We've been asking our colleague / friends about good places for hotel-based ski touring and Livigno Italy, came up high on the list of responses. Sun, great Italian food, nice lodging, cheap wine, lots of options, sun, lift-served access, good wine, lots of snow (did I mention sun and wine?).

A familiar cast of characters joined us for a week of all of the above with the notable exception of the sun. Actually we did have some brief moments under fleeting blue skies, but a rather discouraging amount of skiing in flat light, sometimes in a white out. Oh well. The great dining and drinking (don't forget the wine) and good company made up for the difficulty in seeing where you were going.

Marc Gallie

Chris Robinson

Tom Hoehn

Summer Haute Route, July 2016
Chamonix, February 2019

Mo Moceri

Paul Farrelle

Return to all recent trips

The day before the start of our trip snowed and snowed. Perfect! Though the avalanche hazard briefly spiked up to level 4 (out of 5) the new snow did wonders to cover the firmness developed over the previous weeks of dry weather.

The view from our fine room in the Hotel St. Michael, Livigno. Damiano was a wonderful host.

Here's the team. From left to right we have: Paul, Chris, Marc, Tom, Mo and Mark. (Kathy behind the camera.)

Part of the Livigno ski area. Use the scroll bar to see the whole image. We are looking north (mostly). Livigno lies in the valley below.

Our first day was, well, an exercise in compromise. Our original plan was to ski up Monte Rocca just to the east of the ski area. But flat light and surprisingly bad snow suggested we might be happier skiing the pisted slopes, which is what we ended up doing.

Day 2 looked much improved. The day's tour starts at the top of the Monte della Neve lift.

A brief bit of corduroy, and we were out of the ski area.

Wandering along the beautiful ridge towards Monte delle Mine.

It was a beautiful morning.

Kathy has a look over the edge.

I guess it's OK.

Pausing for a view.

A little bit of steepness to climb over Monte delle Mine.

As was our luck for much of the week, we had some flat light on the descent (hence few photos). We descended down into the valley of La Vallacchia and out to the road at Pont del Rez.

Passing through the group of buildings called Casa della Vallaccia.

Out to the road at Pont del Rez.

Waiting for the bus at Colombina.

Gathering for dinner.

A carnivore's dream plate.

The following day, our 3rd, the weather looked reasonable in the morning, but again with some rather flat light.

We start off towards Pizzo Cantone.

Scenic and fine for going up.

We had to work the ridge a bit to stay off the steeper north-facing slopes.

On the north ridge of Pizzo Cantone.

Once over the summit, it is time for down!

Though we had some fun skiing, the light was not very conducive to photography. Sorry.

Eventually, back in the valley it is time to put skis away and find the bus stop in Campacciolo de Sopra.

Our 4th day was pretty grim. Though we had some new snow (much appreciated) visibility was pretty dreadful all day long.

Here, we are again trying our Day 1 plan, up Monte Rocca.

GPS in the fog.

A brief "clearing" reveals Mo finding a good turn.

On Day 5, we again had some morning clearing. Here, we are all alone up in the basin on the northeast side of Monte Forcellina.

In and out of the sun.

But, by the time we were ready to descend, it was mostly "in". Kathy leads the way down.

With Mo close behind.

We did enjoy a bit of better visibility now and then.

Paul

And Chris.

And Kathy again.

Paul joins the others.

On our day 6 we start off towards the Corna dei Gessi. But white out and difficult snow prevented much progress. We did, however have a good 1000-meter run back down the pistes into Livigno.

On our last day, the forecast was even worse. Hmmm.. What to do? At Mo's encouragement, we spent a fine day in Bormio.

Chris admires the giant boxes of mushrooms.

There were some amazing doors is this old town.

Kathy and Paul in Bormio. We'll have to come back to taste a bit more of the "sun".