1. Home
2. Ski Resorts
3. Italy
4. Champoluc

Resort Guide

Suitability	Resort height: 1587m
Families:		[Yes]
Glacier:		[No]
Beginners:		[4]
Intermediates:		[4]
Advanced:		[3]
Snowboarding:		[3]

A small, pretty and unspoilt village, Champoluc is located at one side of the spectacular Monte Rosa ski area, sometimes referred to as Italy's 'Three Valleys'. Monte Rosa lies within the Aosta Valley, which runs down along the border with France in western Italy. The village has limited facilities beyond a moderate selection of bars and restaurants, but perfect if you are looking for a straight forward ski destination with an "away from it all" feel, that just provides great skiing and a simple night life.

The Monte Rosa ski area is a largely undiscovered gem which links half a dozen hamlets and villages with 180km (113 miles) of varied and exciting terrain. The area has invested heavily in modern lifts and snowmaking in recent years, making getting about much quicker and easier than it was a decade ago. The lifts stretch almost 2000 vertical metres above Champoluc, giving one of the biggest lift-served vertical drops in the world.

The resort sits at a relatively snowsure 1570m in the Ayas Valley, surrounded by pine woods. There are spectacular views of the Monte Rosa glacier above, along with the rocky buttresses of Mont Sarezza and Testa Grigia. The village's long history dates back far beyond the advent of winter sports, with evidence including the Saint Anne Chapel, built in 1715.

Beginners

Champoluc provides a pleasant environment in which to learn to ski or snowboard. There are nursery slopes accessed by the Crest gondola and other blues leading on from there. The easy terrain is limited however, with about six kilometres (just under four miles) of suitable runs in total. The small ski school offers around two hours of tuition daily.

Intermediates

Champoluc and the wider Monte Rosa ski area are known predominantly for the excellent and varied intermediate level skiing, with three-quarters of all runs graded red. The runs rise up to a snowsure 2727m at the Col de Bettaforca in the heart of Monte Rosa, where they link to the middle valley of Gressoney.

There are more red runs on Sarezza above the resort. From there you can climb on up to the area's highest lifts, some of the world's highest in fact, at Punta Indren above Alagna, from where there are massive vertical descents.

The six day area pass also includes two days skiing at other resorts in the wider Aosta Valley, including famous centres such as Cervinia (linked to Zermatt in Switzerland), La Thuile, linked to La Rosiere in France, Courmayeur linked to Chamonix and the closest, Pila.

Advanced

Although a first glance at Champoluc's ski statistics show limited skiing and no black runs in the valley itself, it's a mistake to write the resort off for good skiers. There are some excellent black trails once you move further in to the region, but in any case Monte Rosa's reputation is built on off piste ski opportunities, high mountain touring, and heli skiing.

Pisted runs to head for include the 6.5km Del Monte trail, but more exciting is an off piste tour. The Mount Rose Grand Tour heads for the Gressoney Valley via Colle della Bettaforca (2701m) continuing on to the Passo dei Salati (2967m) and then descending along the Valsesia face of the slopes. An ascent to Punta Indren (3260m) follows with an off piste descent towards Gressoney before returning to Champoluc.

Snowboarding

As with skiing, the main attraction in Champoluc and the Monte Rosa region is the spectacular free riding terrain. Probably not the best choice for first-time boarders, Champoluc provides excellent progression terrain for intermediates and the opportunity to sign up for some spectacular off-piste tours for the more advanced. There is no park, but the natural terrain provides a lot of features that take you back to the original spirit of snowboarding, before mechanisation took over to build snow parks.

Other Activities and Facilities

Champoluc has limited facilities beyond winter sports, but there is an ice skating stadium where ice hockey matches are sometimes staged, gliding or paragliding. There are 10km of cleared winter walking paths in the area.

Après Ski and Dining Out

There are about 20 bars and restaurants in Champoluc, mostly providing low key après ski and local cuisine. The regional cooking is a strong feature here, with different dishes popular in each valley of Monte Rosa.

In Champoluc's Val d'ayas, one of the traditional dishes is a fine ham called moccetta which was once made from ibex meat but is today made from the chamois goat. A main meal to look out for is Carbonmade, which involves pieces of meat being dipped in flour then fried in butter. Minced onion, red wine, salt and pepper are thrown in to the mix and the meat is served with steaming polenta.

Families

Champoluc provides a lovely venue for a quality family holiday, however there are limited facilities especially for children. There's no non-ski childcare for younger children but the Scola Sci Champoluc accepts children aged four and older in their ski school. Lessons are for just under two hours daily each morning. A helmet is a legal requirement in Italy for children up to 12 years old and can be rented locally.

Piste Map for Champoluc

Accommodation in Champoluc

• De Champoluc - 3 star, half board

Search For Ski Holidays:

• Champoluc
• Italy

Cheap Skiing In Champoluc

• Andorra
• Austria
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Finland
• France
• Italy
• Japan
• Norway
• Romania
• Serbia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• USA