Sauze lifts - fact or fiction

It's been 15 years since I last went to Sauze Queue, and I do recall an ancient and fairly poor lift system. I've heard conflicting reports recently regarding getting to and from Sestriere - one person says there's still just a 1 man chair, another says check the piste map. I've checked an online piste map and think I can see a route using a 4 chair up to Triplex, down to malafosse, up to Basset, down to a drag and then back up to Fraiteve and there you are.

OR - is there a quicker way.

There's 40 of us going, so lots of planning is deffo the key!

Thanks in advance

I was in Sauze last March, and its very much a mixed bag. The Olympics forced some investment, and there is a decent chair up from Sportina and Clotes, and the Pian della Rocca lift up to the top is new and fast as well.
However, the 2 man chairs from Sportinia up to the top are still the same ones that were there 50 years ago, apart from the fact that instead of both being wooden planks, one of them appears to have borrowed those orange plastic chairs you used to get in church halls and stuck them on! Beware, these are very slow, so I tended to blast down to the bottom of Clotes, back up the new lifts, down to Pian della Rocca again and up the new chair from there. More skiing, more fun.

The link to Sestriere was closed until our 3rd day, because of wind and poor snow. It wasnt good skiing down to Sansicario and across, so we took the most direct and lazy route, ie to the top in Sauze, and then on the ONE MAN CHAIR, yes, its true, one man chair. Its not far, but its really slow and often bitterly cold on that chair. That then leads you to the bubble which takes you down into Sestriere. The total transfer took around 40 minutes from one side on skis to the other. I would recommend doing an early run in Sauze to warm up, and heading over around 10 to Sestriere, to avoid the early traffic, but not leaving it too late to go over, as theres plenty of skiing to do there.

May I also recommend a day bus trip to Montgenevre. Most of the tour companies organise this, your lift pass covers the resort, but you may have to pay an upgrade if on local passes, and the bus takes about 45 minutes now. Monty G has some lovely runs, and the snow is usually better over there, but dont try and ski nthe link across, by the time you get there, it will be closing down!

Enjoy, and dont forget Paddy McGintys in Sauze for your apres ski, as well as the Roca Nere up in Sportinia for food and drink, and the Clotes Bar on the slopes just before the lift.

Be prepared, you may have to take the clotes chair back down if the run into the village isnt open, as it often isnt.

Cool! I've always wanted a ride on a one man chair lift!

Is there one in Mayrhofen? I thought I say one on a Youtube vid that was supposed to have been filmed in Mayrhofen.

No, but there are a couple of 2 man chairlifts in Mayrhofen, one on the Katzenmoose lift over the back of the Penken, and one from the bottom of the Ebbenwald on the Ahorn.

Cosy, but I've done two man chairs. It's the one man chair that's getting me excited :thumbup:

Tony_H wrote:one on the Katzenmoose lift over the back of the Penken,

Is that the Tom and Jerry lift :?: :oops: