Cogne, Italy

I'm going to be in Milan at the end of March on business. From a bit
of resarch that I have done on the web, it seems that, around Milan,
Cogne is the best bet for nordic skiing. I was thinkin of going there
for a day of skiing at the end of my business trip.

Anyone know whether there's much chance of decent nordic skiing snow
there at then end of March. Would it make sense to go there just for a
day of skiing, from Milan? And any other pertinent info.

Thanks,

Parham.

When I checked the snow reports a couple of days ago, Cogne was a little
light on coverage -- seems like northwestern Italy / Val d'Aosta generally
hadn't gotten a lot of snow yet. The last 3-month forecast wasn't real
favorable for that area either.
. [On the other hand northern northeastern Italy, especially Hoch Pustertal
/ Alta Pusteria in the Suedtirol region next to the Austrian border is doing
pretty well, reporting all 400km of trails open -- but that's a long ways
from Milan.]

To have more snow options in the northwest, might want to also consider Val
Ferret up by Courmayeur -- great big mountain views right under the Grandes
Jorasses and Mont Blanc. I haven't skied there yet, but I did ride my bike
thru there on my way to Switzerland, and now I'm eager to see it in winter.

A key question is if you're renting a car or not. If not, then better do
some careful research on public transportation and let that drive your
decision on where and if to go. I would not assume that public
transportation outside major cities is going to offer any reasonable
schedule to get you out and back from Milan and allow a large reliable
window for XC skiing.
. [A spectacular non-XC snow + mountain option which might better fit into
public transpo sched is to go to Cervinia, take the lifts up and see the
Matterhorn and other 4000m peaks. And if it's a clear day when you fly home
from Milano, could be worth getting a window seat, esp on R side of plane.]

Ken

On Feb 3, 9:45 pm, "Ken Roberts"
wrote:
When I checked the snow reports a couple of days ago, Cogne was a little
light on coverage -- seems like northwestern Italy / Val d'Aosta generally
hadn't gotten a lot of snow yet. The last 3-month forecast wasn't real
favorable for that area either.
. [On the other hand northern northeastern Italy, especially Hoch Pustertal
/ Alta Pusteria in the Suedtirol region next to the Austrian border is doing
pretty well, reporting all 400km of trails open -- but that's a long ways
from Milan.]

To have more snow options in the northwest, might want to also consider Val
Ferret up by Courmayeur -- great big mountain views right under the Grandes
Jorasses and Mont Blanc. I haven't skied there yet, but I did ride my bike
thru there on my way to Switzerland, and now I'm eager to see it in winter.

A key question is if you're renting a car or not. If not, then better do
some careful research on public transportation and let that drive your
decision on where and if to go. I would not assume that public
transportation outside major cities is going to offer any reasonable
schedule to get you out and back from Milan and allow a large reliable
window for XC skiing.
. [A spectacular non-XC snow + mountain option which might better fit into
public transpo sched is to go to Cervinia, take the lifts up and see the
Matterhorn and other 4000m peaks. And if it's a clear day when you fly home
from Milano, could be worth getting a window seat, esp on R side of plane.]

Ken

Thanks, Ken! Where did you check on snow reports?

I usually check on www.skiinfo.it -- under "localita" select "Cogne" (or
"Courmayeur" for Val Ferret). Then on the right side of the page look under
"Condizione della neve" and note the snow depth range next to "Neve" (I see
25-30cm for Cogne, including high on the alpine trails). Then select
"Bolletino completo". Then scroll down toward the bottom of that page and
look under "Nordico" -- and I see that Cogne is reporting 29km out of 80km.
(This could also be found by navigating the English-language pages, but my
experience with European websites is that the native-language version is
more likely to be up-to-date and accurate.)

Nice thing about having a rental car is that if Cogne doesn't have much
open, you could ski both Val Ferret and Cogne.
And there's an interesting non-XC mountain experience option on the way up
to Val Ferret: If it's a reasonably clear sky, could ride the lift up to
Punta Helbronner -- great views high in the midst of Mont Blanc massif, the
jagged peaks and the big Mer de Glace glacier.
. (For a pretty good alpine downhill skier with lots of off-piste
experience, joining a group led by a local mountain guide and skiing the
ungroomed backcountry from Punta Helbronner down into France is arguably the
most spectacular lift-served downhill skiing in the world -- but dangerous
in several ways.)

Another option to consider if snow is low in northwest Italy but high in the
northeast is to drive east from Milano to Verona, then north to like say Val
di Fiemme. I don't think that's any more driving than someone in San
Francisco going to Royal Gorge for the day. I think about the closest XC ski
center in that direction might be Folgaria / Passo Coe from the Rovereto
Nord exit on the A22. Never been there -- but it looks like the nearest
credible place on www.supernordicskipass.it -- sort of on the edge of the
Asiago plateau. (But I'm not sure how likely it is that Folgaria will have
snow when Cogne + Val Ferret don't. A much better bet is Passo Lavaze north
from Cavalese in Val di Fiemme.) Note that some of these mountain roads up
to XC ski areas are narrow and very curvy and steep.

Ken