What kind of trip are looking for?
I’ve been to Pila a few times, staying in Aosta town. Pila is very small but has been a great place for our daughter to learn to ski (why we chose it). We’ve definitely outgrown it now. If you’re staying in Aosta it’s probably worth a day of your time though. Also the restaurant at the top of the gondola has a terrace with a view that includes both Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
I like staying in Aosta. It feels more like a little Italian city break than a ski town. It even has some Roman ruins. Lots of restaurants and a few nice cafe bars to get a late afternoon beer when you get down off the mountain. Don’t think it’s a big party town though (not high priority on a family trip).
Quite a few people use it as a base and drive out to Courmayeur, Cervinia etc. I think they are both about 45mins drive from Aosta (in opposite directions)
I’m keen to try Cervinia - I think it might have the biggest ski area in the valley(?) plus you can ski to Zermatt on the other side. Heard that the town/village is not very exciting.
Courmayeur looks like our top contender for next Feb though.

 

Courmayeur is really nice. Some serious freeriding off the top cablecar. It’s basically the Italian side of Mont Blanc with Chamonix on the French side. Far fewer hardcore freeriders competing for first tracks than in Chamonix. With a guide there are some incredible and not super advanced/dangerous lines from Punta Helbronner. The pistes are decent and above all else the food is amazing in the old stone refuges.
The Chamonix pass gives you days in Courmayeur so I’d guess it goes the other way so you could get a day in Cham for a bus ride through the tunnel.

 

What kind of trip are looking for?
I’ve been to Pila a few times, staying in Aosta town. Pila is very small but has been a great place for our daughter to learn to ski (why we chose it). We’ve definitely outgrown it now. If you’re staying in Aosta it’s probably worth a day of your time though. Also the restaurant at the top of the gondola has a terrace with a view that includes both Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.
I like staying in Aosta. It feels more like a little Italian city break than a ski town. It even has some Roman ruins. Lots of restaurants and a few nice cafe bars to get a late afternoon beer when you get down off the mountain. Don’t think it’s a big party town though (not high priority on a family trip).
Quite a few people use it as a base and drive out to Courmayeur, Cervinia etc. I think they are both about 45mins drive from Aosta (in opposite directions)
I’m keen to try Cervinia - I think it might have the biggest ski area in the valley(?) plus you can ski to Zermatt on the other side. Heard that the town/village is not very exciting.
Courmayeur looks like our top contender for next Feb though.

Thanks! Looking mostly for offpiste/freeriding, but if theres no soft snow.. then maby piste riding.
We got a place near Aosta center, so we can go to restaurants etc. but not looking for nightlife.

Courmayeur is really nice. Some serious freeriding off the top cablecar. It’s basically the Italian side of Mont Blanc with Chamonix on the French side. Far fewer hardcore freeriders competing for first tracks than in Chamonix. With a guide there are some incredible and not super advanced/dangerous lines from Punta Helbronner. The pistes are decent and above all else the food is amazing in the old stone refuges.
The Chamonix pass gives you days in Courmayeur so I’d guess it goes the other way so you could get a day in Cham for a bus ride through the tunnel.

We probably wont be renting a guide, but so we will have to plan our lines pretty thorough. Very low budget trip. We will only have 4 days riding there, so will have to watch for snow conditions etc.

 

Only 4 days and off-piste? Definitely skip Pila then!

 

There is a good freeride area off the Youla lift that goes down to Val Veny with a flat traverse back to the lifts. If I remember correctly you need to show avy gear to be allowed on the 'Arp' lift to the very top as there are no pistes up there. I’ve never been up but I imagine there are good opportunities

 

La Thuile is really nice, I've been there from La Rozière (and so you can get back too). Lot if nice sidecountry options. I've heard good things about Champrocher and Crevacol as nice pow spots but never been there myself.

But yeah, for pure freeride, Hellbroner gondola is gonna be hard to beat…

 

Courmayeur is probably the place I had the most fun on groomers.
They were perfectly groomed and mid week mid january they stayed like that all day. There was very few people and I felt mostly advanced. So people enjoying their carving without destroying the snow.
I could imagine great off-piste but did not try.

Food and wine for lunch were also fantastic!

 

Any tips @BoardieK ?

 

Sorry, nothing much to add. I've only been to one resort there and I'm not much of an off-piste rider anyway
I've just dug out a comprehensive trip report on the UK skiing/boarding forum, hope it's of help and have a great trip.

Live TR: Aosta Valley, Italy, 10-20/3/22, snowHeads ski forum

snowheads.com

ps. I always thought Champoluc and Gressoney were the big freeride villages in Aosta.

 

As above, Courmayeur is a lovely area and well worth a visit especially if you take a guide.

Cervinia? The two best things about Cervinia for me are the food and the access to Zermatt. The village itself is nice enough but the terrain is flat and boring. It's high which can be handy when lower areas are struggling for snow but it also suffers from high winds which can close the link to Zermatt.

 

We got 2 days in La Thuile/La Rosiere and 2 days in Cervinia. Great trip, good snow and lovely turns.

 

Hi there, I am new to this forum so just digging around and I found this thread.
I live in La Thuile for 6 months of the year (fbrexit), so obviously I love the place. I love the groomers in LTH and the off-piste is amazing. The off-piste from the top of Bella Valletta is pretty special. I have also boarded in Pila (nice for a short time) and Courmayeur (not my favourite but the town is lovely). I see @kieloa got to LTH, hopefully you were there over the powder days.
Cannot wait for the coming season in La Thuile!