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#1
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Pila
We're contemplating Pila for next year - anyone been there? Reason for
tentative choice: we are missing Italy (for the food, and the language); but we *really* like ski-in ski-out convenience, which is hard to find in Italy; we'll have to book a long time in advance, so snow-sure-ness is important. Any comments would be welcome, but in particular I'm wondering: - what's it like for a child in ski school? He'll be 5 and this will be his first year in ski school (though he's been on skis with us, and tentatively enjoyed it, this year). - we gather there are crowds at weekends; does that mean it would be a really bad place to be at New Year? We could either go in the week that includes New Year, or in son's school half-term which is around Feb 9th. I have the impression that half-term isn't a big deal in Italy: right, or not? - the two most likely hotels seem to be Chalet des Alpes and Etoile de Neige : any views? - the runs are practically all graded red, and we've read that this covers a variety. Given that at Val Thorens this year I finally reached the stage of being confident I could get down anything red, but still preferred to spend most of the day on blues and didn't actually *enjoy* many of the reds, how am I going to find Pila? I remember Italian "red" being generally much easier than French "red" (skiied some La Thuile reds years before I could do any Val Thorens reds), but it's hard to get a handle on how much. - anywhere else in Italy we should consider? - or is restricting to Italy just silly, and would anyone like to nominate other favourites? We do want a change from France, but considered Oberlech, for example... Thanks for any comments! Perdita |
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#2
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Pila
Perdita Stevens wrote:
We're contemplating Pila for next year - anyone been there? Yes, daughter did a BASI gap-year instructor course there a few years back and we visited while she was there. I would not recommend it: - long slow cable car to get from Aosta town to the Pila slopes, or a drive up there. None of the hotels seem to be near the cable car, so there's a good walk across town first. There may be some hotels up at the top, but if there are there'll be little night life (not that you probably care with a 5 year old). Don't recall any hotel names, so the ones you mention may be up there. - terrain is very limited and gentle, most of the runs would not be rated red in France - I doubt if it would be very snow-sure at New Year - Don't know about weekends being busy - there are a lot of other higher/bigger resorts in the same valley. ALso Italians tend to start late and have long lunches so as long as you are out on first lift and take early/short lunches you can avoid a lot of Qs. However, Interski are very big there, so there's a chance that it will be crammed with Brit. school parties during school hols. OTOH this might mean some decent english-speaking instruction for your 5 yo.. - We prefer Gressoney and La Thuile, but as we live out here and kids are now adults we tend to DIY hols and don't need ski school for nippers so I don't know which tour operators go there. There's also Cervinia (only skied there from Zermatt, necer stayed there) or Courmayeur, but that's not ski in/out. Good luck ! Roger |
#3
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Pila
Thanks for the quick follow-up!
- long slow cable car to get from Aosta town to the Pila slopes [...] That's why I said Pila rather than Aosta, sorry I wasn't clear. We'd definitely stay up at Pila, and yes, both the hotels I mentioned are there. - terrain is very limited and gentle, most of the runs would not be rated red in France That's OK for us; good, in fact. I was more worried about having too little gentleness. (My husband may get a bit bored, but he'll live :-) - I doubt if it would be very snow-sure at New Year That's more of an issue; though it might just tell us we should go in Feb. - Don't know about weekends being busy - there are a lot of other higher/bigger resorts in the same valley. ALso Italians tend to start late and have long lunches so as long as you are out on first lift and take early/short lunches you can avoid a lot of Qs. However, Interski are very big there, so there's a chance that it will be crammed with Brit. school parties during school hols. OTOH this might mean some decent english-speaking instruction for your 5 yo.. Interesting, thanks for the Interski tip - I'll look into that. Should also investigate whether our son's half term is the same week as everyone else's - I think it may be the week before, which might help... - We prefer Gressoney and La Thuile, but as we live out here and kids are now adults we tend to DIY hols and don't need ski school for nippers so I don't know which tour operators go there. There's also Cervinia (only skied there from Zermatt, necer stayed there) or Courmayeur, but that's not ski in/out. We wouldn't go with a tour operator, probably; we prefer to organise ourselves, go by train etc. We've been to La Thuile and enjoyed it, but IIRR the children's slopes are at the bottom of the mountain with everything else up a bottleneck, and no ski-in ski-out (we stayed at the Planibel apartments which seemed to be about the most convenient there was). Gressoney I've thought about but we've not been there; might look into that some more. Thanks again, Perdita |
#4
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Pila
hello ,
i agree with everything that BrritSki said having been to all three mentioned . personally , i would choose Courmayeur . it has a wonderful village which is a short walk from everywhere .there are great shops and nightlife if you should so choose . I have been there three times and always stayed at the" PAVILLON " .they have great food , service , single , private rooms with balconies . the best part is that the gondola loads RIGHT across the street ! you have to love that ! cervinia is also a great spot but unless you stay at the " EUROPA " at which you ski DOWN to the main lift , get ready to walk . everything in cervenia seems to be uphill , mainly because it is . post back if I can be of further assistance . best regards , Dick |
#5
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Pila
Perdita Stevens wrote:
Thanks for the quick follow-up! - long slow cable car to get from Aosta town to the Pila slopes [...] That's why I said Pila rather than Aosta, sorry I wasn't clear. We'd definitely stay up at Pila, and yes, both the hotels I mentioned are there. Good. - terrain is very limited and gentle, most of the runs would not be rated red in France That's OK for us; good, in fact. I was more worried about having too little gentleness. (My husband may get a bit bored, but he'll live :-) Ah, OK ! - I doubt if it would be very snow-sure at New Year That's more of an issue; though it might just tell us we should go in Feb. I may be wrong, I haven't checked, take a look at the SCGB snow records, they may be no worse than anyone else... - Don't know about weekends being busy - there are a lot of other higher/bigger resorts in the same valley. ALso Italians tend to start late and have long lunches so as long as you are out on first lift and take early/short lunches you can avoid a lot of Qs. However, Interski are very big there, so there's a chance that it will be crammed with Brit. school parties during school hols. OTOH this might mean some decent english-speaking instruction for your 5 yo.. Interesting, thanks for the Interski tip - I'll look into that. Should also investigate whether our son's half term is the same week as everyone else's - I think it may be the week before, which might help... - We prefer Gressoney and La Thuile, but as we live out here and kids are now adults we tend to DIY hols and don't need ski school for nippers so I don't know which tour operators go there. There's also Cervinia (only skied there from Zermatt, necer stayed there) or Courmayeur, but that's not ski in/out. We wouldn't go with a tour operator, probably; we prefer to organise ourselves, go by train etc. We've been to La Thuile and enjoyed it, but IIRR the children's slopes are at the bottom of the mountain with everything else up a bottleneck, and no ski-in ski-out (we stayed at the Planibel apartments which seemed to be about the most convenient there was). Gressoney I've thought about but we've not been there; might look into that some more. We've been there twice and enjoyed it both times, but like La Thuile (your memory sounds about right) not exactly ski in/out if you're not good strong skiers. The chair up from the main part of the resort has some nice runs but it can be quite challenging to get over to the other side. Alternatively there's a bus that goes up there (I think). We stayed at the Hotel Lo Sciattolo which we didn't think much of (food), but last year we were at the Dufour which was excellent for rooms, location, bar and most of all food with good choices. Not sure how you'd get up there without a car though... |
#6
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Pila
On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:55:21 +0000, Perdita Stevens
wrote: - we gather there are crowds at weekends; does that mean it would be a really bad place to be at New Year? We could either go in the week that includes New Year, or in son's school half-term which is around Feb 9th. I have the impression that half-term isn't a big deal in Italy: right, or not? Perdita I do not know the resort but I can comment on the date. Weekends are not the problem. The Italiens celebrate Christmas at home then come out to play as New Year approaches. New Year is the busiest day of the year. With Christmas and New Year being Thursday I would expect Christmas week to be very quiet and New Year week very busy. |
#7
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Pila
Thanks, Ian and Dick. Will think some more...
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#8
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Pila
On Mar 20, 4:26*pm, Perdita Stevens wrote:
Thanks, Ian and Dick. Will think some more... Perdita My son is instructing for Interski this week in Courmayeur. Please be aware that they do not do lessons for children under 7 in any of the resorts including Pila. Also half term weeks will be busy with many school trips going on those weeks with the company. It is very difficult to justify a school ski trip as having educational value so they tend to run in the holidays. My son visited Pila yesterday and he was surprised at two things, the first being the lack of green runs and secondly the age of the lifts. But on the plus he says that the food is wonderful. in WTSS Courmayeur gets a good write up for the village ambience. PSC |
#9
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Pila/Courmayeur
"ParalyticSkiCrazie" wrote in message ... On Mar 20, 4:26 pm, Perdita Stevens wrote: Thanks, Ian and Dick. Will think some more... "Perdita My son is instructing for Interski this week in Courmayeur. Please be aware that they do not do lessons for children under 7 in any of the resorts including Pila. Also half term weeks will be busy with many school trips going on those weeks with the company. It is very difficult to justify a school ski trip as having educational value so they tend to run in the holidays. My son visited Pila yesterday and he was surprised at two things, the first being the lack of green runs and secondly the age of the lifts. But on the plus he says that the food is wonderful. in WTSS Courmayeur gets a good write up for the village ambience. PSC" No green-graded pistes in Courmayeur either, but it's not too taxing for most abilities. No complaints either about the steadily improving lift system, the new (lower) gondola being particularly welcome. Snow cover when I popped over for a day visit last Tuesday was noticeably less than it had been a few weeks ago, despite the recent falls on the French side. Nevertheless it looked as lovely as ever, and offered great some truly skiing, the only exceptions being slushy lower sections of the return runs to the top of the new gondola at the end of a sunny afternoon. For me the only real surpise there (apart from the beauty of it all) was finding lifts closing at 4.00 - 4.30pm... RM www.mountainpassions.com - an Online Magazine with Altitude |
#10
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Pila/Courmayeur
On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:42:51 +0100, in ,
"Roger Moss" wrote: My son visited Pila yesterday and he was surprised at two things, the first being the lack of green runs No green-graded pistes in Courmayeur either Isn't this just because their grading system, like that of the Swiss, only uses blues, reds and blacks? So a blue run could generally be considered suitable for beginners. |
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