Livigno

After such warm weather in Milan it seemed strange to be heading back to the Alps. We were hopeful there would still be some snow, but as we got nearer and began to realise how high and remote Livigno was it gave us even more. The journey to get to Livigno is not an easy one no matter where you come from and its isolation has earned it the nickname ‘Little Tibet’. By the time we got there we could see why, the passes to get there are at least 2300m high and it is pushed right up against the Swiss Alps. The European Union agreed with its remoteness and decided to allow it to have duty free status - we gather that the excise men couldn’t be bothered trekking over the mountains to control it!

Mmmm....pizza!

The village itself is at 1750m and so welcoming of all people that it has several places close by where you can park a camper for free and no less than four campgrounds that are open all year round. Chalets and hotels are also supposed to be very affordable, given the five hour transit from the nearest airport I guess they would have to be.

We arrived in the middle of the Easter break and the place was packed – although we weren’t totally convinced everyone was here for the snow. Shopping does seem to have become a legitimate past time these days too eh? Our suspicions were confirmed when we saw many groups of people strolling by with not skis on their shoulders, but rather 20 packs of crystalised sugar. Go figure.

As with St Moritz and some of the other resorts we’ve visited, Livigno is stretched along the valley floor, with two distinct ski fields on either side, and free buses running the length of the village. It was fair to say that at Costaccia, on one side, the snow looked distinctly patchy at the lower levels, but given the altitude of 3000m we decided to give it a whirl. It was very sunny on this side and very warm, after a few top to bottom runs we found the bottom half very soft and slushy, the snow was melting before our eyes, so we made an effort to stay up top but even this was getting too soft by the afternoon.

Riding Mottolino with the view over to Costaccia and Livigno in the valley below

The following day we checked out the other side – Mottolino and were in for a big treat. The snow cover was a lot more solid, the snow itself soft but not too slushy and wide terrain with little or no marked pistes – a freerider’s dream! To make it even more attractive, it boasts a Burton fun park with a nice fat halfpipe to play on. Interestingly, they don’t let you in without a helmet, so the halfpipe fun was only to be enjoyed by Eric on this day : (

The Burton Mottolino half pipe (Eric contemplating his ride at the top left)

Other highlights of the field include a vintage twin seater chairlift, which takes you on an incredibly slow 20 minute ascent to the top of the mountain. So slow in fact that it on more than one occasion it left us with a bad case of pins and needles….especially for Sharon in her leading leg which made her exit from the chair quite amusing!

The vintage pins & needles inducing twin seater chair - just what we need for Tukino!

One fabulous day on the mountain

In all the riding was great there but we’d love to see it covered in the 4ft of powder that it is apparently famous for, unfortunately not very likely in mid April.

But wait there’s more! Just as we thought this was fun enough, it also turns out that in the summer months Livigno is a mountain bike mecca. All the main lifts are fitted with bike carrying equipment and there is a MTB piste map that covers 600km of trails! There’s even a trail guide designed by the legendary GT rider Hans ‘No Way’ Rey, with 20,000m of vertical decent, the hill climbs mostly covered by the lift systems in the surrounding valleys… Looks like we’ll be back here in summer!

Mind you, there are other things to in Livigno, and enjoying the stunning alpine scenery on foot is certainly one of them...

Self portait

Alpine daisies

Eric casually strolling back into Italy

In all the riding was great there but we’d love to see it covered in the 4ft of powder that it is apparently famous for, unfortunately not very likely in mid April.

But wait there’s more! Just as we thought this was fun enough, it also turns out that in the summer months Livigno is a mountain bike mecca. All the main lifts are fitted with bike carrying equipment and there is a MTB piste map that covers 600km of trails! There’s even a trail guide designed by the legendary GT rider Hans ‘No Way’ Rey, with 20,000m of vertical decent, the hill climbs mostly covered by the lift systems in the surrounding valleys… Looks like we’ll be back here in summer!