Monterosa ski - Champoluc — Hotel in Ayas

After my daughter crashed while trying to traverse from the 4-5 runs available to the Monterosa ski school, the policeman who accompanied the paramedic who stretchered her down the mountain said that Monterosa is not good for learners. He had spent the entire day ferrying injured people down the mountain who got hurt on the black runs you cannot avoid.

For some reason, they designed the mountain to force skiers to take an extremely difficult black run, steep with moguls for about half a kilometre, to get across to the easier and nicer slopes.

The Monterosa ski school teaches on slopes which face the sun so the snow is sticky and the surface bumpy after snow overnight. There was little pisting by snowcats to reduce the moguls after a day's snowfall and pisting across the mountain was patchy, some days great, some days non-existent. Both my children, on their third and fourth ski week respectively, fell multiple times and my daughter went to hospital. Her ski instructor took the class on a black run, after saying they would not do a black run, because otherwise they would only get to ski the same few slopes again and again.

The resort has not invested in a lift to bypass this horrible black, and to be honest the lifts range from newish to 20-30 years old. Many are 2 person chairs with hard seats, no hoods and no slow down for children. No drag lifts thankfully but the infrastructure isn't very new. At the junctions, I couldn't see maps showing which runs are open, temperature gauges or even clocks.

The other major flaw of this resort - a deal breaker for any family holiday - is that all the slopes within 90 mins of the ski school are linear, no bowls that open up options on two or more sides, just straight up and down. So because the ski school lasts only 3 hours before pick up, parents basically ski the same slopes day after day, because you can't get to new slopes before you have to turn back to pick up children in time.

And because the ski school doesn't have a ski all day option with lunch included during the school holidays, you have to return to pick up kids, find some lunch and then ski the same linear slopes you skied in the morning, possibly reaching a little further along the line of the mountain before you have to turn back due to light and closing lifts.

You can avoid the black runs by taking the gondola down to the village, taking a bus and then a lift to the gentler slopes but it's a time waster which means less skiing for families.

This all makes for a monotonous holiday. Ironically we only picked this resort because the ski school advertised a group option with all day skiing including lunch. When we contacted them before flying in, they told us this was available only the day after we left. I guess they do not have enough instructors or changed their minds.

As a family, I would avoid this resort until it invests in a redesign to bypass the unavoidable blacks and perhaps a relocation of the ski school to where less experienced children can ski with less...

La ski area merita ma non puoi fare pagare 63 euro in cassa pur sapendo che al momento causa vento, c'è aperta solo la cabinovia e 2 piste e che entro 1 ora chiude la pista più alta (seconda cabinovia) e resta aperta solo la c1. In cassa alle 13 ancora nessuna segnalazione di questo disservizio e gente che continua a comprare skipass. Assurdo. Che poi il vento alle 10 si era calmato... inoltre la strada x arrivare al paese era con strato di neve e ghiaccio il camion con il sale stava passando alle 8 solo in una direzione. Abbiamo fatto 30 km sulla neve. Non...

Very good deal, Alessandro is a great added value to Monte Rosa skis he's been super helpful. Super well organized, the ski pass is super efficient. Thank you do much !...