Italy 

                                     Spotlight On Cervinia

                                The Sunnyside of the MATTERHORN

                                                                  (Originally written for OnTheSnow.com)
                                                                                         by Ted Heck

Come ski past world-famous Monte Cervino. What, you've never heard of it? Sure you did-it's the Italian name for the Matterhorn, the magnificent rock that Italy shares with Switzerland. A dramatic peak that may be the most photographed mountain on earth.

Italians take just as much pride in the mountain as the Swiss do, even though it loses the shape of a pyramid when viewed from the sunny, southern side. Mountain guides in the village of Breuil Cervinia say it may not be as pretty, but it is tougher to climb from their direction.

Skiers who stay in Cervinia can go up to Plateau Rosa for a look at the other side, while skiing down to Zermatt in a reversal of the popular day trip made by visitors from the famed Swiss resort. Incidentally, the Theodul glacier on the Swiss side is skiable year-round, even when the ride up from Cervinia is over green meadows and a riot of alpine flowers.

Would that the village of Cervinia itself be as attractive as the mountain. It is a purpose-built resort that appears to have been thrown together in a hurry to capitalize on the magnificent terrain, as skiing grew in popularity. Charm recedes the farther you get from village center and the bigger the hotels get. Cervinia has less than a thousand residents but three times as many guest beds in hotels and apartments. Some skiers find the hamlet of Valtournenche more pleasant (and cheaper). It is five miles away, 1,700 feet lower in the valley, with more inhabitants but fewer beds.

It is easy to fault the architecture in Cervinia, even knock the quality of night life, but only hotshots can poke a hole in Cervinia's raison d'etre---the ego-busting slopes. Huge treeless snowfields offer many miles of wide, groomed runs that are mostly intermediate and invite skiers and riders to whoop in joy. From Plateau Rosa down to the village is a five-mile journey, with a vertical drop of nearly 4,800 feet, more if you start from the Klein Matterhorn, the majestic peak that sits across the glacier from its big brother.

Bored hotshots can wander off into countless acres of deep stuff. Thirty-two lifts let skiers soak up the sun on the way back..

That assumes the sun is shining and there is no whiteout, the occasional problem on naked slopes. A remedy for that, of course, is to take a day off to go sightseeing. Highly recommended is a bus down to the city of Aosta and its remarkable Roman ruins. (For more on this subject, see our profile on Courmayeur, another major resort in northwestern Italy.)

Getting to Breuil Cervinia is a 50-50 proposition, when considering gateways. Milan's Malpensa airport and Geneva's Cointrin are about the same distance from the snow.

Bring a camera!