THE ITALIAN RESORT OF COURMAYEUR is easily accessible to skiers based in the Chamonix Valley - a quick and very worthwhile excursion as a day’s skiing here is included in the Mont Blanc Unlimited lift-pass. The outline of Mont Blanc looks very different from the Southern side, which has its own cable-car access to the massif (and offers skiers a slightly less alarming point of departure to the Vallée-Blanche).
For those based here the area has a lot of charm, some dramatic scenery, plus surprisingly varied terrain. It’s therefore ideal for those wishing to improve their skiing and push their boundaries, without encountering anything too unsettling. With more sun on this side of Mont Blanc , some slopes can lose snow quality later in the day, but the efficient lift system allows skiers rapid access to better conditions higher up the mountain.
On-mountain dining is a pleasure (this is Italy, remember), and the atmosphere is generally friendly and welcoming.

Emerging into dazzling sunlight at the far end of 11.6km of sensory deprivation known as the Mont Blanc Tunnel feels, I imagine, much like being born again. Not that I have any experience of this, you understand, but I do know that the drive constitutes something of a rite of passage. Fortunately, we don’t have long to wait for the reward.

No sooner have we popped like a cork from the tunnel mouth than we're breaking free from the cross-border truck convoys and spiralling down towards the village of Courmayeur. We pass the Entrèves cable-car and head instead for the shiny new Dolonne high-speed gondola, which is soon hauling us smoothly up to Plan Chécrouit.

Unfamiliar surroundings

Things look very different on this side of Mont-Blanc, but not sufficiently so to distract us from the inviting terrain up ahead. The morning snow is near-perfect, so we make the most of it by setting off to explore some of the lower terrain before the sun softens things.

Dropping into the Petit Mont Blanc Restaurant, in the beautiful Val Veny.

The Pra Neyron chair lift drops us around the 2340m mark at the head of a couple of popular blue-graded runs, our choice of Val Veny taking us down to the tree-line to the Pre de Pascal (1912m). Had we taken the cable-car from Entrèves then we’d have stepped out here, no doubt just as amazed by the unspoilt beauty of the scenery. So we press on down to Zerotta (1525m) in high spirits and spend some time skiing the runs which spread along the valley, until lunchtime beckons.

Talking Italian

The Petit Mont Blanc is set beside the pistes, and serves a tempting selection of classic Italian dishes. No surprises there, of course, but we’re not going to forget the warm welcome delivered with a smile and your choice of at least three languages. Before we know it, what had begun as an enforced quick break threatens to turn into a long lunch.

But the warm sun, for all its relaxation value, also reminds us that we can’t afford to let the slush grow under our skis, so we head off, with a determination to return sometime soon and do it all again.

The descent to Plan Checrouit, on the blue-graded Pra Neyron piste.

So we head up to the Col Chécrouit (2256m), to join the tiny Voula cable-car up to the 2624m Cresta Youla. From here we launch ourselves down the red-graded Youla, whose initial near-verticality evens out to a long, sweeping descent back to the Col. For a while we have great fun playing heros on the exhillarating, steeply-graded runs which plunge down to the base of the Plan de la Gabba chairlift, until we realise that time is fast running out -— a shame, as the snow quality holds up well over here. The last lift of the afternoon is followed by a quick blast down to pick up the gondola and avoid the now-slushy return run to Plan Chécrouit. We just make it, and have time to take a relaxed stroll to the Dolonne lift for the final descent to the village.

Minutes later, beneath a still-cloudless sky, we’re packing our ski gear into the car and reflecting on our day. We’ve really fallen for Courmayeur, and vow to return for more of the same, as soon as we can manage it (which turns out to be about six weeks). True, the sunny location means that conditions here can sometimes be less than perfect, but given an early start to allow us to enjoy it while things are perfect there are very few places we’d rather be skiing.

© Roger Moss