Aside from public holidays and weekends, Italy's low key Three Valleys ski area can be fairly deserted. Even on sunny March days, you may get much of the 180 km of piste to yourself. But the resorts of Champoluc, Gressony and Alagna can fill up fast on Good Friday with Tironese and members of local ski clubs. Still, the Three Valleys are well served by nifty chair lifts and gondolas. The only bottlenecks tend to be the chair lift up from Frachey and the cable cars linking Alagna and Gressony to the slopes. Champoluc is a 90 minute ride from Turin airport and the scenery is spectacular, with expansive views of 4,000 metre mountains, including the Matterhorn. The quiet pistes linking Frachey and Champoluc, which criss-cross craggy valleys dotted with pine trees, feel particularly remote and wild.
8/10
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| The view from Passo Salati overlooking both Gressony and Alagna |
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| A blue piste, heading back to Champoluc from Frachey |
