Champoluc/Monterosa Jan 2013

Don't like to say, 'I told you so' -) . So I won't :thumbup:.

I saw the Telegraph article as well guys - it was very good and in particular highlights the very low cost of everything. Just for example on the mountain we found Cappuccino for one Euro and a litre of red wine for 8 Euro(the wine shared between 4 of us!!). We went with Crystal and flew into Turin, transfer time approx 90 mins.
We are good Intermediate skiers, personally we are not very demanding about having a large extensive area so found plenty to keep us occupied across the 3 linked resorts Champoluc, Gressoney and Alagna. Champlouc and Alagna are 17km apart so not small scale but obviously does not compare in size to say the Three Valleys.

I strongly suggest no one else bothers going :wink: It will be ruined if it becomes popular. It has a rustic quaint feel to it, and there's plenty to go at if you're a confident skier. You can get from champoluc to alagna and back in a day, with a couple of stops on the way, but with little time to spare so although there's not a massive amount of pisted miles, or alternative ways to go up and down, my group are all mileage hungry advanced or top end intermediate skiers who never once felt bored or that we were skiing the same pistes over and over. We are busy all day for, first lift to last with a coffee stop in the morning and a quick lunch.
Off piste here is the key - if you want to play and learn its ideal, or alternatively you can go right off and attack some cracking terrain.

Turin flights, 90 minute transfer, easy drive on motorways and then a climb up 20 odd miles of winding hairpins.

1.5 euros for Americano coffee, 2 to 2.5 for latte, 2.5 euros for 1/4 litre of wine, and between 6 and 10 euros for main courses on the mountain.
Beers were around 5 euros for a large one which isn't bad either.

Lots of new lifts installed so the area will be looking to increase tourism to get their return no doubt, which will be a shame.

Monday to Friday we had slopes to ourselves, but with the sun on Saturday we had to queue at one lift above Frachey for a good 5 minutes - outrageous!!!!!!

If you're thinking of going, do it this or next season as I think it's going to get too busy to enjoy before long.

Ill do a report tomorrow with much more detail.

Sounds really great, Ive just recently come back from Sauze which flew into Turin its easy and motorways are clear! I'm definitely interested in going Champoluc in March i'm looking at accomodation as we speak, any tips on that would be good, we are happy with basic bed and breakfast nothing too fancy and easy !

Told ya it is good. To be fair though Europe has had an epic winter so everywhere pretty good at the moment. Look forward to hearing more.

Blue skies all week, bright sunshine, and a very good base down already,mtogether with constantly low temps of -10c or lower meant good skiing conditions, and enough off piste opportunities to have fun in.

However. It dumped down a couple of feet the night we left.
:evil:

Sounds like you had a fantastic time, nice photos too! We have now been 7 times ranging from Christmas to Easter and always had a brilliant time.

So we're going back at half term! But this time decided to go to "the other end". We will fly to Milan and stay in Alagna. The plan is that it will give us a different perspective and also is closer to some of the best off piste in the area.

We don't use an agent, my wife arranges everything. She has also worked commercially, arranging tailor made ski holidays by dealing direct with hotels and guest houses (she speaks Italian and German as well as her native French) - let me know if you would like to try a more 'bespoke' holiday.

I will put up an Alagna trip report when we're back.

Johnski

johnski96 wrote:Sounds like you had a fantastic time, nice photos too! We have now been 7 times ranging from Christmas to Easter and always had a brilliant time.

So we're going back at half term! But this time decided to go to "the other end". We will fly to Milan and stay in Alagna. The plan is that it will give us a different perspective and also is closer to some of the best off piste in the area.

We don't use an agent, my wife arranges everything. She has also worked commercially, arranging tailor made ski holidays by dealing direct with hotels and guest houses (she speaks Italian and German as well as her native French) - let me know if you would like to try a more 'bespoke' holiday.

I will put up an Alagna trip report when we're back.

Johnski

Have a great trip John

I agree the off piste that end is excellent but we found the run into alagna the worst run in the whole area. I think it needed a fair bit more snow down there.

Look forward to hearing about it.