Champoluc Ski Holiday Resort

The resort of Champoluc is in an area known as the Monterosa and is one of Snowfinders favourite resorts. The problem is that the more we promote Champoluc the more upset a lot of people will get with us because they want to keep it to themselves!! If you ever wondered where there is left to go with empty pistes and beautiful scenery this is the place for you.

The ski area is made up of three different towns; Champoluc on the western side, Gressoney La Trinite in the middle, and Alagna which is on the Eastern side. Champoluc is the largest of the resort villages and is at one end of the three-valley network. It is strung out along the 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. The village is a pleasant, giving off a rustic Italian charm.

The three-valley network of lifts and pistes is anything but small-scale. Champoluc is at one end of it and Alagna at the other - they are 17km apart - slightly further apart than Courchevel and Val-Thorens. However, it's around a four-hour trip by road to get from Alagna to Champoluc if you miss the last lift.

The resort accommodation is all hotels and a few apartments, we have two chalet hotels that we can offer in Champoluc.

Beginners are well catered for in Champoluc with the nursery slopes at Crest which is above the village. There are two moving carpets here and complete beginners will enjoy learning to ski/board at Crest. However they may have trouble finding suitable runs to progress to. 

For intermediates................ this is the area for you, when we were there we thought that some of the long cruises down into the valleys were what skiing should be about "well pisted .... wide .... long .... and empty". To blast down something like this on a beautiful sunny morning is our idea of heaven.

For experts if off piste is your thing (we must stress to all our clients the importance of only skiing off piste with a qualified guide) then in the Monterosa there is still untracked powder to ski days after it's fallen. There are many off piste runs in the Monterosa that have earned legendary status and The Malfatta and Punta Vittoria down to Alagna from the Punta Indren starting point, has to be in this class and these have some of the area’s steepest couloirs, with gradients between 45 and 60 degrees, cutting through the cliffs above the Bors Glacier. These are serious off piste itineraries involving at best, good route finding and local knowledge, and at worst, a long rope and the skills to use it.

For those wanting the ultimate thrill, the heli-skiing is some of the cheapest and challenging in the Alps.

The apres ski in Champoluc could best be described as quiet, certainly during the week. The Hotel Castor owned by an English guy call Herman is a great place to enjoy the evening. The bar Galion at the foot of the slopes is busy at the end of the day and an excellent place to talk over the days adventures. The restaurants in Champoluc are generally hotel based and of excellent quality. The Grange restaurant in the little village of Frachey, 3km up the valley from Champoluc is highly recommended and we had an amazing meal here last time we were in the resort. As of July 2015 there is a brand new health spa complex with indoor and outdoor pools for both children and adults, various hot tubs, treatment rooms, rehab pool, ambience or "emotional" showers, Thalasso baths, Turkish baths, relaxation areas, saunas, and even a climbing wall and conference facility.

Champoluc is popular with Italian weekenders from Milan and Turin, and as it's hardly heard of on the international market, it retains a friendly, small-scale, unspoiled Italian ambience.