Cruising the Alps:
Sports Facilities
Courmayeur
The center of the village
Stylish and intellectual vacation spot and historical
starting point of the first expeditions on the Mont Blanc, Courmayeur is
an excellent medium sized ski-resort. Frequented in the past by the Savoia,
the Italian royal family, it is famous for its enviable position at the
foot of the Mont Blanc massif. The village itself is quite lively in the
winter and although it remains a bit stuck between the "mounds"
of the Saxe and the Chetif, it offers a good range of services.
The slopes
The slopes which lead from the Chetif to the Val Veny offer some fantastic back-country
skiing in fresh snow and the cross-country skiing in the Val Ferret, at
the foot of the suggestive Grandes Jorasses, is just as marvellous.
Courmayeur has a good range of well-groomed slopes which are suitable for
beginners and intermediate skiers, as well as a few challenging red runs
and one excellent black run.
There are two skiing areas which are not connected:
the Checrouit-Cresta Youla pass (which can be reached with the cable-way
in the center of town and from Val Veny) and the Punta Helbronner (at 3.462
meters, which can be reached with the La Palud cable-way) from where, in
Springtime, one can continue and enter the French area of Chamonix on skis,
doing some superb back-country skiing on the slopes along the Mer de Glace
glacier. Among the back-country skiing trails of the Checrouit area, which
catches the morning sun, the most spectacular one is l'Arp-Vieille which
winds along valleys of fresh snow from the Youla pass up to the foot of
the Miage glacier and continues along the course of the river Dora up to
the La Zerotta ski-lift.
Break-points
Most of the mountain alpine shelters on the slopes serve the Valle d'Aosta
specialties: "fontina" cheese fondue, "bagna caoda"
(hot anchovy and garlic savoury), "grolla dell'amicizia" (hot
spiced wine). One of the better snack bars is the Club Courba Dzeleuna,
at the top of Dzeleuna chair-lift. Several restaurants on the
slopes are excellent: Château Branlant at Plan Checrouit
is recommended for its typical cuisine, characteristic interior and friendly
service. Maison Vieille, at the arrival point of the
homonymous chair-lift, has a rustic dining room and good food. Ristorante
Zerotta is expensive, but has a well-located, sunny terrace
for people-watching. The Petit Mont Blanc is also recommended.
La Baita in Plan Checrouit can also be reached in the evening
by cable-way.
Along the Val Ferret cross-country circuit there are two restaurants which
are a real gastronomic temptation, the Chalet Promet da Floriano
and La Clotze which are both located at Plan Pincieux.
Dog-sledding under the Jorasses
The Monte Bianco dog-sledding school organizes adventurous
excursions with husky drawn sleds in Val Ferret, under the snowy Grandes
Jorasses massif and in the more epic Val Veny at the foot of the Miage glacier.
  
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