Skiing the Magical Milky Way in Italy

LET’S TAKE FLIGHT AND HEAD TO THE SKI SLOPES OF THE MILKY WAY SKI AREA IN ITALY

Ronan, the owner of Chalet Baita 1697, is the expert on the skiing on offer from the chalet’s base in the village of Pragelato. Part of the famed Milky Way ski area which straddles the Italian and France border, it offers a huge network of 400km of slopes. Catching up with Ronan this summer, and with the sun shining, it was lovely to let minds wander off to the snowy winter months and the mountain adventures to come.

Let us take flight and head to the Italian Alps for a stay at Chalet Baita 1697 and look at how a ski week will look for an extended family group…

“Waking earlyish to the smell of freshly brewed coffee, we tuck into a quick breakfast of freshly roasted homemade granola along with some freshly squeezed oranges from Sicily. Depending on appetites, perhaps even some eggs and bacon, all prepared by your ever friendly and cheerful hosts Bianca and Pietro. Into the ski room to change and boot up, and then, skis loaded over the shoulder, a quick 3-minute walk to the cable car, in time to be first on the freshly groomed slopes.

From the top of the cable car, stepping into skis, I would zip 75 metres across to the Orsiera button lift in the bottom of the bowl that is Anfiteatro and, 5 minutes later, skirt the edge of the runs back down into the bowl and instead drop over the other side of the ridge to be one of the first that morning to ski the bottom half of the Olympic downhill run. Kandahar it is called, with its undulating terrain of steep descents interspersed with gentler slopes, ending in a fabulous drop down to Borgata, at the bottom of the Sestriere system, a glorious, dizzying, adrenaline-inducing start to the morning on pure powdered corduroy.

Joining the 20-odd people lining up at the Nuova Nube chairlift, I head back up to the top of Monte Banchetta; and wash, rinse and repeat on run after different run. The Anfiteatro and Borgata zone alone providing 8 or 9 different, glorious pistes, without having to venture any further afield.

An obligatory further climb up the steep La Motta button lift to the very top of Monte Motta, at 2,850m the highest point in the Milky Way, and the start of the 2006 Olympic downhill piste, glorious powder skiing on a challenging run that continues all the way to Borgata, one of the finest pistes I have ever skied that runs for over 3km

An optional mid-morning coffee stop at Tana delle Volpe (the Vixens’ Den), in its commanding position above the top of the Monte Banchetta chairlift stations, with spectacular views across the Val Chisone to the point where the Sestriere zone connects with Sauze d’Oulx, and then finally, after a fabulous few hours, checking in on the younger kids who have been learning the basics on the baby slopes right at the top of the cable car, just an 8 minute ride back home if needed.

We’ll tow them the 100 metres or so to Raggio di Sole, one of my favourite restaurants anywhere, piste-side right in the bottom of the Anfiteatro bowl, where Dario has kept for us one of the prime tables on the suntrap terrace. The grandparents will be up shortly, taking the cable car to join the skiing contingent for lunch after a morning of breakfast, snow-shoeing and hot-tubbing, and the older kids will also join us after finishing ski school or ski club for the morning.

Depending on how long lunch goes on for, and how much energy everyone has, the afternoon may involve staying local, and revisiting some of the better skiing runs of the morning; or heading over to Sestriere to ski some gentler runs with the younger kids.

Once ready to start heading back to Baita, a quick pit-stop for a drink either back at Tana delle Volpe, to enjoy the shifting light across the mountains as the sun starts to set; or lower down, at Aquila Nera, on the lip of the Anfiteatro bowl, if with less-experienced skiers. And then the winding trail that wends its way through the trees all the way back to the bottom of the cable car, to within 100 metres of Baita.

Once back at the chalet we immediately head for a very welcome hot-tub soak, some downtime and maybe an aperitivo (or two) of Piedmont bubbly. Afterwards, Bianca calls us for a dinner of local toma blue cheese and candied walnuts on a bed of rocket and some crisp prosciutto, a delicious homemade grass-fed-broth-based minestrone, a locally-hunted venison stew with local organic polenta, all followed up with the best tiramisu I have ever tasted. On tap a local natural white provided by one of our local winemakers (or even the winery where the school we founded two hours away, Village Forest School, is now based) and a smashing easy-drinking baby Barolo, or the real thing for the serious partakers.

Tomorrow can’t come soon enough – another early start, and connecting several lifts back-to-back to get to the far end of Sestriere, and the bubble lift that runs up to the top of the mountain above Sauze d’Oulx and Sansicario, and an entirely new world of skiing and high-quality Italian food in piste-side restaurants to discover and explore, with the benefit of very few, if any, queues for the lifts. What is there not to love about skiing in the Milky Way?

Looking to Ski the Milky Way?

Chalet Baita 1697, formerly a 17th century Piedmontese farmhouse, is now a stunning luxury ski chalet that has been lovingly restored by acclaimed interior designer Lucie McCullough. Located in the village of Pragelato which is part of the “Milky Way” ski area, each morning it is just an easy three-minute walk to the Pattenmouche cable car.

The chalet can accommodate up to a maximum of 12 adults and 6 children on a catered basis. The chalet is situated in the heart of the old hamlet of Pattemouche at an altitude of 1,600m. The cable car is just 100m from the chalet and will whisk you onto the ski slopes above Sestriere, after which you can access the 400km of slopes in the Milky Way ski area. The Olympic cross-country skiing course is also just a 2-minute walk away.