY your best bet could be a few days in each.

Re:Cervinia and Courmayer

skidaddle — GMT

I've been to Courmayeur and the Old Man has been to both. C ya later for a chat!

Re:Cervinia and Courmayer

Tony_H — GMT

According to info, Courmayeur has 100km of marked piste, and Cervinia 130km and 350km if you include Zermatt. I have been to Mayrhofen which has 157km locally, and its taken me 4 visits to ski the lot. Hmmmmm.......

Re:Cervinia and Courmayer

swskier — GMT

Visited courmayeur in 2006 with my family plus two others. We booked very last minute with inghams as we had already been to tremblant over christmas so therefore was in a very cheap hotel B&B so visited many bars restaurants etc and there was plenty about! We went during feb half term so obv more cues as in every other resort in europe. Unfortunatly i was really ill when we visited so i didnt ski as much as hoped, so i ended up with the family every day who are advanced beginners so mainly skied one big blue run all holiday which was nice and had a nice little restuarant half way down. Snow wasn't great when we first skied on the sunday however on the monday it started snowing and the following saturday it was still coming down! I quite liked the big cable car up to the runs etc as it meant that there was no lugging equipment around and i went up to the slopes in trainers everyday so was easy to walk. The main criticism i had was that from the base of the skiing area you could only get up the mountain by two 2 man chairlifts which caused big cues but the lift pass was the electric type thingy so no faffing about with gettin pass out etc just swiped the machine through clothing. I would like to visit again actually as i feel i didn't really get to explore properly and as has been said the scenery is beautiful! There are also advantages of shortish bus transfers to la thuile and chamonix if you do get bored. Chris

Re:Cervinia and Courmayer

ellistine — GMT

Tony_H wrote:

According to info, Courmayeur has 100km of marked piste, and Cervinia 130km and 350km if you include Zermatt. I have been to Mayrhofen which has 157km locally, and its taken me 4 visits to ski the lot. Hmmmmm.......

but we did do the whole piste map in the last three days!

Re:Cervinia and Courmayer

Tony_H — GMT

ellistine wrote:

Tony_H wrote:

According to info, Courmayeur has 100km of marked piste, and Cervinia 130km and 350km if you include Zermatt. I have been to Mayrhofen which has 157km locally, and its taken me 4 visits to ski the lot. Hmmmmm.......
but we did do the whole piste map in the last three days!

It did kind of feel like that, didnt it? Funny thing is, I heard you and Rob both say you have never ski'd so much on a holiday before, but I am always up there early on, and ski as max as possible through the day. I dont like doing it the way the Europeans do, get up at 9, ski for an hour, get pissed in a bar all day and then ski off the last run at 4.30 straight into another bar, it kind of defeats the object of a ski holiday for me. Plus, these are the few times when I actually do some serious exercise!

Re:Cervinia and Courmayer

ellistine — GMT

Tony_H wrote:

Funny thing is, I heard you and Rob both say you have never ski'd so much on a holiday before

Which is true but even though in the past we would also be skiing the first lift up and the last lift down, we would just find a nice run and ski it to death before plucking up the courage to go and find another nice run. This holiday seemed more about ticking off all the runs on the map. I think what I'm trying to say is that as you progress in skiing the bigger the ski area you'll be wanting to ski. Having said that, I'm quite happy spending hour upon hour on a 110m dryslope!

Re:Cervinia and Courmayer

Scrunch — GMT

I'm a big fan of Courmayeur. The scenery is stunning. The village is rustic, beautiful and car-free. The moutain restaurants serve up great food (I know you said you like to ski hard all day, but if you go to Courmayeur you must take time out at least one day to have a decent lunch. Try La Grolla - good food, great views of glacier and Monte Bianco). The ski area is quite compact and there aren't many very challenging pistes. But there's enough to still keep advanced skiers happy for at least a few days even if the snow isn't great. If the snow is good they'll be smiling all week as the off-piste can be fabuluous. It's very different from the big French resorts and won't necesarily suit those who refuse to ski the same run twice in a week. First time skiers may not like the limited nursery slopes. From Courmayeur you can very easily ski at La Thuile (15 km away - free bus). Cervinia is 90 mins drive, but you do get a great day out in Zermatt. You can also ski the Vallee Blanche from the Italian side taking the cable car from just up the road over the Punta Helbronner. And if you take a guide, the off piste from the Cresta D'Arp is supposed to be amazing - not done it yet in four visits, but hopefully will do when I visit again later this week!