Sometimes it’s nice to do something other than downhill skiing when you’re away in the mountains in winter – sacrilege, I know, but I’m being serious. After a week of downhill skiing, I was ready for a different challenge and a different pace of life. So, what else can you do in a ski resort other than skiing? Well, it depends where it is and what your preferences are, really. Some resorts have a lot going on other than downhill skiing, but there’s always the option of going somewhere where the emphasis is on other things and downhill skiing is not the main attraction. This is what we found when we headed further down the Aosta valley to Cogne where cross-country skiing is the main attraction and the downhill very much a side dish.

Cogne, Gateway to the Gran Paradiso

Cogne is a beautiful area, reached by a winding road that climbs up from the Aosta valley into the Gran Paradiso. A fierce storm and devastating floods in July 2023 washed away a vital bridge and damaged parts of the road with landslides; it cut the village off for weeks and the road is still undergoing repairs several months later. With tourism a vital source of income for this small community the lack of road infrastructure to get people in and out had a damaging effect on the businesses that rely on visitors for their revenue. That seemed reason enough to pay this beautiful mountain haven a visit this year, even better that it ticked all the items on our wish list of finding things other than downhill skiing to do in a winter resort.

As we drive up the steep-sided valley, the view starts to open up as we reach the village. It soon becomes obvious that Cogne is actually a series of small villages all linked together. This was a mining area, with magnetite the main mineral. The mining operations have all now closed but there is a mining museum you can visit in the main Cogne village to get an idea of the history of this area and what used to be its main industry.    

We reach our hotel for the next few days, the Hotel Miramonti. It looks out onto the Sant’ Orso meadow. In summer, no doubt a lush display of beautiful wild flowers, but in winter it is a glistening expanse of perfectly groomed ski track. What an ideal location. 

Cogne is well known for its cross-country skiing. Preparations are on this week for the World Cup which is due here next week. There is also the Italian Winter Triathlon championships taking place just on the day we’re due to leave. That is a different type of triathlon than the one I’m used to, with a cross-country ski, a run, and a mountain bike ride through the snow. Sounds exciting, and it’s a shame we’re not going to be able to stay to see it, but we did see a lot of extremely fit triathletes scooting round the arena on skis, bikes or running shoes.

The Miramonti Hotel is a 4* hotel that offers a package including dinner, bed and breakfast as well as access to the luxurious spa. At check-in we get to book our slot for our complimentary massage, included in the half-board package we’ve booked. The hotel has a sumptuous feel with deep red decor in the bar and restaurant and exquisitely furnished bedrooms. There’s also a large parking garage and ski store. At €1,800 for two of us for half-board for a week that seemed good value.

There is a small downhill ski area with just three lifts. As we were here for cross-country skiing and more gentle-paced activities, we didn’t try the downhill this week, so can’t really say what it’s like, other than that the runs looked quite nice, but there weren’t very many of them. 

So, our wellness week was shaping up nicely: a bit of time in the spa; a relaxing time chilling out on the big sofa in our room; a massage; then read a book for a bit; a drink or two before dinner. But first, some exercise!

Cross-Country Classic

So, donning our cross-country garb we headed out to the meadows for some laps on the classic skis. The beauty of staying in a hotel that is right next to the tracks is that you can pop back in for a break any time you want; coffee anyone? There’s a track that winds up and down the meadows, once in the track we just followed the cut track up and down, up and down, up and down. It was rather confusing as everytime we thought we had got back to the start we realised that we were on another one-way loop taking us back up to the top of the meadows again. We haven’t been on our cross-country skis for a while and our technique is a bit shabby.  I wouldn’t say that we ‘kick and glide’, more ‘stumble and tumble’, but as we did loops round the meadows it slowly started to come back; ‘slowly’ being the operative word.  The Meadows makes you think of a large flat area but it was anything but. It is amazing how hilly everything becomes when you have long skinny skis strapped to your feet. We survived the day and felt that we were up for our next challenge which was to ski to Lillaz the next day.

An expedition to Lillaz

The weather was clear overnight so there was no rush to start our trip as the day dawned clear but cold. It was warmer in the sun but often the trail would head into the trees where we would struggle to stay warm. A leisurely breakfast was called for before we skied across the Meadows and picked up the start of the trail to Lillaz. The first thing you see on the trail is a sign saying “Expert Skiers Only” which was a bit of an eye opener. We met another British couple at the start of the trail, he was on skinny skis for the very first time but able and willing to give it a go (hello Max if you’re reading this!). Bon chance! 

The first part of the trail is a steep uphill. Our technique is to ski in the track for as long as possible, changing from a long lope to a shorter stride and then into a sort of jog until it becomes too steep even for that (which for us is disappointingly early). Then it’s a case of jumping out of the track and into a herringbone to stop the skis sliding backwards and continue to step up the hill. It looks rather ungainly, but it is effective. Obviously the more expert skiers will stay in the track longer and look like they are just running up the slope, or skate upwards using a diagonal stride. We’re neither fit enough nor competent enough for that at the moment, so herringbone it is. 

From the top of that first slope, we work our way round the side of the mountain, crossing under the gondola for the downhill ski slopes and continue upwards until we reach a plateau. From here, the track winds through the beautiful trees, undulating up and down, following the terrain. Some of the descents are quite steep : time to create a pizza wedge and snowplough to stop us picking up too much speed. The only trouble is, these skis don’t have a metal edge so there’s not a lot to push against in the snowplough position. It feels precarious and I sigh with relief every time I make it down a descent. 

Eventually we reached Lillaz, another small village up at the head of the valley. We found a lovely little bar for a coffee break and then returned to Cogne. On the way back we took the gentler option of the riverside trail which is more direct and has less steep ascents and descents. 

Snowshoeing

On the Wednesday, we decided to rent some snowshoes to try our luck at snowshoeing. We’d never actually done this before so needed to rent some snowshoes. There are quite a few ski and outdoor shops in the village with both sale and rental kit available. We hired our snowshoes from the Mountain Shop which is conveniently located at the entrance to the cross-country area; it only cost us €10 per pair for a day’s hire which seemed very reasonable. 

We were wearing normal walking trousers and walking boots and just attached the snowshoes to the boots. For a start, we set off along a track towards Lillaz which ran parallel to the cross-country ski track we had been on the previous day. The trail climbed steeply through the trees and the trail itself was well packed with hard snow. To be honest, it wasn’t that easy to walk in snowshoes on it, particularly on some of the steeper downhill sections. About 3 or 4 miles along the trail we decided that it was actually easier to take off the snowshoes and walk in our walking boots. I’m sure that in the Canadian Backwoods with thigh deep powder, the snowshoes would be the ideal bit of kit but here on compacted trails it was easier to just walk. We worked our way back to the riverside trail and back to Cogne and chalked that one up to experience.

A meander through the enchanted forest

Having been through the Enchanted Forest on our snowshoes we decided to walk up to Lillaz on the same trail for today’s entertainment, leaving the snowshoes behind this time. It was another clear, dry and sunny day, fresh and a good day for a walk. The trail again dodged around criss-crossing the cross-country tracks, as we worked our way up the valley. We made it to Lillaz in time for a spot of lunch but unfortunately the nice café from the previous visit was closed so we continued our walk up to the frozen waterfalls above the village where we watched several groups of ice climbers on the frozen falls. The ice on the top pitches looked to be pretty thin and there was a gaping hole in the ice with a waterfall flowing behind, so I’m glad it was not me climbing. Lillaz is quite famous for ice climbing as it is so accessible and just a few minutes walk from the main road; if you want to give it a go there are guiding outfits and instructors locally that can take you out. Alpine Guides Cogne have an advertising board up opposite the Lillaz ice climb and offer introductory courses as well as more advanced guiding. After watching the climbing for a while, we headed back through the village and out on the other side by the main carpark we found a nice restaurant for a bowl of soup and a coffee before we returned to Cogne back through the forest.

High Energy Skate Skiing 

We had brought both our Classic XC Skis and our Skate Skis to Cogne so we really needed to go for a skate ski. Skate is much harder to do than Classic; it is high energy and can be utterly exhausting. Skate skis are shorter than Classic ones and there is no skin or fishscale on the bottom for grip. The technique is different too and you ski just on the flat piste, not in a cut track. It seems that timing is everything with Skate, you propel yourself forward in a diagonal stride the left foot turning the ski out the left at a 45 degree angle and the right foot turning the ski out to the right. You then need to use your poles either both at the same time, or sequentially, to get the rhythm going. It’s a lot of fun, but we both find it much more difficult than skiing in the tracks. 

Skate skiing is a bit like swimming in some ways in that it pays to slow down, focus on your technique and avoid rushing.  Efficiency is the name of the game. It’s a bit like running too as you need to avoid pushing yourself into anaerobic exercise. We took ourselves off to the middle of the stadium on the Meadows where we could work our skis without the added struggle with the hills, both up and down. It had been a long time since we had done any skate skiing so it took a while but eventually we were able to scoot along with a reasonable semblance of style and did not fall over very often.

After each day’s activities we headed to the spa in the Miramonti which offered a pool with various jets, three different temperature saunas, a steam room and hot tub. Once you’ve enjoyed the heat, you can then cool down in the cold plunge bath, or even better the “doccia Scozzese” which was a bit of a shock the first time I tried it. Doccia Scozzese translates as “Scottish shower”, so I went and stood in the shower, expecting a nice refreshing shower. What I got was a torrent of icy cold water thundering down on my head – yikes! By the end of the week, I’d worked myself up to spending 30 seconds in this icy water and really enjoyed the tingling feeling it gave my skin. Needless to say, Nick stuck to the hot tubs. An hour or so in the spa was the perfect end to each day of working ourselves harder than we are used to. On the last day we had booked our massage to help clean out the lactic acid and prepare ourselves for the next week on our travels, back downhill telemarking for the week in La Thuile, the next port of call on our Italian Odessey. I have to say that the massage was spot on, not too soft and not too deep which set us up nicely for the following week.

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