Heli-Skiing in Italy and Ski Tours Dolomites, Monte Rosa and Monte Bianco Massifs
The heli-skiing in the Italian Alps and Dolomites can rival the best of what Canada can offer with incredible vertical descents of over 2000m! Some of the best heli-skiing can be found around the Monte Bianco and Monte Rosa Massifs where the hidden valleys can be wild and great fun.
And, unlike the wilderness and remoteness of many backcountry areas in the Canadian Rocky mountains or other more exotic heli-skiing destinations like the Tien Shan mountain range in Kyrgyzstan, the base stations are usually in a ski resort.
This means that when the weather is too bad to fly, you can always ski around the resort runs and enjoy that special Italian hospitality in one of the excellent mountain restaurants.
Valgrisench is a beautiful village sitting at 1664m just 28km off the main Aosta Valley and provides some of the best heli-skiing terrain in the Alps. It offers more than 50 high altitude landing sites with diversified terrain catering for all levels of skier and snowboarder.
Blessed with glaciers, open fields and tree skiing plus descents into Val d’Isere and St. Foy in the Tarentaise part of the French Alps, heli-skiing from Valgrisench can rival the best in the world.Turin is the closest airport taking around 1 hour 45 minutes to cover the 147km to Valgrisench. Alternatively, it is 153km from Geneva airport via Chamonix and the Mont Blanc tunnel.
There are many drop-off points with some of the most popular being...
- Maurin at 3212m - a good place for snowboarders and descents up to 1500m
- Ormelune - the drop-off is at 3278m and depending upon the selected route, the vertical can be as much as 1500m and there are options to ski over in to St Foy in France
Getting there
La Thuile is 132km from Geneva airport and takes just under 2 hours by car.
The area around Monte Rosa is full of charming alpine villages and steep valleys that are ideal for heli-skiing such as...
- Valle Anzasca and Macugnaga ski resort
- Valsesia and the pretty village of Alagna
- Valle del Lys with the charming resort of Gressoney
- Val d'Ayas Champoluc
Many of the drop-offs are between 2500m and 4200m giving huge verticals and long descents such as on Col Lys and the Grenz Glacier, Breithorn and Val Di Verra. Turin is the closest airport at just over 112km from Gressoney-La-Trinité.
The Valle di Susa heli-skiing area is close to the international ski resorts of Sauze D'Oulx and Sestriere in the Milkyway ski carousel or Via Lattea as it's known in Italy.
There are over 50 drop-off points around the area including the impressive Monte Viso that stands at 3841m. The closest airport is Turin at 109km and transfers to Sestriere ski resort typically take around 90 minutes.
The dolomites are home to spectacular 4000m jagged peaks, the famous resort of Cortina, the 26km Sella Ronda carousel and the Marmolada mountain that requires 3 cable-cars to get to the top.
Away from the 1200km of pistes, there are many deep powdered descents around the Marmolada area that can only be accessed when heli-skiing. Many of the ski resorts such as Corvara, Arabba and Canazei have local operators and ski guides that can organise anything from 1 to 6 day packages. The closest international airport is Innsbruck with transfers to Cortina taking around 70 minutes to cover the 96km.
