J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Gaz C

Another top report. Been so busy 'banging on' about flouro-pink and lime-green braces that I've only just got round to reading this in its entirety -) . It really took me back and made me more determined than ever to return (next year, I hope :-). )

Anyone who follows these threads will know how special I think this place is. The sheer sense of space and wilderness is hard to describe. I think you nailed it when you described the sense of skiing among the peaks rather than under them. The piste map doesn't even begin to do justice to the area.

Your description of the Sarezza piste rang a few bells too. We skied the Champoluc area one day with the Crystal rep and she warned us of the split personality of that particular pitch of the Sarezza. Apparently the wind sometimes scours all the fresh snow off the piste as it is funnelled between the two peaks. The upper part of the piste is unaffected, so it is quite easy charge round that corner with great speed, style and confidence until you find yourself on the ice (or on your ass) on the 'White Wall of Death' as she described it. If it hadn't been affected by the wind then it was one of those corners where, however fast you attacked it you always wanted to do it even faster next time! The other warning she gave us was to 'behave yourselves' on Thursday as that was the day that ski-school would take intermediate groups on there providing the interesting addition of quite a few 'mobile chicanes'.

Interesting to see the area through the eyes of someone based in Champoluc. Being based in Gressoney, our world revolved around Stafal. It was a minor irritation walking from the bottom of the piste across the car-parks to the Champoluc and Alagna gondolas, but that black run down made it worthwhile. Shame you didn't get down to Gressoney at least once. The red run down is terrific and, just like a lot of the others, much longer than it appears on the piste-map. There's also a super little mountain hut at the top of the Punta Jolanda (best bombardinos bar none) where the walls on the route to the toilets are covered in skis and ski paraphenalia through the ages from year dot to the garish colour schemes of the 80's and 90's. The carabinieri, or 'bombardino gestapo' as we called them, chucked us out of there most afternoons at 5:30 but, being Italian, they even managed to do this in a good-natured way :-) ! The old boy there is retired (he looks about 100 years old but he's as fit as a fiddle) and spends the summer carving faces into the stumps of the trees that were felled to accommodate the Punta Jolanda lift. It's just a magical place!

I wonder if you missed a trick by not getting the services of a guide for half a day and checking out the itineraries above the Punta Indren. That still remains the highlight for me, certainly of that holiday and possibly of my entire skiing 'career'! I get the feeling you'll be going back, so plenty of time...

I think you're dead right too, when you predict the tour operators selling this place more and more. Investment in the lift system has been massive and whoever provided the money is going to want to see a return on it. Our mountain guide was telling us of rumours of links to Cervinia, so it may not remain 'Sleepy Hollow' for ever. My advice to anyone thinking of checking this place out is the same as yours. Do it soon: it might not be around in its current form for long.

Some great pictures too :thumbup:

Great review, Lynn. Love the Dolomites. As I keep on saying, 'The rest are 'just' mountains in comparison. Add to that top notch Italian hospitality and food and drink (at great prices) and you can't go wrong. Great skiing in Arabba, Selva and Ortisei but I find the Corvara/Colfosco section a bit too tame (must have missed Gran Risa), so I don't think I'd bother with the Sella Ronda circuit again. As you explained to Tony, the best skiing is actually off the Sella Ronda, which I now view as means to an end to get me where I want to ski. Been twice in March and never found it horrendously busy either :-) .

Alba/Pozza on the other side of the valley is a terrific day's skiing and one that you can do confidently relying on the ski-bus. Some of the other areas require a bit more planning or, better still, a car. I like the look of Alta Badia/Kronplatz to ring the changes next time. We had good snow on both our trips but I was green with envy looking at your pow-piccies! We made a schoolboy error on our powder-day, choosing to go to the Marmolada, where the pisteurs had been unable to cope with the 'shedloads' of snow that had fallen overnight, leaving it looking like a mogulled battlefield with bodies all over the place :lol: . We had done it two years previously in nicely groomed snow and glorious sunshine and it still remains one of my favourite skiing memories; well worth the slightly tedious cable-car ride. In fact it was so good we did it twice -) .

I'm not sure it's the place to be getting the most from your imminent new 'fat-boys'. As you say, the conditions have to be just right and we were told that the nature of the Dolomite terrain means that, while most of the piste skiing is not too demanding, the off-piste is very steep. There aren't many places for improvers to practise. Also agree with Ian Wickham; avoid catered chalets in Italy. Not saying they are all 'carp' but the competition between the hotels and
restaurants is fierce and the standards are so high that it's hard to go wrong. HB or SC is the way to go.

Glad you enjoyed it, but you knew you were going to before you went -) .

Volf wrote:

Here follows a rant:

Got royally peed-off at Ciao Pais in Sauze d'Oulx 2 days ago. When I went to pay the bill, the lady told me that they had to charge for tap water because they had to filter and purify it themselves and weren't, by law, allowed provide tap water in Italy. Pull the other one! That trick was being used La Datcha in Val D'Isere 20 years ago when I worked there. Not only that but she didn't offer me the standard ski guide discount. It's a shame because it's lovely restaurant, probably the best on Sauze / Sestriere slopes, but they won't be seeing my groups there. I managed to get the water knocked off the bill, but when I got home I realised there was a cover charge of €2 per person on the bill !!

That sounds ominous. What, with the recently introduced tourist tax and all. Is this all to do with the parlous state of the Italian economy and 'Johnny Tourist' being asked to foot a bit more of the bill?

Wanderer wrote:A onesy eliminates all these problems :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

..... preferably multi-coloured :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

Mmmmm, A multi-coloured f@rtb@g with flouro-pink braces. Now, there's a look :lol: .

Taxi for Iceman! :lol: Or are you gonna share with Snapzzz? -)

Aah, back on track now. Shall we go for 6 pages and properly p!$$ Icy off? ;-)

Juddernaut wrote:The coffee pricing isn't factoring in the quality. The "coffee" served outside Italy is generally schiessen in a cup.

Usually a pretty good rule of thumb. Only had the one coffee on the mountain. That was in Westendorf and it was surprisingly good. The coffee in our hotel in Scheffau was also excellent. I forget how much it cost as it was all part of the 116€ bar bill, the vast majority of which was Zipfer pils :D .

My kids can't half knock it back! -)

Tony_H wrote:

Gaz C wrote: I'm not going anywhere near those bright blue ones. -)

Correct. Too far ahead of you to be able to :wink:

:)