During Easter 2023, my family and I went to Montgenèvre for a week of skiing and it was amazing! Although we travelled and stayed as a family, we were also part of a large group of families who we had skied with before. We chose Montgenèvre as it was right on the boarder of France and Italy and since everyone in our family had skied at least three time before, we were keen to ski over to Italy together.
My family and I travelled by car so we took the overnight ferry over to France and drove the rest of the way to the mountains, stopping at a hotel for the night so that we reached the resort around lunchtime the next day.
A view from my apartment balcony as it was snowing
We stayed in an apartment at Le Napoléon just opposite the ski school meeting place which made it a lot easier as we only had to walk across the road in the morning to get to our group. It had an indoor pool and our apartment had a balcony overlooking the little shops and a few houses. It was in the heart of a mini village which was perfect as I could look around the shops in the afternoon after a full day of skiing. The chairlifts on the mountain behind the apartment on the Chalvet side were calm, quiet and surrounded by snow. The mountains on the left of the chairlift were so beautiful: on the second day, we just sat there in silence as we looked closely for any marmots below us.
We were given the first morning to explore the resort before starting ski school as lessons always start in the afternoon on a Sunday in Montgenèvre which is a big plus. we spotted some cafes on the slopes. Our group of teenagers started off by going along some easy blue runs through the trees as well as a few reds and a couple of off-piste parts just near the slopes with our instructor. We were so excited when we discovered the Snow Park for the first time and immediately wanted to race each other.
A view of the Italian Mountains from the chairlift
In the afternoon, we went sledging on the slope just outside our apartment with some of the people from our group and we had a great time whizzing down the slope on our mini sledges. The snow was fresh as it had snowed just a few hours before and we continued to race each other down the hill. We ended with a snowball fight before heading back inside to get ready for another day of skiing.
Our favourite activity was definitely the Snow Park which was perfect for racing as it had narrow runs just to the left of it and lots of jumps. Me and my friends would race down there almost every day, going higher on the jumps each time. It was very spacious and also had a very wide run so that you could avoid the jumps if you wanted to. The chairlift that took us up there was right next to a café on the slopes that sold drinks and food and it was the perfect meeting place as both runs led back to that area. That meant we could go up the chairlift and ski back down as much as we wanted by ourselves, which was great!
My Brother and I hitting the slopes!
Fresh snow at the foot of the chairlift
During the first two days, I made friends with a girl named Noa in my ski group which made the chairlifts more enjoyable as we would sit and chat for ages whilst looking at the beautiful scenery and laugh too hard when one of us fell over or dropped a pole (which was usually Noa). My ski school was the perfect size which meant we had a great time getting to know one another and skiing together which was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.
One of my best moments was skiing over to Italy with my ski group as the snow was powdery and perfect for a morning of skiing. We skied down some reds and blacks before getting a chairlift to a café at the top of the slopes where we stopped to have hot chocolate in the sun. The view of the mountains was so pretty as we sat outside and chatted whilst listening to the music being played through the speakers.
After a morning of red runs, me and my friends decided to challenge ourselves a little and do an off-piste run with our instructor which was just above a mini stream. It was clear we hadn’t thought it through very well as we quickly became stuck at a narrow bend, but we just laughed as we tried to dig our skis out of the deep snow. Eventually, we had to take our skis off and walk to avoid the stream that was just underneath us. Towards the end it became wider and a lot easier as the snow was powdery and you could hear and see the stream through the gaps in the snow. We were excited when we saw a few jumps at the end and quickly tried to gather enough speed so that we made it to the top. Although it was exhausting, the fresh snow was worth it so we took the chairlift up and did it a second time. This time, however, we knew when to gather speed for a big jump and more importantly, when to duck under the tree branches. It was definitely one of my favourite off-piste runs I had done.
On the last day, I had promised to race Noa on the snow park. We had a quick practice and then skied down towards the chairlift. Both of us loved the gentle run through the trees before reaching the start of the chairlift again. We often saw others from our ski group on the button lifts and on the slopes, waving to them as we skied past. Both of us settled on a 2-2 draw, counting the race we had done that morning in ski school where she had taken the lead just at the last jump.
I would love to return to Montgenèvre in the future with my friends as it is such a beautiful resort and I had a great time on the slopes. One of the resorts that I would like to visit next year is Les Deux Alpes as I would love to try snowboarding for the first time and ski all the way from the top down to Mont de Lans.
What I’m looking for as a teenager in a ski resort
- Off-piste parts that are (slightly) challenging to do with an instructor
- A pool and good activities for the afternoon (like sledging)
- Shops and restaurants nearby and preferably a café on the slopes
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This blog was created by Anna (age 15), our work experience student and client.