Courmayeur, La Thuile & Pila

Courmayeur

Courmayeur has retained its traditional old mountaineering village core despite the modern sprawling hotel developments which are inevitable given its accessibility and consequent popularity with skiers and boarders from Milan and Turin. The Mont Blanc tunnel is an essential link with Geneva which becomes only a 90 minute drive, there is also access from France via the Grand St Bernard tunnel but it takes much longer . The middle of the village is charming, cobbled and car free with a church and renowned Alpine museum. Otherwise the traditional streets are lined with one or two fashionable shops, specialist delicatessen, bookshop, and dozens upon dozens of bars, cafes, and restaurants. Here is another Italian resort where skiing and boarding often assumes a lower priority to people watching. Especially popular with the Milanese and Turinese, the range of friendly mountain restaurants ranks alongside the best in Europe for choice and quality, and lunch is a serious business here. The bus service around town is not good, but timetabled, and a car is a distinct advantage other than having to park it.

We visited Courmayeur in April 2016 and were delighted to have a private trip on the fantastic Mont Blanc SkyWay, a brand new cable car that ascends the Italian side of Mont Blanc in two stages, with the amazing cabin revolving 360 degrees – this offers the most stunning views. Facilities at each of the two stages include a cafe, wine shop, restaurant and viewing platform. Worth the trip for this alone!

Accomommdation & Après Ski

Apres ski, predictably, is lively from the minute the ski wear gives way to fur and glittering trinketry late afternoon, until the last bars finally empty. Accommodation should be sought near the lift station and close to the centre of town. There are certainly plenty of hotels around and most offer their own shuttle service to the lifts.

Born 2 Ski offer some excellent hotels, available for short breaks or a week and all with their own special character, friendly and helpful staff, and great food – Courmayeur is well worth a visit

La Thuile

La Thuile lies high in western alps on the French-Italian border and is linked with the French area of La Rosiere. The ski area offers great views to Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa and to the Matterhorn. It has an enviable snow record and has predominantly east facing slopes.

The most recent apartment buildings, such as the giant Planibel, imbue the appearance of a modern purpose built French resort, but thankfully the whole village retains an Italian ambience and friendliness. The old village, on the other side of the river, is where there is still evidence of the village’s roots as a traditional mining town for coal and silver. Some of the older buildings are now being renovated and re-built, and new building in this area is sympathetic in style. The Planibel is a massive integrated facility which includes shops, apartments, bars, a hotel and a sports complex with a good, big, swimming pool. It is very much the purpose built, practical complex which it sets out to be.

La Thuile’s slopes and lifts are nearly always quiet and although much of the terrain is very much intermediate stuff, this means that even peak season you can be guaranteed good snow and the opportunity to rack up the miles.   As you can also ski into France on the lift pass, this offers a good variety of skiing and a change of scene.

Accommodation & Après Ski

We at Born 2 Ski, have enjoyed La Thuile both for the skiing and the excellent local restaurants and ambience – for example, the made-to-order pizzas in the various family-run trattorias, are fantastic value and delicious, but there are also very good, more formal restaurants offering wonderful food and service, at much lower prices than you may be used to in France.   Night life is low-key and informal, as in many Italian resorts, with a few good and lively bars for apres beers and snacks, music, and with some showing major sports events.

Pila

Every morning you will find superbly groomed ski slopes and packed powder snow, ideal for ski lovers. Beginners will also appreciate the uniform grooming and the care we take of our pistes (no ice and lumps on the runs). Pila has a large variety of ski runs to satisfy all skiers, from beginners to experts,from the easiest (Baby Pila, Baby Gorraz, Grimod) to the most challenging ones (Leissé and Couis).