Carving Slopes near Milan, Italy

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piusthedrcarve
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Carving Slopes near Milan, Italy

Post by piusthedrcarve » Monday 27 September 2010, 19:28

I'll be at Milano, Italy on Mid Jan. 2011 and would like to lay down on slopes for carving.
Where would be the best slopes for carving around Milano? How's condition in Jan.? Any tip on lodging and getting there would be very appreciated.

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Kallo
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Post by Kallo » Tuesday 28 September 2010, 15:00

the best compromise between good slopes and travel time are the resorts in Val D'Aosta: Pila, Cervinia, La Thuile (recommended in case of extreme carving)
elsewhere, you can go near Bergamo (Colere and Lizzola): fewer slopes, but good snow and some 5-10 hardbooters guaranteed on tracks
there is some resort in Piemonte (San Domenico, Domobianca, Macugnaga) which is quite easy to reach, but I'm not used to go there
you should also consider Livigno: a true carver's paradise, but truly distant (4 hours). If you consider a weekend away, it is absolutely recommended
anyway, in Milan/Bergamo there are at least 20 forum users: keep us posted, so we can arrange a meeting!!
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Alex
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Post by Alex » Tuesday 28 September 2010, 15:06

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luca85
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Post by luca85 » Tuesday 28 September 2010, 15:35

There are really a lot of possibilities like you have been told. Keep in mind that in Italy you absolutely need a car to reach this places, it's not Switzerland.
Then it depends on what you are looking for. The perfect EC slope (and you don't care about how old are the lifts , how many slopes are there, if there is anything else in the village after the snowboarding ends)? A good ski-area with 100 different beautiful slopes and the most recent lifts (6-people detachable chairlift heated with bubbles)?
A place that is near and cheap?
Luckily you can choose between these kind of resorts usually driving not more than 2:30 hours from Milan.
January is not absolutely the best but usually you already have enough snow so that all the slopes are open everywhere.
The days are short and usually it is the coldest month.
As an example I would not reccomend Corvatsch in January as it is north-facing and at very high altitude. It's better in late april.In January it's better St. Moritz (2km away).

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Post by piusthedrcarve » Tuesday 28 September 2010, 19:49

Thank you all for suggestions and tips.

Since I am coming from Eastern US where icy and chopped/crud condition everywhere by tons of people, I will appreciate anything other than that. :D

For a week trip, I may not bring my gear but may want to rent. I don't know anywhere lease alpine gears though. Oh.. if EURO keep dropping, I may purchase whole setup while I'm there!

I'll keep eyes on this thread till then. Thanks again~

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Post by philwi » Tuesday 28 September 2010, 23:25

I'm no local expert but when I've flown into Milan Cervinia was the obvious choice. It's a blast there top-to-bottom, lots of mileage, but on the easy side in general. You can nip over the border into Zermatt where the terrain's a bit more interesting but harder to get around in.

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Cervinia / Zermatt - Carving Paradise

Post by Arnaud » Wednesday 29 September 2010, 9:57

Cervinia / Zermatt is a must for carving ! A little bit expensive, but the size of the resort and the length of slopes are incredible. Probably one of the best place I know for carving (but not ExtremeCarving because of a lack of steepness)
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NAM
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Post by NAM » Wednesday 29 September 2010, 11:11

Hi dear friends! Where is better for extremecarving LaTuil or Livigno?

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Alex
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Post by Alex » Wednesday 29 September 2010, 11:58

NAM wrote:Hi dear friends! Where is better for extremecarving LaTuil or Livigno?
This is a difficult match...

For Ec la Thuile is the best place because there are a lot of steep slopes...the only disadvantage is that the best slopes are not at the top and the snow quality often is not very good.

Livigno is the best place for freecarving because there are tons of width slopes ( three slope good for Ec ). The slopes preparation and the quality of the snow is always the best because is the coldest area of the Italy (last year there was less than -40°)...and you can carve from 8:30 to 16:30.
So, is just my opinion, I prefer la thuile when it's possible to find perfect condition but in Livigno it's easy to find perfect condition for carving from December to April..la Thuile is the best in February and begin of March.

p.s For nightlife Livigno is amazing :wink:
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Post by pokkis » Wednesday 29 September 2010, 12:01

Alex wrote:p.s For nightlife Livigno is amazing :wink:
So you mean that it is better place to get good night sleep :D

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NAM
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Post by NAM » Wednesday 29 September 2010, 12:46

thank's a lot Alex for concrete answer :wink:
Alex wrote:
NAM wrote:Hi dear friends! Where is better for extremecarving LaTuil or Livigno?
This is a difficult match...

For Ec la Thuile is the best place because there are a lot of steep slopes...the only disadvantage is that the best slopes are not at the top and the snow quality often is not very good.

Livigno is the best place for freecarving because there are tons of width slopes ( three slope good for Ec ). The slopes preparation and the quality of the snow is always the best because is the coldest area of the Italy (last year there was less than -40°)...and you can carve from 8:30 to 16:30.
So, is just my opinion, I prefer la thuile when it's possible to find perfect condition but in Livigno it's easy to find perfect condition for carving from December to April..la Thuile is the best in February and begin of March.

p.s For nightlife Livigno is amazing :wink:

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Post by Kallo » Wednesday 29 September 2010, 18:58

My vote is Livigno.
slopes are amazing for freecarve, no queues and very few people (I only had problems in the late morning hours of the X-mas holidays, but in early morning and afternoon there is all the space you need not to worry about people)
tracks are not that steep, so probably if you are a "strict" extreme carver you'd better follow Alex's indications ... elsewhere, you won't regret for sure the travel from moscow!! :wink: :wink:
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Post by Schneewurm » Wednesday 29 September 2010, 22:35

Some more tiny resort:

- Airolo (Switzerland) if resort will be open this winter and all lifts are running!.
Travel: Highway only, all the way! (except in Milan City). Ski-resort with "own Exit/Access" of Highway. Parking for to step in gondola is less then ¼ mile beside Exit. 1 hours 59 minutes from Scala de Milan (if no traffic jam in Milan). This travel-time is at US-compatible avg. speed of 55 mp/h on highway (*).

By railway: www.sbb.ch
2 hours 47 minutes: Milano Porta Garibaldi 7:10 a.m. -> Airolo 9:57 a.m. / 1 change. Take than shuttle-bus (about 1 mile/ starts 10:00/ waits for railway/ for free) from Airolo railway station to the 100-person-fast-speed cable-car. Railway-train has a restaurant, so You can have breakfast on wagon in the morning / dinner in the evening.
Lodging in Airolo: some hotels.

- Splügen (Switzerland)
Travel: Highway/Speedway only, all the way! (except in Milan City). Ski-resort with "own Exit/Access" of Speedway / Parking for to step in gondola is less then 1/8 mile beside Exit. 2 hours 10 minutes from Scala de Milan (if no traffic jam in Milan). This travel-time is at US-compatible avg. speed of 55 mp/h on highway (*).

By railway and bus (Bus = express-city-liner Bellinzona-Chur / bus runs on speedway / 3 stops only, one of them is at Splügen):
2 hours 42 minutes: Milano Centrale 7:10 a.m. -> Splügen 9:52 a.m. / 1 change. Railway-train has a restaurant, so You can have breakfast on wagon in the morning / dinner in the evening. Bus-stop Splügen right at Exit speedway/parking area - less steps for to go to gondola, than from car-parking.
Lodging in Splügen: some nice hotels.

Well, US students e.g. them from Franklin College Lugano, like to leave campus for to go snowboarding at San Bernardino (Switzerland, not CA). Thats on the way to Splügen, but one stop before Splügen. Railway/bus: 2 hours 24 minutes: Milano Centrale 7:10 a.m. -> San-Bernardino 9:34 a.m.
Lodging in San Bernardino: only vew hotels.

For sure, as other member wrote here, St. Moritz is the realy premium residence for to go!
Additional images to luca85's information:
picture 1 from some days ago, is showing north-facing of St. Moritz Surlej-Corvatsch
picture 2 from some days ago, is showing south-facing of St. Moritz Corviglia-Piz Nair (Ski World Championship 1934/1948/1974/2003/2017)

- - - -

Has anyone here informations for freeriding about Staffa-Monte Moro (Macugnaga)?
Cable-car on map No.1349 1:25'000 looks incredible and downhill too!
Even mountains must look great, elevations from 1307 m straight up to 4638 meters.

- -

(* Italians tend sometimes to drive with their "Maserati's" some very vew - realy only some very vew miles/hour faster, then others sportsmen do! How fast? Watch travel-time Alex was posting! Surlej (Corvatsch) should be at 2h 33' at normal speed. This isue is also well known e.g. by Airolo ski resort. They say traveling from Milan to Airolo takes only 1 hour 30 minutes)
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István
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Post by István » Thursday 30 September 2010, 12:11

My vote would go for Livigno. Nice place, good food, good apres ski, empty slopes. Some huge, long and wide red slopes (Carosselo 3000) and you can even find a really steep one for EC (not too long, but mostly empty) on the other side, I think the lift is called Teola.

Cheers

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Alex
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Post by Alex » Thursday 30 September 2010, 13:11

Schneewurm wrote:(* Italians tend sometimes to drive with their "Maserati's" some very vew - realy only some very vew miles/hour faster, then others sportsmen do! How fast? Watch travel-time Alex was posting! Surlej (Corvatsch) should be at 2h 33' at normal speed. This isue is also well known e.g. by Airolo ski resort. They say traveling from Milan to Airolo takes only 1 hour 30 minutes)
Sorry but in my personal case my car is just an old yaris ( with 220.000 Km ) and I live at north of milano (in desio ) ....I need just 1:30 to Airolo :roll: ( google maps consider only 11minutes more ).
Milano is a big city and traveling time can vary a lot in function of the position of the starting point :wink:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source= ... e=UTF8&z=8

concern Corvatsch internet sites give wrongs travel "time forecast" because from the end of SS36 to Chiavenna there are tons of little city with a lot of road traffic but early in the morning these are just desert roads!
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