News – 2019/20

A new 4-star hotel, Charmant Petit Lac, opened on the site of the old open air ice rink, just a couple of minutes walk from the main gondola. It has just 25 rooms and suites, adult and children’s pools and a wellness area. Champoluc specialist tour operator Ski 2 features this, over 20 other hotels in the resort and up the mountain, plus self-catered apartments.

News – 2018/19

The 35-year-old gondola from the resort to Crest at mid-mountain was replaced. The new one carries 2400 people an hour in smart new 8-seater cabins that take just over three minutes to reach Crest – increasing the capacity and decreasing the ride time by around one-third. And the top station now meets the bottom of the Ostafa gondola which takes you higher – cutting out a tedious trek between the two.

Snowmaking for the local Champoluc slopes was been greatly increased too, thanks a huge new snowmaking reservoir.

The resort’s first 5-star hotel, campZero, opened with 30 luxury two-story suites, a swimming pool, wellness facilities and a climbing wall. 

Champoluc specialist tour operator Ski 2 now offers free ski guiding daily for all its guests.

Summary

Champoluc is popular with Italian weekenders from Milan and Turin, but is hardly heard of on the international market. As a result, it retains a friendly, small-scale, unspoiled Italian ambience. The village is a pleasant but not notably pretty place. The three-valley network of lifts and pistes is anything but small-scale. Champoluc at one end and Alagna at the other are 17km apart and it’s around a four-hour trip by road if you miss the last lift. Gressoney is in the central valley. Outside the piste network is a lot of great off-piste terrain, some lift-served, which has long attracted experts.

THE RESORT

Champoluc is the largest of the resort villages and, although it has drawbacks, it’s an attractive all-round base. The village is strung out along a one-way street running from the centre past various hotels to the gondola base station, where a cluster of shops and bars forms a kind of distinct micro-resort. About 3km up the valley, a short funicular goes up from Frachey (with parking right at the base).

Champoluc is the largest of the Monterosa villages and an attractive base © Marco Spataro

Down-valley from Champoluc are Antagnod and Brusson. Antagnod is a good alternative for bad-weather days, and has some decent off-piste.

Village charm
There is a group of bars and restaurants at the lift base but the village lacks a real focus. But we like the low-key ambience.

Convenience
The village is not compact, but everything is walkable. Some hotels are a 10-minute walk from the gondola base station but some have lockers near there to leave your kit in. There are free buses to and from Frachey and Antagnod. You have to pay for the Brusson bus. And Ski 2 ferries its guests around town.

THE MOUNTAINS

Slopes
The gondola from Champoluc goes up to Crest, a mid-mountain nursery area with a further gondola followed by a slow quad chairlift going on to Colle Sarezza. This area is linked to the runs above Frachey via a steep, narrow, bumpy red run, commonly known as the Goat, because of the statue at the top; timid intermediates are better off starting at Frachey. From there, you ride lifts to Colle Bettaforca, for the descent to Gressoney.

Fast lifts
Most lifts are fast chairs and gondolas, but the link with Frachey involves slow chairs. You can avoid these by using the Frachey funicular.

Queues
Mostly blissfully queue-free. But there are two problems at Frachey. The Alpe Mandria chair above the funicular is an unavoidable bottleneck. And the old double chair that links to the home slopes of Champoluc cannot cope with afternoon demand.

Terrain parks
There isn’t one.

Experts
Off-piste is the main draw. There are few tough on-piste runs. In bad weather, head for the excellent Mandria forest area above Frachey.

The Mandria forest area above Frachey is great for tree skiing when it’s snowing © Roger Walker

Intermediates
There is a good mix of varied pistes that suit confident intermediates. But Champoluc has drawbacks for timid intermediates – as well as the Goat run, the red descent to Champoluc (excellent if you can hack it) can be too much for many. Some people find it worth going to the separate Antagnod area.

Beginners
The high nursery slopes at Crest above Champoluc, served by two moving carpets, are excellent. For longer gentle runs, though, you need to go up the valley to Frachey. Or down the valley to Antagnod.

Snowboarding
Great off-piste for experts but not ideal for intermediates or beginners (see above). No drag lifts to worry about though.

Cross-country
There are 16km of trails in Champoluc; but Brusson, down-valley, has the best loops (30km).

Families
Tour operator Ski 2 has all kinds of schemes to keep children happy. And it runs Ski 2 Racing courses for would-be Olympians).

Blogs, features and news

• New tour op Ski Champoluc has launched
• Covid and Brexit force Ski2 closure
• Skiers plan to hit pistes next winter
• Tour operator Ski 2 branches out
• Fast cruising in Italy’s Monterosa ski area