J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by TonyJohnson

Hi there,
We went to Cervinia last April and it was brilliant.
Snow was excellent - much better than Zermatt which was pretty green!

Ski school usually meets at the top of the gondola (Plan Maison), although on the first day, it meets at the bottom Cretaz chair lifts. Getting to/from the gondola is a bit of a pain,as there are loads of steps, which are not easy in ski boots.
My advice is, unless you are beginners, get the chair lift up (2 lifts), then ski down to the top of the gondola. This is pretty easy going except for a short steep part at the top of the second chairlift.
For info, we stayed at the Excelsior Planet, which was excellent and a 2 minute walk to the chair lifts.
Another issue about staying near the gondola is that, from memory, the only route down to there is via a tricky red, which could get icy and slushy if snow conditions not too good. Blues go all the way down to the bottom of the chairlifts.

Anyway, whatever you choose, you will have a great time. Going over to Zermatt is brilliant, and getting the gondola up to Klein Matterhorn (almost 4000 metres) and skiing down from there is fantastic !

ALSO - for Mel C - Cervinia is great for "timid" intermediates. Pistes are very wide, and some reds are just slightly harder blues ! Very easy just to traverse across and pick your moment to turn (I do it ALL the time !!).

ALSO - unless the gondola up to Klein Matterhorn is out of action (high winds), you won;t need to use any draglifts, at least not in Cervinia.

Have fun !

Tony

We are planning to do skiing at Easter, when the snow might be starting to get a bit slushy etc. I have heard that one of the best ways to combat this is to make sure your skis are well waxed. We are hiring skis out there - but I have heard of some wax that you can apply daily, a bit like applying shoe polish (with a sponge applicator etc.)
Does anyone know about this? If so, we could buy some in the UK and take it with us. I know that the hire shops might bwell wax them for us, but not each day ....

Any thoughts welcome !!

Thanks

Hi,

Agree with all the other comments about La Thuile. We were there over New Year and it was brilliant. My wife is a perpetual beginner and loved it. Easy, very wide blue runs at the top of the mountain, and yes, even my wife's ski school group went over to the French side during the week!
Yes, it's black 3 which is the very steep one, but only at the top. You can enter black 3 a bit lower down (just below the top gondola station) and it's fine from there.

I'd certainly book lessons etc. from the UK. It worked fine for us, and actually was cheaper when you look at the pound:euro rate (but that might have changed now).

Hope you have a great time - wish I was going back !

Tony

Hi Ian,
Flown into Basel dozens of times but never hired a car. Desks are in the arrivals hall though and hire cars seem to be lined up just outside on the right, so I suspect you just call at the desk and go straight to your car. Basel airport is quite small anyway so nothing is far away!
Make sure you go through the Swiss passport control rather than the French - it can be a pain if you go through the wrong one.

I'd recommend La Thuile.
My wife is a beginner (and has been for 6 years) and this was the resort she liked best. We were there over New Year.
There are no easy runs down to the resort, but you can get the gondola up to the "mid station", and from there, there are several chairlifts which take you to the top of very wide blue/green runs. Then you can cruise here all day long. You will have to get the gondola down though. One advantage is that the runs are at over 2000 metres, so they aren't icy etc.
The top of the gondola is a good meeting point (restaurants etc.) if you have a mixed group.
We stayed at the Planibel, which is right at the bottom of the gondola, so we literally walked out of the hotel and onto the lifts. There are chairlifts up from the bottom as well which will eventually take you to the mid station.

Good luck ! Seems as though you have several choices !!

Agree with RossF. Had a week in La Thuile over New Year. Excellent for beginners - wide, gentle slopes and mainly chairlifts and a gondola - not many drags. My wife is a beginner and even she managed to get over to France one day. Would thoroughly recommend it. Enough to do for Intermediates as well.
Town quite small. Most accommodation is self catering and restaurants sometimes get quite full - need to book. We stayed half board at the Planibel hotel - pretty good there.

Does anyone have a link to a decent piste map for Passo Tonale?

I can't find one anywhere, including the official resort web site.

Thanks a lot !

Tony

We are thinking of going to Cervinia over Easter. If anyone has been there, please could you let me know about your experiences.
What I'd really like to know is -

a) is it right that there are new chair lifts up the mountain? Does this mean that you don't have to use the gondola? I've heard stories that there are over 160 steps upto the gondola station - and steps in ski boots are a real pain !!

b) what's it like for beginners? We are a mixed ability group, but I want to be sure there are some wide blues for my wife who is a beginner (still !!)

c) What facilities are there in the village - shops, cafes etc.

d) What are the runs back to the village like? Are they blue? red?

e) Hotels we are potentially looking at are the Excelsior Planet and the Europa. Any info on these would be appreciated.


... and any other useful info , please !!


Thanks a lot !! ... and if anyone wants any info on La Thuile, just let me know !!

Cheers

Tony