Sauze D'Oulx Trip Report 10 - 17 March 2013

I had booked a trip to Sauze D'Oulx for my girlfriend and me back in February to depart on 10 March. This was to be the first time in about 7 years since I have been to Italy and was really looking forward to going somewhere a bit different to the usual France that I visit.
Sunday

After about 2 hours sleep (excitement!), we got to Manchester airport at about 4.30am ready for the flight. As you would expect at that time the airport was empty apart from a group of about 6 people whose baggage was clearly over weight and were distributing the contents of their cases amongst friends. Very humorous to watch. Checkin was easy, offered BOGOF offer on seats with extra legroom on the (2 hour) flight for £10- we turned it down! Off we went for the customary cooked breakfast then jumped on the plane.

Turin airport, well after having read the views on here before going I cant say I was looking forward to it! Belt 3, luggage would arrive. It sure did – after about 1 hour of waiting with them sending 10 bags out, waiting 15 minutes, then another load, etc etc etc. You can imagine how this went down with the Gatwick, Manchester & Glasgow flights that were all standing at belt 3......

All of the airport done, off to Sauze we went. Excellent transfer, taking just 1hr 20 mins through some fantastic scenery.

We were staying at the Relais des Alpes hotel. It was a really good hotel, in a perfect location in the town and right opposite the ski bus stop.
As usual, we were organised picked up ski hire gear that day and off to the pub we went.

Monday
BLUE SKY! My girlfriend had ski lessons booked for Mon – Wed so she was starting at 11am. I decided to take advantage of the free ski hosting offered by Crystal (lucky Italy still benefits from it). The hosting was brilliant, spent the day cruising the runs – lovely wider fast reds. The grading is certainly different in Italy to that in France. Red & Blue tend to mix up a bit strange however I think the blacks do deserve to be blacks.
Feedback from my girlfriend was that the ski school was excellent.

Tuesday
BLUE SKY!! Again, OH was off to lessons at 10am for 3 hours so I went on the ski guiding again, we went to Sansicario (spelling?). Some great runs, including the 2006 Olympics Womens downhill run. Pretty impressive, cant say I did it at 90mph like they did!

Wednesday
BLUE SKY!! Again OH went to ski school. She said it was great, the instructor was brilliant. I skied with her in the afternoon and she was improving every day.
That evening we took a break from the hotel food and went out for a meal at El Farco Restaurant. Food was fantastic! The restaurant is owned by Vince, a guy who has been there since 1979. Certainly one to recommend.

Thursday
BLUE SKY!! OH lessons were due to end on Wed, however because she was enjoying this skiing malarkey so much (she is an ex boarder) she arranged for lessons on Thur & Fri too. Happy days for me as it meant I could ski on my own in the morning. I decided to head over to Sestriere in the morning. Did the men's downhill run. Harder than the women's run, again I did not do at 90mph! Personally, I did not rate Sestriere. I don't think the skiing was as good as Sauze and also the village is no where near as nice as Sauze – the same goes for Sansicario.

Friday
I SAW A CLOUD!!!! (just 1 at midday). More skiing across the whole of the Milky Way, a fantastic bluebird day!

Saturday
BLUE SKY!! My OH and I skied together on the last day, she had a bit of a wobble in the morning and lost her confidence. We went for lunch and for the first time in the whole holiday finished at 3pm as we were both knackered!

To celebrate our last night, we went out for another meal at a restaurant called L'Ortiche. Run by an English lady called Gill. Again fantastic food in a lively atmosphere – meal felt a bit rushed though.

Sunday
SNOWING!!!! But also time for me to return home :(
Turin airport – I was dreading it based on the arrival experience. Departures are a different class. Checkout is smooth, departure lounge is high quality with some great shops for the OH to buy some limoncello! Flight was delayed by about 25 minutes as all of the planes were being de-iced. We managed to make up time and land in Manchester about 10 minutes late at midday.

It was a totally excellent holiday with fantastic weather. My girlfriend loves skiing. The hotel we stayed in was brilliant too, the staff really friendly

Skiing conditions were great. The ski area is good. If you are a beginner there is not that much variety, and maybe those of you that like really hard blacks may not find it perfect. I did not venture over to La Clavier or Montgenevre.

Prices:
Guinness - €6
Magners - €6
Large coke- €4
Pizza x 2 & chips (lunch) - €20
Evening meal for 2 with wine and 3 courses €95

I will post some pictures once I have had chance to re-size them. :)

Iceman, many thanks for posting this. Off to Sauze d'Oulx on Sunday. We mainly ski in Italy but it will be first time in Milky Way area, so really looking forward to it, especially after reading about your experience.Just hope for better luck with luggage...
Once again, many thanks for this report.

Hi icy this makes great reading glad you had great week and with blue skies too, as you say been snowing for 2 days so should be good for a top up for us Wednesday, we are due to arrive onwednesday lunchtime so will be out on the slopes in afternoon, can't wait now !

NIIIXSY wrote:Hi icy this makes great reading glad you had great week and with blue skies too, as you say been snowing for 2 days so should be good for a top up for us Wednesday, we are due to arrive onwednesday lunchtime so will be out on the slopes in afternoon, can't wait now !

Have a good flight and great skiing!

Thanks

Day 2 skiing amazing conditions they had over a foot of snow so now all pisted and sunny skies, done some vid filming on GoPro today all around San sicario going over to sestriere tomorrow but for now in bar celebrating a great ski day whoop !

Great to hear you're having good times. So jealous, wish I'd be there already...away from British cold/wind/snow. Fortunately not long now :)

Sounds great. Look forward to the gopro footage