December 15, 2004
PETER ROWSELL
from
United Kingdom
WE'VE JUST ARRIVED BACK FROM CHAMPULUC, CONDITIONS WERE VARIED AND OFF PISTE WAS OK BUT NOT AS CHALLENGING ENOUGH FOR THE BETTER BOARDERS AMONGST US, ALTHOUGH MY BOARDING BUDDIES FOUND THE CONDITIONS GOOD, THE RESORT IS NOW DESPERATE FOR MORE SNOW.
Booked a week at Hotel Breithorn(excellent)but moved after just two days to Cervinia (1 hour drive).
Champoluc, whilst attractive by comparison with many purpose built resorts, offers very limited skiing at a very high lift pass price.
Since there is only one gondola out of the village queuing is bad on weekdays and horrendous at weekends. There are no lift connections to the neighbouring valleys and the pistes are short and permanently overcrowded.
Cervinia, by comparison, offers an enormous skiing area, on and off piste, an extensive queue-free lift system, and wonderful long runs over the Matterhorn glacier right down to Zermat and back.
All this at much the same price as poor little Champoluc, described in the Sunday Times Travel Section last October in a report which we read and believed, as the 'trois vallees' of the Italian Alps !
January 02, 2004
Martin Nicholas
from
United Kingdom
Beatifully situated under the 4500m Monte Rosa plateau, traditional village in wide valley with onion dome church, wooden buildings and hotels extending up to the end of the valley (Care when you book!) Busy with weekenders from N Italy but correspondingly quiet at weekends. Good lift system, only 30% of skiable terrain pisted, suitable for all but underconfident intermediates. Hands free lift pass allows gloves to stay on. Ski lockers at bottom of lifts so no clumping to and fro in boots. It can be cold and early snow cover unreliable.
Hotels Breihorn and Castor recommended in village, I would avoid staying in Antagnod or Brusson.
On the mountain the Belvedere refugio lives up to its name. No oustanding mountain gastronomic experiences however.
2 hrs from Milan Malpensa,m 1.5 from Turin.