Via Lattea: You'll Ski And Ride The Milky Way -
The Via Lattea (it translates to Milky Way) is a winter sports region straddling the Italian and French Alps at the border at Claviere/Montgenèvre. You'll find it about 70 km west of Turin.
Via Lattea includes four Piedmontese resorts: Claviere (1,760m); Sansicario (1,700m); Sauze d'Oulx (1,509m); Sestriere (2,035m), and the French resort Montgenèvre (1,850m).
You'll be able to ski and ride on 400 km of pistes, 120 of them able to be fortified with snowmaking guns. There are 88 lifts. The lowest lift begins is in the village of Cesana Torinese. The highest point is Mont Motta in the Sestriere ski area, at 2,800m. Claviere and Montgenèvre are connected at the lower limit of their ski area in the frontier pass, and at their highest point below the top of Mont Gimont. There are regular free bus services between the resorts.
If it looks familiar to you, it should. The Via Lattea region hosted many events during the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, including most alpine, freestyle, and Nordic skiing events, bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge.
Claviere is in the pass linking Italy and France. This is a small resort tucked under Mont Chaberton. It is best suited for intermediate skiers with a majority of red runs and a small area for beginners. San Sicario hosted all of the sledding events during the Olympics, along with the cross-country skiing events and biathlon.
Sestriere has Olympic quality slalom runs and some long black pistes. A flat area at the bottom is suited for beginners, but the majority of skiing is for intermediates. It is the highest and one of the busiest resorts in the area.
Montgenèvre is actually an old fort sitting above the pass. This resort is good for beginners with many gentle slopes leading to a wide area by the bottom lifts. There are numerous intermediate runs and the chance for off-piste skiing.
The most convenient airport is Turin. Coming from the U.K? Turin is served by British Airways from Gatwick; Ryanair from Stansted and Bristol; and EasyJet from Luton.
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