Courmayeur Tips?

I'd love to hear from anyone that has been to Courmayeur!!

I've only been on one skiing holiday before (with my parents when I was very
young) so would welcome 'newbie' tips! So far, I've managed to persuade some
friends to go skiing this year - we've booked a holiday in Courmayeur (staying
at the hotel Astoria).

If you have stayed at the Astoria, I'd love to hear what it's like! I'm
slightly worried about "Jimmy's Bar"!!

Courmayeur sounds too good to be true. I'm really looking forward to the apres
ski! Any recommendations?? We're all students so anywhere cheap would be great!

I've tried to research ski hire online. Should we book in advance? I believe
that there is a company called 'Ski In' that offers to keep your equipment
overnight. It would be great to hear from anyone with advice regarding ski
hire!! We're all intermediate standard - should we pay extra for "premium"
equipment??

I'm also curious about the runs. I can't remember much about my last skiing
holiday (was really young at the time) but I'm hoping for much better skiing
than can be found in the UK [I live in Scotland]. What are the slopes in
Courmayeur like? I've read that they're good for intermediates but various
websites recommend backcountry - is that sensible ...do we need a guide??

As you can probably tell, I really am a complete novice when it comes to skiing
holidays. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance!
Niall -

"NIALLBRUCE" wrote in message
...
I'd love to hear from anyone that has been to Courmayeur!!

I've only been on one skiing holiday before (with my parents when I was
very
young) so would welcome 'newbie' tips! So far, I've managed to persuade
some
friends to go skiing this year - we've booked a holiday in Courmayeur
(staying
at the hotel Astoria).

If you have stayed at the Astoria, I'd love to hear what it's like! I'm
slightly worried about "Jimmy's Bar"!!

Courmayeur sounds too good to be true. I'm really looking forward to the
apres
ski! Any recommendations?? We're all students so anywhere cheap would be
great!

I've tried to research ski hire online. Should we book in advance? I
believe
that there is a company called 'Ski In' that offers to keep your equipment
overnight. It would be great to hear from anyone with advice regarding ski
hire!! We're all intermediate standard - should we pay extra for "premium"
equipment??

I'm also curious about the runs. I can't remember much about my last
skiing
holiday (was really young at the time) but I'm hoping for much better
skiing
than can be found in the UK [I live in Scotland]. What are the slopes in
Courmayeur like? I've read that they're good for intermediates but various
websites recommend backcountry - is that sensible ...do we need a guide??

As you can probably tell, I really am a complete novice when it comes to
skiing
holidays. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance!
Niall -

Hi Niall

You don't say when you are going and this could have a big impact on your
experience and on the answers to your questions. The Astoria seems to be a
3* hotel in La Palud which is separate from Courmayeur itself; a bit up the
valley toward the Monte Bianco tunnel entrance. I've not stayed in La Palud
myself (but I've been to Courmayeur several times) but I think it's smaller
and less busy than C.

The basic stuff about C start with the fact that its in the Italian Alps. It
is quite small as a ski area with the majority of the runs being
intermediate. There are few beginners' and expert runs but there's a lot of
off-piste for the experts. IMHO, you need to be a pretty competent skier to
think about off-piste. A possible exception to this is the Vallee Blanche
which is a long cross-country ski excursion from C, up Mont Blanc and down
into Chamonix. Even for this, you need intermediate skiing skills. I'm
impressed, BTW, that you seem to have got to intermediate standard on the
basis of one week's skiing (or have I misunderstood you?)!

As its on the southern side of the Alps it is often pretty sunny (in a total
of about 20 days skiing there I think only had 3 days not unbroken
sunshine). That is generally a good thing - for your tan, for eating
outdoors on the mountain and for the views. The area is very pretty to look
at. However, this can mean a short season of skiable snow (though they have
a lot of snowmaking equipment)

The ski area is on the opposite side of the valley from the town so the
former is reached from the latter via a biggish cable car. This can get very
busy around 09:00 and again at 16:00. However, being Italy, most Italians
disappear into the mountain restaurants at lunchtime and only emerge to go
back down again. Even during school holidays, the place never gets really
busy (as, for instance, Val d'Isere does). C is about 2 hours by car from
Milan which means that a big chunk of the real estate is owned by the
Milanese who generally come up for weekends. Consequences are that C is much
busier at weekends, but there are lots of good restaurants, the shops are
full of designer wear and the whole place is pretty expensive. I'm afraid
you'll have to look to others to give you advice on how to do C on a strict
budget.

The cable car mentioned above deposits you on a plateau called Plan
Chercrouit with a bunch of cafes, restaurants and bars plus ski hire shops
and the ski school. the ski hire places have lockers for boots and skis so
you can leave your stuff there more or less permanently Two chair lifts and
a bubble take you up on to the slopes proper from here. However, you will be
getting on to the slopes via La Palud from which there is, I think, just the
one lift. I've never used it but, looking at a map, it is likely to be a
quicker way up the hill than going into C and up the main cable car. I don't
think will find a hire shop in La Palud so you will have a tricky choice to
make.

Check the website at http://www.regione.vda.it/turismo/vallee_hiver_e.asp
for more info. The site is mostly in Italian as, of course, is C itself
though French is also widely spoken.

I think it's a lovely place and many people go back again and again. It's
also quite pricely and a bit 'refined' with most of the 'night life' to be
found in restaurants and bars. Hope you enjoy it.

Paul

Thanks Paul!
We're going in the 1st week of January (due to exams and classes at uni, we
didn't have much choice!)

I've looked at www.skiclub.co.uk (it provides historical snow data) and found
Courmayeur. Apparently, there should be 40cm on the lower slopes when we go!

The hotel Astoria offers a shuttle bus into Courmayeur. I'm hoping that it will
drop us at the lifts!

Thanks for your help - it's very useful!!

Niall

"One more one" wrote in message
.. .

The cable car mentioned above deposits you on a plateau called Plan
Chercrouit with a bunch of cafes, restaurants and bars plus ski hire shops
and the ski school. the ski hire places have lockers for boots and skis
so
you can leave your stuff there more or less permanently Two chair lifts
and
a bubble take you up on to the slopes proper from here. However, you will
be
getting on to the slopes via La Palud from which there is, I think, just
the
one lift. I've never used it but, looking at a map, it is likely to be a
quicker way up the hill than going into C and up the main cable car. I
don't
think will find a hire shop in La Palud so you will have a tricky choice
to
make.

I think Paul is talking about the Val Veny cablecar which takes you to the
same ski area as the big cablecar from the centre - it arrives on the north
facing (Val Veny) side of the area, which has the best snow but with
slightly more difficult pistes. There is a hire shop at the bottom of the
cablecar and another tiny one at the top - though I don't remember any
lockers.

This might be a better choice to get you on the mountain, as it is less busy
than the big cablecar and is a lot closer to La Palud (actually it can be
walked, though it's not that pleasant as part of t he walk is on the main
Mont Blanc tunnel highway - and probably not much fun in ski boots...).


--

NIALLBRUCE wrote:
Thanks Paul!
We're going in the 1st week of January (due to exams and classes at uni, we
didn't have much choice!)

I've looked at www.skiclub.co.uk (it provides historical snow data) and found
Courmayeur. Apparently, there should be 40cm on the lower slopes when we go!

Courmayeur also has huge numbers of snow canons, so snow cover is very
unlikely to be a problem in January. Man made snow isn't so nice to ski
on as fresh stuff, but it's better than rocks.

Hi

I stayed at the astoria a few years back, good hotel and food was excellent.
It is out of the centre and not near the cable car but they run a free
minibus service to and from, just make sure you remember everything in the
morning, once your out on the slopes then getting back to pickup something
you forgot is a real pain. The cable car station across the road will take
you upto the top of punta hellbronner (3 cable cars) It is an excellent ride
up and the view is amazing, well worth it. From the top there you can ski
the valle blanch into chamonix but you would need a guide, might not be the
kind of thing you want to do as its only your second trip.

Best bit is to get yourself into the bars after skiing, they usually bring
out a selection of nibbles that are excellent.

Paul

"NIALLBRUCE" wrote in message
...
I'd love to hear from anyone that has been to Courmayeur!!

I've only been on one skiing holiday before (with my parents when I was
very
young) so would welcome 'newbie' tips! So far, I've managed to persuade
some
friends to go skiing this year - we've booked a holiday in Courmayeur
(staying
at the hotel Astoria).

If you have stayed at the Astoria, I'd love to hear what it's like! I'm
slightly worried about "Jimmy's Bar"!!

Courmayeur sounds too good to be true. I'm really looking forward to the
apres
ski! Any recommendations?? We're all students so anywhere cheap would be
great!

I've tried to research ski hire online. Should we book in advance? I
believe
that there is a company called 'Ski In' that offers to keep your equipment
overnight. It would be great to hear from anyone with advice regarding ski
hire!! We're all intermediate standard - should we pay extra for "premium"
equipment??

I'm also curious about the runs. I can't remember much about my last
skiing
holiday (was really young at the time) but I'm hoping for much better
skiing
than can be found in the UK [I live in Scotland]. What are the slopes in
Courmayeur like? I've read that they're good for intermediates but various
websites recommend backcountry - is that sensible ...do we need a guide??

As you can probably tell, I really am a complete novice when it comes to
skiing
holidays. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance!
Niall -

unlucky if you are going to Courmayeur.

went there 16th january 2005.

Unfortunately I don't really remember the holiday that much - as I found the resort to be absolute dog****e!

Had much better and cheaper holidaysthroughout all of europe.

I mean 5 Euros for a pint in an empty pub!
only 100kms of piste (with a price tag of £136)
very boring resort
long walk to gondala - no ski buses to be seen
blah, blah, blah, winge

no doubt many readers will diagree and say they have been there and enjoyed it many times - it is possible there may be a few eccentric millionaires out there

ps, the mountain restaurants are quite nice

In article , snibsy.1kzr42
@news.skibanter.com says...
=20
unlucky if you are going to Courmayeur.

Doubt it.


I mean 5 Euros for a pint in an empty pub!

So? That's =A33. Try getting a bottle of Bud for that at Chepstow races.


only 100kms of piste (with a price tag of =A3136)

You knew that before you went.


very boring resort

Not at all. Great little bars and creperies. Besides, it's not a=20
resort. It's a town where people live and work all year round. If you=20
want a resort, try Center Parcs.


long walk to gondala -

That could be said of any resort. Get a hotel closer to the lifts next=20
time.


no ski buses to be seen

So the blue (all over the place) and orange buses (again, all over the=20
place) didn't stand out?

Seems to me that you should have done better research before you booked.


--=20
Hywel http://kibo.org.uk/
I do not eat quiche.