Guide de la Station de Ski Pila

Last had a week in Pila, which is too long, to be honest. Pila is quite small and when the snow isn't great, you're confined to the pistes, there's not really enough for more than 3 days. The lift pass covers you for 2 days at other resorts in the Aosta valley, but this is something of an illusion as there is no ski bus or easy public transport option and you need to be back at Aosta before 5pm to get the gondola back up to Pila. It only works if you stay in Aosta as a base and have your own transport.

The mountain is quite north facing, so not a huge amount of sun, but it helps to keep the snow in good condition in warm weather. Piste maintenance is good.

None of the runs are particularly long and the new black (27) was shut the whole week we were there. Red 1 is good first thing in the morning and when conditions allow, there's good off-piste below Couis 1 and 2.

Queues are not an issue, except on sunny weekends, when the locals flood the resort. There are some slow lifts, (Germondet for example) but plans for a new gondola from Aosta-Pila to Couis 1 would be transformational, if they come to pass.

What Pila needs are a couple of new, long, signature pistes, to give the resort some more oomph.