Europe’s ski resorts are hitting their limit – but one is bucking the trend
It was a steepish red piste, a little icy at the top, but in typically Italian fashion it was immaculately groomed. I managed to carve some elegant turns before arriving at the bottom of run Number Nine in Pila a few minutes later, with a glow of achievement.
Why? Because I was one of the first to ski what is pretty much the only new piste to open in the Alps this season. Beyond this relatively unheard-of resort in the Italian Aosta Valley, there have been virtually no new slopes added to piste maps or linking of ski areas this winter.
In an age when a six-day lift pass in the majority of major Alpine resorts will set holidaymakers back by about €400, I was enthused to be getting more piste for my money – a dwindling trend in the Alps.
Sustainability over size
“Our main goal is to invest in more efficient systems to replace outdated ski lifts rather than open new slopes,” said Olivier Desaulty, head of Les Trois Vallées in France – the largest lift-linked ski area in the world. “Over the past 15 years, the number of lifts here has actually decreased from 200 to 162 to enhance sustainability.”
A focus on efficiency, rather than growth, appears to have become the strategy across the Alps. In Les Deux Alpes, while a €148-million investment saw the 1985-era Jandri Express replaced with a fast and modern gondola this season, a ski area development to link the resort with neighbouring Alpe d’Huez appears no closer, despite being mooted back in 2012. Indeed, the last major connection of two resorts in France was over two decades ago, when the Vanoise Express joined Les Arcs and La Plagne in 2003.
Similarly, in Val d’Isère, where a six-day lift pass (including a complimentary seventh day) costs €426 this season (compared to €336 in 2023/24), a new gondola now provides easy access to the high-altitude Le Fornet sector, previously only accessible by a 1972-vintage drag lift and 1986-era chairlift. But, again, no new pistes have been added.
In Austria, Saalbach was connected to Zell-am-See in 2019 to create a network of 345km pistes with 121 lifts. A new lift and piste was expected to remedy the only remaining bus link in the area, although plans seem to have stalled.
And, hypothetically, it would take just one lift and one piste to link giant SkiWelt to Kitzbühel – to form an area of roughly 450km of linked pistes – however, one can’t help feeling that resorts feel such expansions would “look bad” in an era of climate change. In Switzerland, the last major tie up – between Arosa and Lenzerheide, creating 225km of linked pistes – was back in 2013.
A pioneering spirit in Pila
Italy appears to be the one Alpine country bucking the trend, with Pila the notable destination to be adding skiable terrain.
In the north-west of Italy the resort, which the annual Post Office Travel Money Ski Report found offers some of the best value in Europe (beaten only by Bulgaria on price), is a largely ski-in/ski-out purpose-built village of family-run hotels and restaurants. There’s a strong snow record across 70km of pistes, served by 16 lifts. It’s popular with British skiers during the week, and Italians at weekends, with a six-day lift pass costing €286 – no annual increase – including one day in Cervinia and one in Courmayeur.
This winter the resort has opened a new piste, run Number Nine – a 4.2km red slope, with 560m of vertical descent – greatly improving accessibility to the top of the ski area. Previously, the only skiable option from 2,700m was a black piste.
My ski instructor, Gianluca, who is studying for a Master’s degree in Green Economy, was full of praise for the project. Pila has a remarkably high treeline at 2,300m – making it popular with skiers seeking good visibility in whiteout conditions – and he explained that no trees needed to be felled for the new piste.
Nonetheless the project required extensive geological surveys, as Davide Vuillermoz, president of Pila, told me. Work was carried out to ensure the new piste had water run-offs, the topsoil was maintained and that the original high mountain grass was grown back from seed.
The new piste – or pistes, as there is also a traverse connecting the Couis 1 and 2 peaks – is part of a €70-million project, which has also seen a 10-seater gondola built. With amazing views of Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn, it replaces a vintage 1980s two-seater lift that took an age to reach the top of the peak.
In a further development, when the second phase of the lift is completed next season, tourists will be able to travel all the way from the Roman city of Aosta – an attractive base for culture-seeking skiers – to the summit at 2,700m by gondola, without a car, and eat at a restaurant there.
The only other reported piste expansions in Italy are in the tiny resort of Ravascletto-Zoncolan in Friuli, which is getting two new pistes, and in the Drei Zinnen area of South Tyrol. Planning regulations in Italy appear marginally less onerous than elsewhere in the Alps, although in Pila the project was still 20 years in the making.
Vuillermoz explains that this is part of a plan to future-proof the resort and skiing in Italy. “Until now, fewer than three per cent of skiers were able to reach the Couis peak – the highest part of the resort – as there were only black runs down. By moving the accessible skiing higher in this way, we hope to be able to offer everyone guaranteed skiing in 30 years’ time, even with climate change,” he said.
Essentials
Colin was a guest of Aosta Valley and Pila, which is 80 minutes from Turin airport. The spa hotel La Chance in Pila, offers doubles from €200 a night, half board, and the Hotel Duca d’Aosta in Aosta from €112. Crystal Ski offers half-board packages in Pila from £420 per person including flights and transfers, departing in March.
