SayersJim

My wife and I fell in love with Vallee d'Aosta whilst travelling around Northern Italy and we purchased an appartment in Gressan, Aosta in 2008. We are now frequent weekenders and longer throughout the year and would be pleased to meet up with others for skiing, walking, eating or drinking whilst in Aosta.

lindaf

Hi Jim

It's a lovely area you're at - we've skiied in Aosta at either Courmayeur or Pila for 3 or 4 years, starting with our very first skiing trip ever in 1997. I spent my 27 and 28 birthdays there - much better to be out skiing on your birthday than being at work in an office!

Our skiing group was made up of either good skiiers, employed at the local dry-skiing centre, or newbies including us two - the newbies all looked like ducks waddling across the snow for the first few days

We live in Padova now and so have started skiing in the Dolomites because they are fairly close but we haven't decided where to go this winter so Aosta might be back on the agenda - especially skiing in Pila.

Linda

TestaRossa

We skied in Pila for the first time this year! Would you reccomend it over the Dolomites then? My OH feels like trying somewhere new every year but I would prefer to go back to somewhere and get to know it!

Jim - Gressan rings a bell. I think I looked at renting an apartment there, we ended up near the big supermarket instead down in Aosta which was fab for getting to the lifts etc. even if the view wasn't great!! Lovely apartment too.

SayersJim

Linda
The drive up from Turin into the Vallee is the best with the mountains on both sides and then Mont Blanc straight in front. Pila is very underrated and is great for intermediates but with Courmayeur, La Thuile and Cervinia all within the hour we can spend a day or two at each one.
I haven't skied in the Dolomites but am told it is very good and do have friends who go their every year. We wanted somewhere we could drive in a day or fly from Gatwick and Aosta is perfect.
It means we can fly out for a weekend or drive down for a week or longer and this year we skied New Year, February and end of March and have since spent 2 weeks in June/July with the weather in the mid 30's.

TestaRossa
Gressan is 4km from Aosta on the road up to Pila so we have the option of either driving (around 20 mins) or parking down at Aosta for the lift you describe.


We don't rent out our apartment I am afraid but if either of you decide to go this winter we may be there at the same time and would be pleased to meet up for a ski.

Jim

TestaRossa

Yes, I think the lift is actually listed as being in Gressan rather than Aosta because it is on that side of the road. Does the lift go over your place?? We were there at Easter - we may have passed each other without realising it!

SayersJim

No the lift is definitely in Aosta but it does cross Gressan after it goes over the river Dora. Our apartment is further back in Frazione Moline and the hillside Gargantua is between us and the lift.
We were there 19/23 March so we didn't pass each other and the weather was appaling so skiing was very poor.
Jim

TestaRossa

Ah! We were there from the 29/03 and it had improved dramatically, only snowed one day I think, but the conditions remained good. Some fog in the afternoons but it didn't stop my 5 year olds lesson which was the important thing! If I can convince my OH maybe next year? Keep in touch on here!

Gio

Only problem with the Dolomites is that the conditions for skiing are a bit hit and miss. The scenery is to to die for. You can do a great circular route called the Sella Ronda. We like to stay in the Val di Fassa.
Ern

lindaf

Hi TR

I love Pila and I'm only starting to get to know the Dolomites so I can't say between the 2 of them (apart to say that I'll always like Pila, no matter what other places come along ).

We went skiing in Cortina but I wasn't really taken with it and would prefer to try somewhere else this winter in the Dolomites.

A couple of years ago for 2 years running we went to Bansko in Bulgaria. We enjoyed the skiing there, new lifts and plenty of different level runs. Only dodgy bit were the planes they used to get us there - old Russian ones I think!

TestaRossa

Thanks Lindaf! My OH is all about trying new resorts - I think he hankers after the posh Swiss ones, but a ski resort is a ski resort as far as I am concerned and at his level - just past falling over - I think it's as important for me to like it as him! I liked being in Aosta and being able to go up to the resort, then leave it behind. I don't know anywhere else like this, maybe some of the German ones? I remember driving through Garmisch and that seemed to be a town at the foot of the resort. As a none skier - I went as a kid and hated it - I find the resorts pretty boring unless you are ski-ing, so I need other interests, either that or not go, but I'm not at that point yet!

indiebird

We have been to Pila for walking and it is beautiful. Dh who has embraced skiing enjoys Cervinia but has never been to Pila for skiing. I have tried skiing once, but with a coupla kids I actually find that, as a mum, I cannot really allow myself to 'let go' cos life would not work so well if i ended up with a broken limb. Also, dh enjoys a morning of helping the kids improve their skiing and then likes to go off for the afternoon on his own or with friends/ colleagues and it falls to someone (i.e. me!!) to look after kids on the toboggan run whilst he gets his fun too.... I personally would be happy to not bother going really, but the kids like it and so I go. I am a huge fan of Aosta anyway though as a Cittá and I like to go there for a bit of a wander about. There is a lovely chocolate shop that I always like to visit.....

We are just north of Torino so we tend to go up to the Susa resorts more than the Aosta for skiing. Dh doesn't like Bardoneccia so much, but Mongenevro is the one we go to, especially with the kids, which is a french resort really. Good for walking in the summer too.... which is my preferred activity if I am brutally honest.

TestaRossa

Thanks again! All useful, although I am told that the "research" for this year has already been done! So no clue where we will end up! He has this fantasy about ski-ing at New Year in a chalet with friends as well as us. Unfortunately I would be the only none skier so I'm not so keen as I usually end up doing all the cooking when we go on our own! I would be putting my foot down firmly!!

I fancied going to Pila this summer as they turn the slopes into MB courses and I thought my son would be interested, but he preferred going to the beach, then he got bored of that and didn't want to go back, so next year we are going to the mountains at some point over the summer! It'll be cooler if nothing else! Not that I remember the heat of a week ago at the moment!!!

indiebird

Mongenevro etc. have lifts open in the summer as does Pila so there is no walking up hills involved. There is also one of those Go Ape stylee places at Mongenevro and an outdoor pool, and not that many people which is always good for us. They also do Mountain biking there too which we did, but again, i found riding a bike down a gravelly mountain a bit difficult being totally uncoordinated. Really close to us are the Valli di Lanzo which we love to go for walking. They have started doing skiing at Balme recently there and it is cheap, but not much of a resort, parking is a bit hairy, and the slope is only small so probably not great for most people looking for a holiday. Do you do skiing at xmas, dh is keen to have a fuill weeks skiing rather than just days and putting us all into ski school but I think that at xmas etc this will be really pricey.... any thoughts on this anyone?

TestaRossa

Only the accommodation will be sky high! Pretty much everything else will be the price it will be all season. Like passes etc. Ski school for Antonia at Pila was going to be around €350 for 5 half days - up around €600 for five full days including lunch. Private lessons start around €35/hour for one-to-one. If you share a lesson it goes down. You can block book these and get them at times that suit you. Antonia had 3 lessons in March when we went and achieved her 1st level bronze with the Italian Ski Schools federation, so this is quite a flexible way to go about it! They are pretty good at letting you cancel and move lessons around on the day - as long as it isn't too soon before the lesson - if the weather is bad or you are sick or injured. You wouldn't get that flexibility with the group lessons. I felt Antonia learnt more in her 3 lessons than she would have in a group. She was skied down from the top, top lift at Pila where a big blue run starts on a her 3rd lesson with the teacher in front of her and not holding poles or with the guides on her ski's and then it turned out that part of the blue was closed and she had to do a bit of a red too!! So, I'm impressed with the school there if that helps!! We rented an apartment near the bottom of the lifts - next to the supermarket?? It was really big and new, about €500/wk in March all inclusive and I think about €700-€800 high season. But it was 2 bathroomed, 3 bedroom, sitting room, kitchen and two balconies, one overlooking the mountain.

indiebird

thanks for the info TR. We did book an instructor for a couple of hours for me and two kids but he reckoned that 3 people was too many for him to manage and so it was the kids having an hour and then me having an hour but I really am not sure I am a natural born skier... after that dh took the kids on the blue runs, one and then the other for the mornings we went skiing and they both enjoy it, but don't enjoy waiting around whilst dh goes up with the other one. I do know that a lady here booked up a course at Bardoneccia and took her girls faithfully every saturday morning last year and found this really good.... I suppose we need to start thinking soon if we're going to do it.... we were thinking spending xmas here and going skiing for a week somewhere over xmas/ new year time but i think DH is a bit concerned that, for me, it will be a waste of money as it isn't something I really, really want to do... oh well, I'll tell you what we decide....