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Very little written reviews on the web but all the youtube vids are pure freeride filth!
Fabulous off-piste listed as top positive (not been there personally, Aosta well known though)
http://www.wheretoskiandsnowboard.com/resorts/MonterosaSki/
Went there for a day this time last year (although we were dropped off at Champoluc at the other end). Really enjoyed it. We went from Champoluc all the way to Alagna and then back again in the day, with a stop for lunch and a cheeky bombardino at one of the mountain huts. There's some amazing long descents and I can confirm that there's loads of off-piste opportunities. Absolutely tons of fresh powder when we went. The resorts are quite quiet though, not much in the way of nightlife it seems.
If you go heliskiing when in Chamonix, they will often take you to the Alagna area. The whole Monte Rosa area is a rather big lesser known gem.
^^^ as an aside I believe its the case that heli skiing is banned in Switzerland and France so they have to go to Italy. They can take off but can't drop you in France/Switzerland.
I tried googling but I believe there was a Teton Gravity Research ski film which did some filming in Monterosa. Quiet resorts with good snow are perfect for off-piste as it doesn't get tracked out in a day.
Heli skiing is banned in France, the apocryphal story is that Giscard D'Estaing banned it after using a heli to ski down Mont Blanc.
We had a weekend there. Lovely resort and fantastic ski area. Lots of off piste options if you can do a little hiking. The first lift was a big bottleneck though. Biggest queue I have ever been in for anything ever. Once up the hill it was fine but it made a rough start to the day.
Heli skiing is banned in France, the apocryphal story is that Giscard D'Estaing banned it after using a heli to ski down Mont Blanc.
The story is that Giscard D'Estaing went heli skiing and landed near some ski tourers on Mont Buet who had skinned up. It pissed them off royally and when they recognised who it was it turned into a political football. At the time there were only 4 sites in the area where drop offs were allowed and they were quickly banned too. Anselme Baud recounts the story in his Mont Blanc guide (aka Baud's book of death).
The Monterosa area is superb. Not much piste at Alagna but that's not the point. If you want some piste then you can base yourself at Gresonney which links over easily to Alagna.
Yep worth a few days at least. We did the champulac-gressoney-algna-champulac loop in a day a good few years ago. Cracking empty pistes midweek(I think its a weekend destination from the northern Italian cities mainly) - mainly fast reds / easy blacks. Then an itinerary type un-bashed run down to Algna. Note I think there still is only one run to resort level at that end but it may now be pisted and/or you can go down on the lift.
Algna seemed v quiet and lovely for lunch but not right if you're after noisy nightlife.
Stayed in Gressoney last year but skied over to Alagna a couple of times. Personally I thought Alagna side was a bit more limited that Gressoney, which is more central. But we were unlucky with snow and off piste was pretty cack. Loads of potential in the whole area and very quiet. Pistes were immaculately groomed - best I've seen anywhere!
Music to my ears people !!!!!!