Skiing the Italian Alps with Ski Itineraries in March

Hit some more challenging slopes and stop by a UNESCO World Heritage Site village all in one day, while skiing the Italian Alps with Ski Itineraries in March.

As part of our Discovery Package, Pat and I got the chance to ski in and out of 3 different countries with Ski Itineraries in March. Day 1 of the Discovery Package had us exploring the Swiss Alps, skiing from Italy into Switzerland and back. On Day 2, we were skiing the Italian Alps. Pat and I were joined by my Italian friend, Giulia, and the Director of Monterosa, Andrea, on this tougher terrain. Ski Itineraries had gotten a feel for our skiing abilities the day prior. Now that they knew what we were capable of, they decided to take us down a more challenging mountain, something Patrick very much enjoyed. But it isn’t just about skiing with Ski Itineraries, it’s about local immersion. Ski Itineraries chose to take us to this specific resort in the Italian Alps so we could stop for lunch in the undiscovered Italian UNESCO World Heritage Site village of Alagna.

Growing up and spending my summers in Lake Maggiore, I remember clearly seeing Monterosa and it’s snow capped peak (even in the summer sometimes!) off in the distance. Never did I think I would be on Italy’s second highest mountain and looking down below in the middle of March, but here I was. From Indren, we looked down to what is called Freeride Paradise, a literal paradise open to off-piste skiers. I turned around and saw a snow hut perched on a mountain peak in the distance. Giulia told me the story of how she took snowshoes—remember the one’s that look like tennis rackets?—and actually hiked her way up to Rifugio Città di Mantova above Punta Indren, a snow hut that hosts people to this day. Wish we had thought of adding that to our itinerary! Maybe for another time.

Andrea gave us a lay of the land and some history of the area before we hit the slopes. Only Ski Itineraries could get us a private and detailed tour of this Italian Alp, its land, and people by none other than one of the Directors of Monte Rosa himself. Andrea explained to us how the region was investing in what might be considered the largest ski lift in the Alps connecting this resort to 3 others in the area. Could you imagine? This specific resort we were in was more famous among off-piste skiers, free riders, and those looking for steep challenging slopes. It was a nice change up from the more laid back slopes of the Swiss Alps we had done the day before.

The side of Monterosa we were on had few slopes, but they were steep. Ski Itineraries ended up taking us down a few easy red and blue trails before skiing down the 7-mile black trail a few times. It was exhilarating! Surprisingly it wasn’t as difficult as I thought. I’ve skied next to black runs in America and even accidentally ended up on some. American black runs are not only steep, but incredibly narrow, and that’s what scares me the most about them. The black runs in the Italian alps were completely different. Sure they were steep, but they were also super wide. I ended up going down a lot of black runs by the end of the trip and enjoying the challenge.

After skiing down the black run a few times, we made our way down to Alagna for lunch. When we arrived in Alagna, before heading out to explore the UNESCO World Heritage site we needed to refuel. Although we were all Italians, we went for a meal that is not Italian in the slightest, spaghetti with meatballs. What can I say…we were in the mood!

After lunch Ski Itineraries arranged for Andrea to walk us through the Italian Alps UNESCO World Heritage Site village of Alagna. It is actually more Germanic than Italian in nature and was and still is occupied by the Walsers, a German population that settled here in the 13th century. To this day they have their own particular culture and speak their own dialect. What makes this village so unique are its unusual and still intact 17th century wooden houses with what look like wooden bars barricading the outside. These houses were traditionally used as farms. They used to dry hay on the slabs of wood outside their house and some still do. The wooden beams kind of serve as a more functional drying rack in a way.

Following lunch we made our way back to the peak of the Italian Alps. It was getting late and we really wanted to try and ski down the other beautiful side of this Italian Alp. Giulia, Pat, and I rushed down the slope and tried to make it to the neighboring resort. We hopped on the last chair lift and made our way up.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, Pat understood that we needed to go left instead of right. He rushed ahead of us and disappeared. We ended up losing him for a good hour and panicked that he may have gone down the wrong side of the mountain. This would’ve been an issue because the ski lifts had closed and we would have had to drive around the mountain to get him. As Giulia and I were searching for Pat, the only way back down was through a black run with moguls, the easy runs had been closed. Are you kidding me?! I was no way that good of a skier (or so I thought), but it was the only way down. After very slowly making our way through moguls, we found Patrick at the bottom of the mountain, thank god. When I found him, I yelled at him for making me go down a black mogul run because of his carelessness. Lesson learned: When skiing the Italian Alps never surpass your Ski Itineraries instructor and never be antsy and move ahead of your tour guide. Aside from that brief scare at the end of our day, the variety and history at this resort continued to prove that choosing Ski Itineraries as our tour guide of choice was the best decision when it came to planning our ski trip to the Alps in March.

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