Big mountains from the top lift in Gressoney
Gressoney (confusingly pronounced Gress-on-Ay) is a fairly small, up and coming Italian resort, and part of the Monterosa Ski Area.
The main village of Gressoney La Trinite is at just over 1600m. Further down the valley, less than 10 minutes by bus, is Gressoney Saint Jean, at 1400m, and less than 10 minutes further up the valley is Stafal, at 1800m. The two higher villages, Gressoney La Trinite and Stafal, are served by lifts and pistes, but if you stay in Gressoney Saint Jean you’ll need to start and end your day with a short bus ride.
Gressoney is a quiet, beautiful, family friendly village, with a few restaurants and bars, but certainly no wild nightlife. If partying forms a big requirement of your ski trips then you should probably look for somewhere else, but for couples and families this is an excellent resort with a wide range of skiing on offer. The scenery is excellent and the architecture is traditional, small village Italian – few signs of French concrete ski-resort monstrosities here.
There’s another group of skiers who should have a look at Gressoney; backcountry skiers. The lifts here take you up over 3200m, and provide access to a huge amount of off piste skiing. Gressoney also provides the start point to some serious ski-mountaineering tours. Be warned though, the mountains are big and steep, and whilst there are a couple of marked ski routes most of the backcountry is not patrolled or avalanche controlled, and you should only venture out here with the suitable knowledge, experience, equipment, and preferably, a guide.
One group of skiers who might want to think carefully about visiting are expert piste skiers who like to ski mainly difficult black runs, but don’t venture off -piste. There are very few black runs in Gressoney and you’ll find yourself bored if red runs don’t excite you.
When we went to the resort the main draw was the variety of skiing, coupled with the reasonable prices. Both accommodation and lift ticket prices are very good value here, and as the resort is high it’s also fairly snow-sure.
The food on the mountain is largely very good, and the small number of mountainside eateries provide a decent mixture of tasty Italian fare at reasonable prices.
For more information have a look at the Gressoney tourist site here.