The Aosta Valley in northern Italy, home to some of the highest peaks in the Alps, has a range of new developments and events to entice skiers and snowboarders this winter, as well as possibly one of the longest seasons covered by an international lift pass.New developments for the 2011/12 season include in Cervina, a brand new panoramic cable car to take you to Plateau Rosa at 3,480m, opening up one of the world’s longest pistes (almost 2,000m vertical) down to Valtourneche.
In La Thuile, a vast, brand-new snow-kiting centre in the heart of the Little St. Bernard area at 2,188m easily reached via ski lift is opening, plus the resort is hosting the European cup Finals.
Gressoney will host the qualification in the only Italian stage of the Freeride World Tour, featuring the world’s top ski and snowboard freeriders.
And in Pila, for families a new Fun Park has been designed for children with brightly coloured rubber mattresses and leap-frogs for snow tubing and sledging, plus a new magic carpet to make the climb easier. The Aosta Race Academy (www.aostaraceacademy.co.uk) has set up its race camp base just outside Aosta in Pila with race training combined with educational studies offering children camps from two weeks to the entire winter season.
All this and more is covered by the Valle d’Aosta ski pass, which gives access to the areas in the Aosta Valley plus La Rosière in France, Zermatt in Switzerland and Alagna Valsesia in Italy. The season runs from late October to early May, and passes can be bought online at www.skivallee.it.
