February 8, 2012
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Resorts with which one can ski two countries
Saw this fro ma snowboard forum:
http://www.hksnowboarder.com/viewthread.php?tid=6256&extra=page%3D1
Travel between boarder line while snowboarding?! this is so cool~!!
A unique feature of some of the European skiing resorts is the ability to ski two countries in one visit. Basically two countries each has a resort near the border decided to link up together. One can buy a pass to ski either side or another pass or an upgrade to ski both.Zermatt/Cervinia, 350km piste, between Switzerland and Italy
This probably the largest and most famous. The Italian has 150km piste while the bigger Zermat has 200km. Both resorts share the famous landmark Matterhorn a pyramid-shape rock that has killed over 500 people trying to climb it. This resort has altitude and is the highest in the Alps. Below its 3883m Klein Matterhorn peak a cable car take you to the highest piste run in Europe. From there you could ski a 12 to 13km run to the 1524m bottom of the Italian side enjoying a 2.3km vertical drop.Zermatt consistently features in the top 10 skiing resort in the world. Being a car free zone the village is one of the best preserved in Switzerland and so is the premium prices of the accommodation. The Italian side is more affordable and staying there is the clever way to enjoy this large skiing domain.
The downside of this resort is the two links to cross the border are liable to shut down in strong wind.La Rosiere/La Thuile, 140km piste between France and Italy call Espace San Bernado
This is probably the next most popular twin countries resort in the Alps. La Rosiere is in the Tarentaise Valley where Tigne, Val D’Isere, Les Arc, La Plagne, 3V, Ste Foy and Valmorel are situated. Tarentaise Valley has a combined piste potential of 1600km.
The Italian side La Thuile, accessible from the Aosta Valley, is slightly larger and the link uses part of the Petit St Bernard Pass which is closed for winter between France and Italy. The signs for the runs are different between the two countries. When one sees a number in the sign one would be in the Italian side as it uses the number to denote the run whereas the French prefers a full name. The number in the sign in the French side denotes how many 1/10 of the kilometer from the end of a run. Thus 7 means the skier is 0.7km from the termination of the run. This feature might have been harmonised as since 2005 I haven’t returned back to Espace San Bernado.
La Thuile and La Rosiere each offer Italian and French restaurants so plenty of choices for lunch. Vistors consistently praise the affordable accommodations and good food in this twin resorts.
Espace san Bernado is not particularly high with peaks at about 2600m level but La Rosiere does start at 1850m and always claims good snow.Avoriaz/Les Crosets, part of 600km Porte Du Soleil domain
Avoriaz is rumoured one of the best resort for snowboarding. It is very close to the major French resort of Morzine and Les Gets by a few minute bus ride. The bus is decorated to run as a small train.
There are several links to cross into Switzerland and one of the links is the famous “Swiss Wall of Death” known for its steep gradient challenge. Most of the crossings are routed into Les Crosets interconnected with Champoussin and Champery.
The Porte Du Soleil is a massive skiing domain with some 14 areas mostly spread out and unlinked but the French/Swiss border does have 6 to 7 areas well interconnected.
Porte Du Soleil is only half an hour from Geneva and does not have high altitude. While Avoraiz peaks at 2466m most of the Swiss side resorts can only make do with 2000 to 2400m peaks.Ischgl/Samnaun, 235km piste between Austria and Switzerland
Ischgl is an Austrian resort of similar standing as the No. 1 St Anton by its dominating 4 and 5 star hotels. It is fully linked with the Swiss resort Samnaun. This is the venue for rock bands regularly playing at the end of the skiing season so its top is a massive bowl. Ischgl and Samnaun is an upmarket resort with excellent restaurants and facilities throughout the mountains. I once saw them grooming a piste in the mid day using 10 grooming machines in a staggering formation. That tells us its financial strength. Samnaun also features a cable car that has a upper and a lower deck. It is sold as a duty free resort allowing many Austrian going over to do shopping.Montgenevre/Clariere, part of Milky Way 400km piste between France and Italy
Milky Way has only one French resort and that is Montgenevre with 100km piste. Traditionally Montgenevre has sold itself as a beginner-friendly resort but over the years it has expanded to a nice self contained skiing area. Its next door Italian neighbour Claviere is a lot smaller with about 40km piste.
Milky Way, known as Via Lattea, in Italy has a total of 400km piste by linking Montgenevre, Claviere, San Scicario, Sestriere and Sauze D’Olux. SanScicario and Sestriere were the venue of the Turin Olympic in 2006 so the facilities have been modernised and have some very nice and fantastic Olympic runs.
The downside of Milky Way is the way it is linked like a piece of long string with Montgenevre at one end and Sauze D’Olux at the other. Thus it can be quite a hassle to explore Milky Way by staying at either end. From my visits Milky Way seems to enjoy good snow as Montgenevre starts at 1850m level. I wasn’t too impressed by the two links with Italy as one at the bottom requires a bit of walking while the other right at the top seldom adequately groomed.I believe there is a German resort border with an Austrian and another one in former Yugoslaia linked with possible Italy but I haven’t skied them so no report can be offered.
There is no body checking your passport in any of the above resorts.
