Sorry to hear about the weather. I think you should consider also other regions for skiing, especially South-Tyrol/Trentino has often way better weather, compared to Aosta region, and offer also great slopes, which are good for beginner / intermediate skiers. Especially if you go by commercial aircraft, it’s not a big issue to get to the Dolomites from Venice, Bergamo or so. And if you land in Milano, it’s not a big difference if you either travel to Cervinia, or South Tyrol. And if you want to go by GA: LIPB and LIDT are available.
Everything has pros and cons and every skier has his/her favourite spots
On this occassion we had just 3 whole days and got 2 skiable ones and one “powder day”.
I’ve done Cervinia maybe 6 times and the wx was never bad the whole time. One might get the odd day… Yes there is e.g. Madonna (done that one a few times; very pretty) but Bolzano was winter restrictions (for the bizjet clients) while Trento has no C+I (and is further away). These are relevant for a fly-in; every issue chops down the group that will actually turn up. Aosta is one of the best airports anywhere.
Unfortunately, once we start looking at different locations, the whole thing will fall apart. And experience shows that if we did a poll for the location, most of the voters will be people who won’t come anyway (this is a central issue in market research in general)
One has to pick good wx no matter where one goes. I recall a week in Madonna where it was ~20m vis the whole time, with rain at the lower levels. Plenty of really p1ssed off people, especially families which spent a few k.
The main problem I see is that the mountain wx forecasts are basically garbage. The best one can do is go for a general high pressure. When I was buying the ski pass, the woman there said tomorrow will be very strong winds and warned there will be no refunds. It turned out to be total BS: no wind and partly blue skies. Some wind did come the following day though but mostly at night.
For me fly to ski is about flying as close as possible to slopes e.g. within range of €100 taxi. Anything else doesn’t make so much sense for me.
I can’t add much to this discussion but I second @Frans about the skiing areas in South Tyrol – you will usually have better weather than in other places in the Alps. Also, I am absolutely not biased even if I am living here
I am lucky enough that I can literally walk to some of the most renowned slopes, in my case the “Saslong” where in these days several FIS men’s races are being fought out right in front of my office window :)
Emir wrote:
For me fly to ski is about flying as close as possible to slopes e.g. within range of €100 taxi. Anything else doesn’t make so much sense for me.
I probably keep repeating myself but Samedan and Courchevel take a little effort but once you have done it they are hard to beat. Samedan did relax the regulations allowing you to land first before tanking the little local flight with an instructor so the hurdle came down quite a bit.
Allegedly Courchevel is changing the 6 month requirement for keeping the rating valid. AIUI 9 months will be the new duration, which will help a bit for those further away.
I have skied in Courchevel (plus a number of the big-name places like Zermatt) and would not go back there. Short of spending big money (a few k per week) on accommodation close to some ski lift, you are on buses and by the time you reach the snow, you have lost an hour and it already has 10,000 people on it. For hanging out and shopping, yes, but few GA pilots are going to be doing much of that.
Peter wrote:
These are relevant for a fly-in; every issue chops down the group that will actually turn up. Aosta is one of the best airports anywhere.Not talking about the EuroGA fly-in here, for which I do support Aosta to be one of the most decent options. I’m talking about traveling alone and still going to Cervinia. Don’t get me wrong: I love Zermatt (and less Cervinia, but still love the entire ski resort), but it’s by far not the only good ski area in the Alps. Especially South-Tyrol/Trentino offers A LOT of amazing ski slopes. In case you’re curious which ski areas I’ve visited, from which I make up my opinion, I’ve made a map here.
For me fly to ski is about flying as close as possible to slopes e.g. within range of €100 taxi. Anything else doesn’t make so much sense for me.That counts for LIPB and LIDT as well, from where you can enter the Dolomiti Superski, with an enormous variation of slopes! Even closer than Aosta-Cervinia.
I probably keep repeating myself but Samedan and Courchevel take a little effort but once you have done it they are hard to beat.True, but besides the mandatory familiarization requirements, these places are also incredibly expensive. Courchevel costs in winter 95 euros landing fee, and hotels + restaurants are also on the high side for France and L3V. Still cheaper than Samedan of course, where you’re almost broke, when paying parking, taxi, ski pass, hotel and restaurant fees in high-season. I’ve visited Samedan last winter during the weekend, where I felt alone with my SEP between those innumerable amount of private jets, but didn’t think of skiing with all those additional costs.
That counts for LIPB and LIDT as well, from where you can enter the Dolomiti Superski, with an enormous variation of slopes! Even closer than Aosta-Cervinia.
If I just want to ski than for me this area is driving distance from home with much less hassle of getting transport from/to the airport.
I’ve just come back from Cervinia.
It is roughly 6th time for me in 4 years but it may be the last time because the accommodation situation is appalling now, with tour operators buying up most hotel rooms and the remaining rooms being extremely pricey, and many of really poor quality. I won’t post how much I paid (2 persons) for a sh1thole for “6 people” (actually ok for 2 only) and in an awful condition.
It has been heavy snow which killed most skiing (50cm of powder is a bit of a problem for piste skiing) and when this stopped, everybody piled in. The property owners exploited this to the full…
The skiing is still great as ever and the slopes are never crowded, in the way the French resorts are (probably because so many drive there easily, for the day)
This may be a sign of things to come. High altitude resorts, and tour operators will own the business.