Szilvia GombolaSkiing in Italy
August 24th 2008 10:23
When thinking about a ski holiday in Europe, Italy may not be the first place to spring to mind. Most people associate world class skiing with famous resorts in Switzerland and France. However, since hosting the 2006 Winter Olympics the Italian region of Piedmont now offers some world-class facilities.
The overall ski area known as the Milky Way consists of over 400kms of skiable terrain and 129 lifts. The resort towns in the area are Sestriere, Sauze d’Oulx, Sansicario, Cesana-Claviere. It is easy to access any of the ski areas from any of these towns.
We stayed in a small resort town called Claviere, which lies on the border of Italy and France. As one of the oldest resorts in Italy, it oozes with rustic charm. Also being on the border with France means on the days we did not ski we could entertain ourselves by crossing border between Italy and France – saying, “Now I am in Italy, now I am in France.” Which may seem weird to some, but when you are brought up in an Island country like New Zealand where you have to get on a plane and travel for hours until you are in a different country, it is quite a novel experience.
Due to the snow conditions (there wasn’t a lot near us) we went Seistere everyday to ski, as they have snow making facilities. Seistere is one of the biggest resorts in the Piedmont area and has access to some of highest most challenging tracks in the Milky Way.
The runs are suited to intermediate and advanced level skiers and those that prefer long ski runs with less time in lifts queues. There are also some nursery slopes and gentle blue runs for those just starting out.
Queuing for the ski lifts is an interesting experience. Europeans, unlike their British counterparts don’t believe in queues and they tend to blatantly push in. The other thing I found interesting is after all the skiing at high altitudes where it seemed difficult to breathe anyway, a lot of them would light up a cigarette as soon as they were in the queue.
The skiing is fabulous and Siestere has some great bars and clubs as well as many other apres ski activities such as dog sledding and toboganning.
The main airport in the region is Turin, which is about 60 miles away by road. We took a package holiday from London with Crystal Ski. www.crystalski.co.uk.
The overall ski area known as the Milky Way consists of over 400kms of skiable terrain and 129 lifts. The resort towns in the area are Sestriere, Sauze d’Oulx, Sansicario, Cesana-Claviere. It is easy to access any of the ski areas from any of these towns.
We stayed in a small resort town called Claviere, which lies on the border of Italy and France. As one of the oldest resorts in Italy, it oozes with rustic charm. Also being on the border with France means on the days we did not ski we could entertain ourselves by crossing border between Italy and France – saying, “Now I am in Italy, now I am in France.” Which may seem weird to some, but when you are brought up in an Island country like New Zealand where you have to get on a plane and travel for hours until you are in a different country, it is quite a novel experience.
Due to the snow conditions (there wasn’t a lot near us) we went Seistere everyday to ski, as they have snow making facilities. Seistere is one of the biggest resorts in the Piedmont area and has access to some of highest most challenging tracks in the Milky Way.
The runs are suited to intermediate and advanced level skiers and those that prefer long ski runs with less time in lifts queues. There are also some nursery slopes and gentle blue runs for those just starting out.
Seistere
Queuing for the ski lifts is an interesting experience. Europeans, unlike their British counterparts don’t believe in queues and they tend to blatantly push in. The other thing I found interesting is after all the skiing at high altitudes where it seemed difficult to breathe anyway, a lot of them would light up a cigarette as soon as they were in the queue.
The skiing is fabulous and Siestere has some great bars and clubs as well as many other apres ski activities such as dog sledding and toboganning.
The main airport in the region is Turin, which is about 60 miles away by road. We took a package holiday from London with Crystal Ski. www.crystalski.co.uk.
Milky Way Trail Map
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