Carving Slopes near Milan, Italy

[NAM]

How dare you He is not old ))))))))))))))
I mean not the age

Sadly i can`t join the fun this time.
Ohh, what's happened?

[starikashka]

Ohh, what's happened?

I can`t justify my single vacation in front of my family They would like to go as well, but there is no school holidays and in this case trip is threatening to create a cash gap in my financial plan

My wife is a recent SWOARD owner I think she would hesitate to participate ))) so many cool riders

[NAM]

but there is no school holidays

Known truble ,very difficult to overtake missed school programm, therefore my daughter wouldn"t come with us to ECS2011.(as usual we are going for two weeks)

My wife is a recent SWOARD owner I think she would hesitate to participate ))) so many cool riders

everybody hesitate, except gurues

[starikashka]

everybody hesitate, except gurues

I don`t Am i guru?

[Schneewurm]

Mountains have been the last two weeks all the days on the very golden side of autumn! Incredible sunny and warm time! (But on well known places plenty of tourists / school holidays). I hope no-one has missed to go there.

At my short stop last sunday under the fog at home, I saw Russian girls had still "Russian championship" at skihall of Landgraaf! Amazing! 4 woman from Russia on first 8 ranks on WC PSL-race! (1./3./5./8.)

Longest tunnel on the earth is open now. Such a tunnel between Zinal and La Thuile would serve a travel time by train of 35 minutes only!

- - - -

And Yes NAM, why not carve on Italian mountains? There are plenty of interessting resorts beside/around Zinal, even in Italy!

LaThuile: Leaving Geneva at 7 p.m. by airplane can be tight. Train arrival at Genève-Aéroport at 17:13 (= 5:13 p.m. / leaving LaThuile 09:20 / many bad connections because 06.02. is a sunday, no connection must fail!).

Why not take accomodation around Aosta. This way You can explore many nice other places too.
Places like Crévacol on the south face of St.Bernhard pass (has tunnel, open all wintertimes/ on the way to Aosta) wouldn't be a bad choice compared to stay too long in Zinal. Even snowhigh e.g. at 1640 meters (see picture from 2009 / bottom of valley / around same high like Zinal) can be there at a value of desire.
Beside Crévacol, you should visit then Super St.Bernard, Pila (ask Italian members on forum here, whitch ride sometimes there / Gondola start right in the city, next to rail-way station and central bus-station) and so on. Even La Thuile will be reached by bus from Aosta in about one hour. Charges for bus are low in Aosta.

[Schneewurm]

Correction: Sorry NAM, ski-resort Super St-Bernard is no more possible at all.

Bad news from today evening.
Whole resort has to close 100 %, perhaps for ever. Missing money from renewing. Even resort was proof agains change of world-clima (1950 m - 2800 m at one single stage! Very long slopes: 4.5 km / 5.5 km / 10 km). The gondolas out of stainless steel, wait now for to become rusty.

People are asked now for to join more and more high-performance resorts only.

http://www.tsr.ch/info/suisse/2590737-l ... arret.html

[starikashka]

Whole resort has to close 100 %, perhaps for ever. Missing money from renewing.

Seems that this place is not competitive enough to attract wealthy people who like black slopes. It`s natural selection - like Darvin described.

My friends visited St.Luc following advice from another friend )) and was f[censored]ing disappointed. Due to those slopes.

Why money is missing? Somebody steal it or nobody give a loan for resort owner?

[Schneewurm]

... not competitive enough ...

Yes, you are right, even not because people have to stay 6 km lower on hotels/apartements at Bourg-St-Pierre. (Bourg-St-Pierre can be translate as Saint Petersburg [Petrograd / Leningrad])

For sure, it's a long way from Martigny up to the tiny and cold place Le Super (37 km), even on a good groomed street. Most skiers turn after one dozen of kilometers to the left to Verbier. If you add 7 km to the 37 km, Chamonix can be reached.

Ski industrie was switched to taking-room carving-skis last decade. So most skiers and snowboarders seek now-adays for interchangeable carpet-slope ski-resorts for pure easy-going carving. St-Bernard domain was an authentic mountain ski resort with tricky slopes. Skiers who can manage all-terrain and heavy slopes, e.g. many of mounteneering-skiers turn to there, they like the valley very much.
If I watch the pictures, it let me ask the question what is "not competitive enough", the resort, or no more the recent skiers and snowboarders.
The photo on website of LeSuper showing the begin of a steep slope with 4 skiers and 2 snowboarders

let me grin heartfull. All 6 person are watching down to the heavy slope (readout of angle can be made on the background!). Perhaps because an other skier is on progress to rock the slope. And for sure, they also take time for to prepare themself for to manage the slope too. Thats the opposite to what You can see on "competitive resorts", where people are more watching around, what others wear, which skis they have, who-is-watching-me and so on.

I think no money have been stolen. It's hard to earn enough money in such lonly mountains. E.g. hotels in Bourg-St-Pierre have been closed some weeks before they re-open for easter-season last springtime! On last day of operation (April 11. 2010) there was left 160 cm of snow on slopes. Closing of resort is now just 210 Years after Napoleon Bonaparte had crossing with his army Great San Bernard pass. (just type at google.com "napoleon st bernard" and choose images)

I remember me on a last uphill on such a Giovanola Frères/Monthey gondola like there, at another resort.
What can be more heavenly, to be on a small 4-seat Giovanola gondola together with a nice woman. Floating a long way (3.5 km), no disturbance at all, for at least a quarter of an hour, above snow coverd trees - thats just the poetic side of wintersports.

The same fabrics/type of gondola (Giovanola) can be found at Zermatt and it was re-certificate without problems. The one on Le Super comes with technical more modern features, but the demand of more security (re-newing) can be the death for that gondola.

See, nearly all accidents in Switzerland on lifts/gondolas whatever, happens on chairlifts (11-25 persons a Year) and not on skilifts, cablecars or on such gondolas.

Against this starikashka, skiers and snowboarders ask for fast chairlifts and not for plenty of slow-speed single-seat skilifts like at St.Luc - this is what we call "free market" on the west!

(if anyone is disappointed in St.Luc, he can change back with next bus. Skipass is valid for Grimentz, St-Luc & Chandolin, Vercorin, Zinal at Val d'Anniviers. Please say me starikashka, did Your friend miss the big jacuzzi at St.Luc?)

[starikashka]

Please say me starikashka, did Your friend miss the big jacuzzi at St.Luc?)

This event for my another friend who likes Zinal very much - he is softbooter freerider.

I think you right - skills are not growing, so this is a reason to close such a resorts you have mentioned. I think people who like challenging condition naturally reduce their number. Also resorts has to be able to change something to attract people. Growing skiers skill to be able to handle challenging slopes require lot of practice. How many people could afford that in such a way so they will be able to support tiny resorts with those slopes? I would pick a bigger one where i can fing at least one slope for me and easy for my wife and daughter.

[Schneewurm]

Guests from far away of the alps have other demands, thats clear. Even this demands are on change the last decades too. The easy-to-ride slopes give them the way to do learning riding by Do-it-Your-self. There is less and less any demand for to take a ski- or snowboard-teacher for to improve skills. Taking some lessons at ski-holiday can be a spring-board to the next level. For sure, thats not free of charge. But people should resume between to buy a expensive ski/snowboard and to taking some lessons on snow and buying ski/snowboard at lower price (same price level at all for both). The last one would give definitiv more fun on snow and happyness for winter-holiday! Even tiny resorts force/help people to be more creative on slopes, what will increase fun and happyness.

another link for Your friend: http://www.zinalfreeride.ch/
Event is open for everyone (ski & snowboard) / big party at saturday evening.
They talk about a the main-competition in Switzerland for non-professional freeriders.
Overall ranking at man was won by a ski, at women by snowboard.

[luca85]

Why money is missing? Somebody steal it or nobody give a loan for resort owner?

You wouldn't believe how hard is it to keep a ski area profitable.
There are few exceptions where they make incredible amounts of money but most of the places are in net loss. (Just the lifts operation, if you consider also the hotels and the other business the sum is usually positive).
In Italy nowaday a resort is considered to be in a good situation if they are able to afford the costs of the operation and of the programmed interventions (every 10 year there is an expensive check and an even more expensive one every 20 for each lift). And the "public finances" chip in "just" to help buying new lifts when the old one expire.
This is true also for big places you would not expect! For small places where few people go and without hotels, where people go just during the weekend, it's even worse!
As an example... Now in "val d'aosta" all the resorts are owned by the regional government. Even Cervinia went bankruptcy and had to be rescued!
In Lombardy Madesimo went bankruptcy. "Passo del Tonale" had many of their lifts renewed by public founds in the last couple of years. And I could go on...
In Switzerland many small places in Ticino had to close or to be helped by public money. Glacier 3000, love this place!, went out of business and was acquired by a new company 8 years ago I think.
Sadly running the lifts and grooming the slops cost a lot more than people would think.

[starikashka]

I know that any activity which is aimed to earn money from a customers is a hard job that closer to war than any other activity people do.

It`s not a people think wrong about actual skilift cost. It`s a management fault. They are responsible for anything that happens with resort they are operating.