Skiing in Cervinia

Cervinia across the border from Zermat In Switzerland, is high and snow sure with km after km of well groomed unchallenging pistes. This is an extensive mountain and the kilometers of long gentle runs make it the ideal place for beginners as there is an excellent nursery slope in the village and these long gentle runs are the perfect place for early intermediate skiers to progress to.

The slopes are linked by lift and piste to Zermat. The old village developed into a winter resort without any consistent style or architecture and some of the apartment blocks could be considered quite ugly. Nevertheless the centre is traffic free and pleasant.

Like so many of the resorts in this region Cervinia can get busy over the weekends when day trippers from Milan and Turin drive up.

The lift pass does not cover the lifts in Zermat but this can be done by means of a daily supplement or buying the more expensive pass that covers both.

The peaks here are among Italy's highest and the runs the longest, the run from the plateau Rosa to Valtournenche being near to 12 km and the skiing area, excluding the slopes over in Zermat have 130 km of prepared pistes.

If the piste gradings at St Anton and Val d'Isere understate difficulty then those in Cervinia must be the tops for overstating it. Most of the "Reds" would be classified "blue" elsewhere. Furthermore the superb quality of the snow and grooming makes skiing here quite flattering.