Italy
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2006 Olympic Site
...alpine skiing
...Olympic village
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SESTRIERE
SESTRIERE-I.A.T.
Via Louset, CAP 10058
Sestriere, (TO) Italy
Telephone: (39) (0122) 755444 Fax: (39) (0122) 755171
URL: montagne.doc
Email: sestriere@montagnedoc.it
PIEDMONT
Sestriere originally created by Fiat, is a modern well designed ski resort in the Val di Susa area of the Southwestern Alps near the Italian/French border. Reliable snow, challenging advanced terrain, and a warm sunny climate attract a sophisticated, international clientele. Sestriere figured prominently in the 2006 Olympics and is the centerpiece of the Vialattea--the "Milky Way."
Downtime in Sestriere.
(Photo: Italian Government Travel Office)
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Elevation: Base/Village: 2,035 m (6,666 ft); Top: 2,840 m (9,262 ft)
Vertical: 840 m (2,755 ft)
Longest Run: 9 km (6 mi)
Terrain: 400 km (248 mi) of downhill slopes in the Milky Way ; 24% beginner, 55% intermediate, 21% advanced. 120 km (74 mi) in immediate Sestriere area
Skiing Circus: “Milky Way Pass”—Sestriere, Sauze d’Oulx, Sansicario, Cesana and Claviere Resorts
Lifts: 88 in the Milky Way (More lift info at www.vialattea.it)
Types: 3 gondolas, 35 chairlifts, 54 surface lifts
Lift Capacity: 108,000 p/h
Ski Season: December-April
Summer Skiing: No
Cross Country: 10 km of cross country trails in Sestriere resort
Ski School: 3 ski schools with 150 instructors in Sestriere; 12 schools and 600 instructors in entire Milky Way
Mountain Restaurants: 5 in Sestriere resort
Other Winter Activities: Ice skating, alpine guided tours, paragliding, helicopter skiing, ski-doo and motor sled, fitness center, sauna, squash, indoor sports of tennis, football, basketball, volleyball, badminton
Après-Ski: 1 disco, 25 bars; 6 pubs, 1 cinema
Shopping Services: Cinema, first-aid, numerous shops: antique, tailor, sporting goods, jewelry, perfume, confectionery
Credit Cards: Visa, American Express and Diner's Club
Child Care: Kid’s ski school: Yes. Nursery: Yes.
Lodging: 3,300 beds; 1,092 rooms; 18 hotels; 10 residences
with 200 beds
Transportation: Gateway Airport: Torino Caselle, Milano Linate, Milano
Malpensa
Closest Provincial City: Turin 100 km (56 mi)
From Airport: Motorway A32 Frejus-Oulx and then SS24 e SS23 from Oulx to
Sestriere (105 km, 65 mi)
Ski Bus: from Oulx 22 km, from Torino 100km
By Train: Svc. from Oulx 22 km. On the line Rome-Paris
Best Deal: “Milky Way” Ski Pass-6 resorts, 66+ lifts, ski from Cesana/Claviere to French area of Montgenevre. Promotion Season—(see Ski Season).
Rates: See Rates section
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Spotlight On
Sestriere |
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(Originally
written for OnTheSnow.com)
by Ted Heck
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Sestriere…quaint it ain’t! high-rise buildings and cylindrical apartment houses that in
photographs look like family-size cans of baked beans are a far cry
from a traditional alpine village that became a ski resort as an
afterthought.
Not so with Sestriere in western Italy’s Piedmont province. It was
the first purpose-built resort in the Alps. Back in the 1930s Signor
Agnelli of the Fiat family said, “Let’s ski here,” and he put
his money where his mouth was. Other investments followed over the
decades; money was blown onto the mountains for lifts and snowmaking
and into the village on hotels, restaurants, shops, and other
amenities. The resort mushroomed into a community whose 16,000 guest
beds are 20 times the number of permanent residents.
The growth hasn’t stopped. The major industrial city of Turin will
host the 2006 Winter Olympics and many of the ski venues will be in
the Sestriere area, which is 60 miles away. Nobody wins an Olympic
bid without guaranteeing snow and adequate facilities for athletes
and spectators.
Flying into Turin won’t be as convenient as dropping into Salt
Lake City. But recreational skiers have a year to be ahead of
the crowd and enjoy truly remarkable terrain. Sestriere is part of a
region nicknamed the Milky Way. It includes five ski areas in
Italy--Sestriere, Sauze d’Oulx, Sansicario, Cesana, and Claviere---and
over a pass into France and the impressive resort of Montgenevre.
(The pass, by the way, figures in history. Two centuries Before
Christ, Hannibal rode through on elephants to invade Italy.)
Many majestic mountains are linked together by slopes and lifts that
comprise one of the great ski circuses in the Alps. An atlas
published by the German automobile club lays out a circular tour
that shows how to make the most of 248 miles of interconnected and
prepared slopes. Roughly half of them are classified as
intermediate, but 20 to 25 percent of the others are easy, and a
similar number are black. Experts find that pleasing; too often they
lament the lack of challenging slopes in other resorts.
An international ski pass covers both sides of the border and gives
right of passage on 88 lifts—5 gondolas, 38 chairlifts and 45
Surface lifts. Cross country skiers have six miles of track to glide on
and winter walkers have two and a half miles on which to admire the
scenery. Various other winter activities are available.
Lodging costs are average in Sestriere, except in the luxurious
Principi di Piemonte. Most hotels are rated three-star and give good
value. Apartments abound and afford ways of holding down costs. Many
restaurants offer alternatives to dishwashing. Night life in bars
and discos is lively. But you’d already suspect that if you knew
those baked bean cans were Club Med quarters.
Skiers have a bonus, much like a stock option, but this one won’t fade
away with corporate mismanagement. If they do visit Sestriere now,
in February, 2006, they can sit back in the reclining chair and
watch Olympic action on TV and exclaim, “Been there, done that.”
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POINT OF VIEW
By Bob Dever
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Preparing for the Olympics
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In February, 2006, Torino, Italy will be the site of the 20th Winter Olympic
Games. Most of the alpine skiing events will be held at Sestriere or one of
the other interconnected resorts that make up the Via Lattea skiing complex.
The Milky Way, the English translation of Via Lattea, consists of five
separate lift connected areas -- Sestriere, Cesana, Claviere, Sansicario and
Sauze d’Oulx. With 92 lifts, an endless variety of groomed slopes, and lift ticket
prices at around $40 US, these northwest Italian mountains offer everything a
respectable intermediate skier needs.
Preparation for the Olympics is everywhere. Sestriere, the home of many of
the upcoming alpine events and the site of one of the Olympic Villages, today,
looks like a winter breeding ground for cranes and construction cranes.
These 10-to-15 story mechanical monsters dominate the local landscape
now as new hotels, apartments, and condominiums are going up everywhere. A new
and improved highway system is being put in to handle the influx of visitors
and all of this construction will enable this readily accessible Italian ski
town to better handle the tourist bang that inevitably comes from hosting an
Olympic Games.
Cesana, Claviere, and Sansicario will not only present some alpine events but
will be the site for luge, bobsled, and biathlon. Viewing the
under construction sporting venues today, in January 2005, you would wonder if
its possible to have everything completed in the next twelve months, but
completed they will be and in fact are being utilized now for various European
or world championship sporting events as practice for the big show.
The Olympics don't come cheap though. The top price for a ticket to watch the
alpine skiing events is 110 euros or about $143 US. But the cost of watching
alpine skiing pales in comparison to the cost of the most popular events to
be held in Torino -- 850 euros or $1,100 for the opening ceremonies; 300 euros
or almost $400 US for figure skating and hockey. Curling tickets, on the other
hand, are available for about $50 US. These are the top ticket prices and
less expensive tickets are available. The nature of alpine and cross country
skiing is such that there is opportunity to view the events as they happen, and
you don't necessarily need a warmed finish line seat to appreciate the best
competing against the best.
Weather is always a consideration in the Italian Alps. January 2005 I skied
the Vialattea for a week. Natural snow conditions were average to mediocre
and the entire region was beset with high winds closing many of the
interconnecting lifts for days at a time. This won't do at the time of the
Olympics. The organizers of the 2006 games, realizing that they are dealing with weather
sensitive sports, continue to make investments in snow making and
transportation systems. Most of the beginner and intermediate terrain is
covered by snowmaking and a decent pubic bus service system exists that will get you from
the base of one area to another.
The Olympic race courses have already been set by the organizing committee.
The downhill, giant slalom, and slalom race courses appear on the 2005 trail
maps and you can ski them today. The steepness of the slalom course will
probably surprise you as will the fact that the men's downhill doesn't appear to
be that steep or difficult, and is very doable for an intermediate skier. Of
course, the conditions that we will ski it under, groomed and not very crowded,
are not the same conditions under which they will ski it--- iced up and in the
glare of international television
This part of the Italian Alps is not just about the Olympics. These are very
nice mountains. The lift and alternative transportation services are very
good today, and will be better in 2006. Snowmaking and grooming is world class
and cost, other then in February of next year, are not out of sight. With
five areas to choose from there is a variety of terrain and even some off piste
for those who need that. In addition, the Milky Way straddles the
Italian/French frontier and for 15 euros one can ski across the border into
France. More interconnected lifts place you in the French ski area of Montgenevre, which
has more than 2,000 feet of vertical and 15 lifts of its own.
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