November 03, 2010
Richard Chapman
from
United Kingdom
I have been gong to Chiesa for around 14 years now and have seen many changes. The resort is a small village, nestling in the mountains and is not a party place - it's real Italy!
The runs are picturesque, wide and varying in difficulty. The blacks are not overly long or challenging and in the height of season, it's still not the busiest of places. The locals are truly friendly.
The trip from Bergamo is easy by train, costs less than 20 Euros return and takes less than 2 hours.
I have been here just once - in late 2003/04 season. There was still about 80cms of snow and the pistes in the main part of resort quite in a good shape. Thanks to a classical Italian spring weather, the parts extensively exposed to sun suffered badly and at the end of the week (it was, I guess, 4th April or so) some of the pistes had to be closed. But we did a really big deal of nice skiing. There were approx 100-or-less people in the whole resort during the week, so plenty of space & sun. In 2005 some great improvements have been made(new fast cableways), so now it will be probably even better. Still, remember, a small resort. But good. With several long pistes of classical alpine parametres. Next or maybe even this season, I will go there...it´s still kind of a hidden treasure. Yes, in the willage at 1000m you will have no Val Thorens experience, but you´ll probably see real people living in the mountains, maybe some hen or goats on the southern meadows later in the season. Picturesque, but definitely worth trying. Yes, and there are some awesome trails for cross country. Mountain views are also very nice, in case of nice weather you will see Pic Bernina 4049m and you will realize, that Sant Moritz is just above the hill with triple prizes :-) And usually good conditions to the very end of the season (despite the not very high altitude).