We slept in which is rare so decided to drive the 4 minutes to the gondola from Aosta town to the hill south of the town called Pila. From what I can tell most of the skiers/boarders use the gondola because the Pila bed base is small.
There were plenty of cars in the carpark but the line for the gondola moved quickly. I had extremely low expectations of a good day. I pictured crowding (being a Sunday) and poor snow cover. I was wrong.
I’ve later discovered Pila is larger (in piste mileage anyway) than Courmayuer. There’s obviously a lot of snow making infrastructure. We skied pretty much empty runs until about 10.30am when more skiers appeared. The Italians must rise late. We spoke with people from Aosta, Torino and Milan on the lifts. (These conversations are a big bonus of skiing in Europe). We were asked 2 times if we see kangaroos at home.
This mountain would ski great with fresh snow. There is an abundance of easily accessible off piste. We spent most of the day on the two highest lifts - Couis 1 and 2. These provide access to perfectly north facing bowls. I was surprised to find the old snow (must be a couple of weeks) to be soft enough to turn in. I’m pretty sure it had not melted and froze. It was quite nice.
^^^ Looking from lower down.
Kylie to a pic of me in the old snow.
^^
From the top with Pila village and Aosta down in the valley.
Ski on at 10am.
I think that’s the Matterhorn in the background.
Deserted slopes early.
^^
Tree cover for snow days.
All in all we had a great day. Both Kylie and myself liked the experience (aside from lunch) better than the day before at Courmayeur. Edit. At 52 euro for a day ticket it’s cheaper too.
There were plenty of cars in the carpark but the line for the gondola moved quickly. I had extremely low expectations of a good day. I pictured crowding (being a Sunday) and poor snow cover. I was wrong.
I’ve later discovered Pila is larger (in piste mileage anyway) than Courmayuer. There’s obviously a lot of snow making infrastructure. We skied pretty much empty runs until about 10.30am when more skiers appeared. The Italians must rise late. We spoke with people from Aosta, Torino and Milan on the lifts. (These conversations are a big bonus of skiing in Europe). We were asked 2 times if we see kangaroos at home.
This mountain would ski great with fresh snow. There is an abundance of easily accessible off piste. We spent most of the day on the two highest lifts - Couis 1 and 2. These provide access to perfectly north facing bowls. I was surprised to find the old snow (must be a couple of weeks) to be soft enough to turn in. I’m pretty sure it had not melted and froze. It was quite nice.
^^^ Looking from lower down.
Kylie to a pic of me in the old snow.
^^
From the top with Pila village and Aosta down in the valley.
Ski on at 10am.
I think that’s the Matterhorn in the background.
Deserted slopes early.
^^
Tree cover for snow days.
All in all we had a great day. Both Kylie and myself liked the experience (aside from lunch) better than the day before at Courmayeur. Edit. At 52 euro for a day ticket it’s cheaper too.
Attachments
Last edited:
