Vialattea (Montgenèvre, France / Claviere, Italy): March 30, 2025

After spending a lot of time with FDA clearance, I had to go to Europe for EU CE clearance. It's essentially a truly accurate medical-grade device that I'm putting into fertility clinics and slowly into Under Armour smart clothing. But the junk science is Oura, Whoop, Apple, Garmin, etc. - they are way off. I seem to have five of them on me at any point - my temperature readings are 96- 102°F. Apple/Garmin are good at respiration rates.

It's more fun then screwing people over in FinTech via interest rates or not letting them withdrawl Paypal balances via policies.


I decided to ski with my UK family and friends. Milan is very easy to get to $ wise, and car rentals in late March are $25/day for an SUV. I did a bit of a ski safari before getting up to Cervinica.


Day 1: ViaLattea. This area is a bit underrated. However, I did not want to return to Sauze d'Oulox (they randomly close high-altitude lifts), and Mt Fraiteve needs a few more HS lifts.

So went to Montgenevre and Claviere. It compared well with major Southern Alps locations, such as Serre Chevalair, Les 2 Alpes, etc.

I must let everyone know that 2000 meters was the snow line for south-facing slopes and that the north did better. I did get The Retour d'est storms, which unexpectedly brought snow to Les Deux Alpes: 6-8", Serre Che: 0-4", Monterosa/Gressoney: 12", and Pila 10-20"


Montenevre/Claviere



I parked in Claviere and set off, primarily to Montgenvre. It was about 12/1 pm, so I only got to pick the highlights for four hours.

We had a full day there Feb. 2, 2023 and still did not get to the Rocher Rouge sector. I presume ChrisC did explore the off piste Secteur de l'Aigle.

Tony Crocker said:

We had a full day there

Click to expand...

Based on Tony's good-looking photos, I'll check out Montgenevre on my next visit to the region. It seems to be one of very few ski areas in the Alps that's right alongside a highway (at least two lanes in each direction) such as Loveland or Copper. Are there others?

jamesdeluxe said:

Based on Tony's good-looking photos, I'll check out Montgenevre on my next visit to the region. It seems to be one of very few ski areas in the Alps that's right alongside a highway (at least two lanes in each direction) such as Loveland or Copper. Are there others?

Click to expand...

Cham? Pretty sure the road either side of the Mont Blanc Tunnel is double lanes.

Montgenevre is on a mountain pass. There may be two lanes in each direction (and I'm not sure continuously) but that road is far from being like a US Interstate. Most major road arteries crossing the Alps do so via tunnels like Frejus not too far north of the Via Lattea. Brenner Pass in Austria is the only freeway-type road crossing the Alpine Divide above ground AFAIK.

Piste Map of the Via Lattea.

Montgenevre, France, and Claviere, Italy, are located on the right (western) side.


Montgenevre and Claviere Piste Map only
The boundaries of Domaine Grand Montegenvre vs. Domaine Monts de la Lune denote different types of lift passes.




Top 3D Map of Montgenevre and Claviere




Views to the
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Chalvet Sector -Serre Chibaud Chondola.
Northside of Montgenevre. Faces south, so less snow at the base.


Montgenevre Resort sits between the north and south sectors.


Chalvet Chairlift. Both the lower older gondola and the upper slow chairlift are to be replaced be a single 10-passenger gondola with a mid-station.



Looking south to the Sector L'Aigle (peak on the left side) and Sector Gondran (far right upper bowl)


Close-up of Sector Gondrans



Summit of Serre Thibaud (2550m). A 360-degree view with beautiful E, S, and SW facing bowls/faces.

Forneous Surface Lidt to Chalver Summit (2630m). Lots of great off-piste, but some exposure issues.


NE-facing slopes down to the Rocher Rogue chairlift.


Looking back from the base of Rocher Rogue to the Serre Thibaud summit.


Some off-piste areas above Rocher Rogue


Looking over to the slopes of Claviere, Italy - Col Bercia. This connects to the other Italian Via Lattea resorts of Sauze, Sestriere, and Sansicario.


Ascending the Forneous Surface Lift after a few runs off the Rocher Rogue lift.


Eventually, I went up the old-school Clavet chairlift and skied the south-facing Chalvet piste. Needed to cross the road to get to the sectors on the south side.


To be continued for mid/late afternoon in the Sectors L'Aigle and Gondrans.