Where to Ski And Snowboard -

Review of Cervinia

10th January 2008 by Peter Donaldson 

Spent 29th Dec to 4th Jan in Cervinia. I travelled as part of a group of 9; 7 males, 2 females age range from 20-26. We arranged everything ourselves over the internet which worked out very well.
Our airport transfer was through ATS and cost £514 return for a private bus with driver. This was especially useful as our flight was 4 hours late! I had booked an 8 bed apartment through Il Cervino (http://www.ilcervino.it apartment Q403 on the website) and they were very helpful. They even let us use the internet in their office for free! We had planned on using an air bed for the final person but turns out there was a sofa bed which was quite handy. They didn’t seem to care that we had an extra person either. The only slightly negative comment I would have is that they don’t take credit or switch cards for payment before you leave, you have to send a deposit by cheque then pay the balance on arrival. The apartment was located round the corner from the Plan Maison Gondola, and you could ski to within 20 metres of the door.
The supermarket in Cervinia is a bit of a nightmare. If you are unlucky you could end up queuing for more than half an hour just to pay! We got round this by putting someone in the queue as soon as we arrived but as long as you’re in before 17:30 you should be ok. We saved a lot of money by cooking for ourselves, and the wine, beer and spirits are very cheap for in-house après ski!
Must mention the snack bar at the bottom of the horrible steps. When you get to the bottom of the steps the first place you come to does the most delicious torta and pizza with very friendly staff too! Don’t miss it. Perfect post ski snack before you hit those steps, which are a bit of a hassle but always well salted.
If you are eating out, don’t miss Night and Day. It’s on the High St and the food is amazing. Run by a Frenchman. We tried the Dragon pub for Hogmanay but the Yeti is a better bet. The staff there are very friendly and helpful, while the La Rossa dark ale and Grolla Friendship drinks get all nationalities in good cheer. Happy hour from 5 to 6 get you 4 pints for 10 Euros. There is also an internet connection. For afters we went to the White Rabbit club a few times. Music can be a bit cheesy but it’s great on Friday night.
We booked our equipment through http://www.snowrental.net and found this to be the cheapest. They use the Cervinia 2001 shop on the High Street and they were great. Good standard of equipment in good repair, no charge for switching from skis to snowboards and vice versa, plus you could upgrade your equipment easily too. The staff were very friendly too.
On the slopes, the girls used the Scuela di Ski Cervinia for 3 days in group lessons. These were not particularly helpful. The instructor did not give them much attention despite 2 hour sessions. Private lessons were much more effective, through the same company. Some of our group were beginner snowboarders but opted for private lessons. This was great and by the end of the week they were zipping down the hill. Ask for Danny Boy. He’s an excellent instructor with good banter.
Found a lot of the chairs very slow, as reported. This, however, did not translate itself into queues, which were virtually non existent for the whole week. The run from the top of Plateau Rosa to Valtourneche is good fun, but if you are on a snowboard the section between the top of the black (47) and the top of the chair gets very flat. This problem also exists on the runs ending at Plan Maison. It gets very annoying. The best runs in the resort are on either side of the Bec Carre Chairlift above Valtournenche. Steep and varied terrain in a sheltered valley. Superb. Off piste, head down red 53 then take a left instead of a right, heading between the gondola and the big chair. It’s brilliant and totally deserted. Also, the section between red 3 and blue 5 fills with lots of powder making some nice terrain. The chairs serving reds 9 and 29 are slow but the runs are steeper and quite interesting.
Overall, good resort, especially for the beginners. For the more advanced, while the pisted terrain is perhaps a wee bit limited, when there is a dump of snow there are plenty of exciting off piste options to keep you entertained. Everyone in our group is keen to go back.

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