This is a blog article about skiing trip at Cervinia-Zermatt from 3rd to 10th January 2026 that I did with Camilla and Daniel, and Camilla’s friend Antti.
I logged the ski tracks using the “Ski tracks” app for Android. From this app you can export your track as a GPX file and then generate a map using for example the gpx.studio.
Preparations for the trip
Early November 2025 I was planning ski trips for the upcoming winter with Camilla and Daniel. We decided to do two trips: one on-piste trip to the Alps during the first week of January, and another back-country free-riding oriented later during the Easter holiday period, possibly in Norway.
Because I had recently switched jobs (from Ericsson to Nokia), I did not have any accumulated paid vacation days left, so it was important to utilize all public holidays to the maximum. 2025 Christmas holidays were going to be used for the scuba diving trip to Maldives. The 6th January Epiphany holiday was a good opportunity for the trip to the Alps. As this is pretty early in the season, the location had be snow-sure, that is, something high-altitude.
We searched for an easy solution and found from the STS-Alpresor travel agency a one week package trip to Cervinia, with half board at a decent price of 1329 €. This price includes the flights, ground transport, hotel with half board and ski transport. Lift passes were not included. Cervinia is at high altitude and very snow sure, village at 2050 m and lifts going up to 3480 m. The 2025 season opened already in October 25. We then did the reservation.
In our reservation we had two rooms, with two beds each, so technically there was room for a fourth person. So then Camilla tried to get a friend to join us and in December Antti joined our trip as well. Antti is a snowboarder while the rest of us were going to be on skis. For this trip we took carving skis with us, and were not expecting to do any off-piste.
In Finland however the winter started as very warm, and there was no snow before the trip, so no possibility to do any practicing before the big trip.
Ski pass
We bought the ski passes in advance so the we would be ready to go from day one and avoid the queues to ticket offices. We decided to buy the International passes which cover not only the Cervinia-Valtourneche area but also Zermatt. 6 day Cervinia only was 333 €, but if you wanted a one day upgrade to Zermatt that was 52 €/day and you would have to go to ticket office to get it. 6 day International pass was 460 €, and worth it if you went to Zermatt for at least 3 days, which we were planning to do. We actually managed to be at Zermatt side on 4 days total. The ski pass is loaded to a SkiData SkiCard, and we all have plenty of those as the same system is used in most ski areas in Finland and the Alps in general.
Cervinia ski panoramas
3.1.2026 travel from Helsinki to Cervinia
Our flight was direct to Torino airport on SAS charter. From Torino it is only 120 km to Cervinia, most of it motorway. The flight was departing at 17:40 and we all arrived to the airport in good time. I drove to the airport with my car which we had packed already the day before, Daniel was coming with me. Camilla and Antti were coming by train. We had 3 pairs of skis and 1 snowboard in 3 long bags, then boots & clothing in separate bags, a total of 9 checked baggage.
The flight went smoothly and arrived in schedule to Torino at 20:00. No luggage was lost. There we loaded the charter bus going to Cervinia and arrived to destination at 23:00. It was a smooth 1 1/2 hour ride. We had to carry the luggage to out hotel Meynet a few hundred meters, as the buses are not allowed to the village center.
Out hotel Meynet was in a good location next to the village church at the beginning of the main street, which is pedestrian only. We immediately got the rooms 23, 24 on the 2nd floor with balconies facing the main street towards west with views towards the massive ridge containing the impressive Matterhorn peak 4478 m / 14692 ft.
We went to sleep immediately.
4.1.2026 day 1 skiing
We all woke up at 7 and went to eat breakfast downstairs promptly at 7:30 when the service started. We were the very first to arrive as on all the mornings to come. This was a small hotel and the owners, a local couple were doing the breakfast service. Excellent cappuccinos were made to order, there were freshly baked pastires from a local bakery, such as heavenly croissants. Ham, salami, cheese, yogurt, muesli, juices, fruit, a perfect breakfast. We had our own assigned table for the week.
After breakfast back up to dress up, the weather was to be sunny clear blue sky, but pretty cold -15 C. So I put really warm clothing on. Skis from the ski room at basement. As we were not sure what was the best way to the slopes, we chose to walk up the stairs to the Plan Maison gondola station.
We arrived to the station at 9:00 when the gondola operation was starting and rode all the way to the Plateau Rosa 3480 m, first with the Plan Maison gondola, switching to Cime Bianchi Laghi gondola and finally the giant cable car up to Plateau Rosa. We had decided to go directly to Zermatt as far we could as you could never be sure if you get another chance. This day there was almost no wind and clear blue sky. Before going to the Swiss side we had to switch data roaming off from cell phones, because Switzerland does not have EU roaming.
As our first run we skied down the red 70 to Furgg, continuing the black 62 down to Furi. From there gondola up to Riffelberg, where we stopped for some drinks. Then continued with Riffleberg chair to Gifthittli, skied down red 29/26 to Gant. Chair up to Blauherd, yet another amazing view towards Matterhorn, cable car to Rothorn peak at 3101 m. Skied down the red 12, blue 14, red 15. The gondola back up to Rothorn, where we decided to have lunch. We got a table from the terrace with a view towards Mattehorn. It was a pricy place to eat, 30 CHF for most meals, 10 CHF for a beer. Total was 130 CHF for all four of us, but the food was good and views just so awesome.
After lunch skied down red 19 to Gant, cable car up to Hohtälli, then the red route 35, 39, 41, 42 down to Furi. Last ascent from Furi back to Cervinia is 15:00, and it was now 14:15, so it was time to head back. It is a long ascent first with the Gondola to Trockener Steg, then switching to the giant gondola that goes to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise station at 3883 m. From there you walk through the long tunnel to get on the slopes, and you sure feel how the air is thin up at that high elevation.
From there there would be a long decent back to Cervinia, but we decided to one small detour. We skied red 7 and 39 and took the Goillet chair to Colle Superiore dell Cime Bianche. Then red 12 down and Gran Sometta chair back up. Then the final descent, red 7.00 all the way back to our starting point.
We had now been 7 hours out, done 48.6 km of skiing on 13 runs, 8209 m vertical decent, max speed 72 km/h, max altitude 3869 m. Our first run we had most vertical decent 1629 m. It was a good day, we saw a lot and truly amazing views. Snow was generally good, hard packed powder, not icy, mostly artificial snow and well groomed. We saw that many black runs were closed due to lack of natural snow.
Walked down the village stairs to our hotel. After shower we went to the local supermarket to do some shopping. I of course bought some beers and we did have a small fridge in our room to keep the beers cold.
We had dinner reservation 18:30 at Hotel Dragon’s restaurant. The dinner was included in our half board package. Our own hotel Meynet was too small to have a dinner restaurant. The Dragon was only 5 minutes walk away. This evening we got a table from the basement. The dinner included primi piatti first course, secondi piatti main course and a desert. Drinks were not included and were to be paid on the last evening. After dinner were all done and ready for bed.
Tracks
https://www.wikiloc.com/alpine-skiing-trails/cervinia-day-1-2026-01-04-250931107
5.1.2026 day 2 skiing
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/cervinia-day-2-2026-01-05-251162291
Again woke up at 7 and breakfast 7:30. This was also going to be sunny cloudless day, no wind, but very cold -20 C. This day we decided to try the chair lifts up, and they were actually closer to our hotel a very easy 5 min walk, much nicer than climbing the long steep stairs up to Plan Maison gondola station.
We arrived to Cretaz chair station just before opening at 09:00 and had to wait a while. Then up to Plan Torrette. Sadly the next chair Pancheron was still closed so we skied route 3 down. Up with Cretaz chair again, Pancheron still closed. So then skied the route 3bis that goes to Plan Maison gondola station, and took all three lifts up to Plateau Rosa 3480 m. From there we decided to ski down to Valtourneche. This would be a very long continuous descent of 1800 meters vertical, except you must take the short Du Col chair to get over the ridge. Du Col takes you only 140 meters up the ridge and is one of the shortest chair lifts in the area. Yet it is twice taller than the ski resorts in Southern Finland.
We skied down the Valtourneche route 1, and blue 14 for drinks at the Salette restaurant. Then continued route 1 all the way down to Valtourneche village at 1607 m. Then the gondola up to Salette, then chair Motta up, route 4 down, Motta chair again, then next chair Bec Carre up to the ridge, and back to Cervinia side using Gran Sometta chair, down to the restaurant nearby. We had pasta lunch at the sunny terrace, where it was cold but also sunny.
After lunch route 7 down to Cime Bianchi Laghi station where to took the cable car to reach Plateau Rosa (3480 m) again. Now decided we will visit Zermatt side for the afternoon. Data roaming off again. We skied route 80-73 to the Furgsattel chair, and rode that up. Then down routes 71, 66, 65, 63, black 62 all the way down to Furi (1867 m) arriving there at 14:30. Now getting a bit late, the safest option was to return to Cervinia side, so the very long gondola rides up to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise station at 3883 m.
From there we skied along the ridge on routes 85, 88, 80 to reach Theodulpass (3301 m), and form there the Cervinia side route 6 to Bontadini chair, which we rode up once. Data roaming back on. Then route 46 and 47 to Fornet chair, up with the two chairs Fornet, then Bontadini. Now it was time to do the final descent back to village, routes 6 and 5 all the way down. Stopping for drinks at a bar half way and enjoying the sunny afternoon. Now we had done 84 km of distance, out of which 50 km of skiing, vertical skiing 8305 m, duration 7 h 28 min. A good day skiing again.
Walked back to hotel. Dinner at 18:30, then to sleep. We did not have energy for any after ski activities.
6.1.2026 day 3 skiing
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/cervinia-day-3-2026-01-0-06-251162898
Weather forecast showed that this was going to be a very cold day, up to -20 C, but still sunny.
I forgot to start the tracker in the morning, then when on Swiss side the app would not start because it needed network and I had data roaming off. Only we got to lunch restaurant I got network from WiFi and the could start the tracker. I manually added the missing route to GPX file using gpx.studio, almost, did not get it entirely right.
Again woke up at 7 and breakfast 7:30. Then to Cretaz chair station just before opening at 09:00 and had to wait a while. Then up to Plan Torrette. Then to next chair Pancheron up. From there traverse 26 to Plan Maison. From there the three chair lifts Plan Maison, Fornet, Bontadini up to Theodulpass (3301 m). The skied down route 80, 73, 66, 65, 64 to Furgg (2441 m). From there the gondola kind of reverse direction to get up on Schwarzsee (2583 m). From there red route 51 down to the valley bottom. From there up the Hirli chair. Then the black 54 and red 52 down, visiting Stafelalp restaurant quickly. One more acscent with Hirli chair. Now we were planning to take the 56 to Furi or maybe 59 or 60, but they were all closed. We had to ski all the way down on 51 then the long winding forest road to Furi.
From Furi the gondola up to Riffelberg, where we had lunch. After the lunch the plan was to take the historic mountain train up to Gornegrat (3089 m). Thankfully the train usage is included in the ski pass, otherwise it is a pretty expensive ride.
We managed to take the train from Riffelberg to Gornegrat. Then skied via the Igloo village back to Furi. Then again the long gondola ride up to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise station (3883 m). From there to Theodulpass and to Cervinia side. Then skied route 6 past the two chairs Fornet, Bontadini and rode those chairs back up. Then the final descent o the day all the way down to village, the final part being routes 5 and 3.
We had probably done 65 km and 6700 m vertical. Yet another nice day.
Dinner at usual time 18:30.
7.1.2026
https://www.wikiloc.com/alpine-skiing-trails/cervinia-day-4-2026-01-07-251163202
This was going to be an even colder day than yesterday that was already very cold, expecting -25 C but sunny. Because it was going to be so cold, we decided to be more at Valtourneche side as it is lower altitude, sunny and maybe warmer.
Again woke up at 7 and breakfast 7:30. Then to Cretaz chair at 09:00 and up on chairs Plan Torrette. Pancheron. Route 26 down to Plan Maison, gondola and cable car up to Plateau Rosa (3480 m). The skied down routes 7, 12, (Du Col chair), 5 to the Motta chair, which we rode up once. Then route 1, 6, 16 to the small bar La Motta for a short break.
After break route 1 down to Valtourneche. Gondola up, then Becca d’Aran chair up as we had not tried that yet. Then route 1 down and gondola up twice. During the 2nd run down we stopped at the restaurant “Foyer des Guides” for lunch. We could not get a table from inside, but there was room on the sunny terrace. Although it was pretty cold, this was a sunny location and no wind, so we did manage to eat lunch there. Food was good and served promptly, but did not stay warm for long.
After lunch we headed back to Cervinia side. Valtourneche gondola up, Motta chair, Gran Sometta chair. Then route 7 down, and we took the turn to Cielo Alto as we had not been yet. From Cielo Alto the ancient 2-seater chair lift up. This is maybe the oldest chair lift in the area from 1970’s. We skied the black 22 down, and then went to a bar at Cielo Alto base to warm up. The bar had authentic 1970’s vibe.
Once more up the old chair and route 34 to Plain Maison gondola, which was closing at 16:00 and we just made it and rode it up. Then route 5, 3 down to village and walk back to hotel. Dinner at 18:30, then to sleep.
8.1.2026
https://www.wikiloc.com/alpine-skiing-trails/cervinia-day-5-2026-01-08-251163557
Again woke up at 7 and breakfast 7:30. Today it was going to be dump new snow all day, already last night it had started to snow. At the village there was 10 cm of fresh snow. It was now also a lot warmer, just a few degrees below freezing. Connections to Zermatt and Valtourneche were closed and remained closed the entire day, so we were confined to stay within Cervinia.
We arrived to Cretaz chair station just before opening at 09:00, but now there was a long delay before it finally opened around 9:30. We rode up and the visibility was really bad, just about 100 meters. Whereas yesterday yo could see all the surrounding mountains such as Matterhorn, now there was just white. The next chair Pancheron was not open, so we skied back down in knee deep powder. Up on Cretaz again and then route 3bis to Plain Maison, where we rode the gondola to Plan Maison. Then up the Plan Maison, Fornet chairs. Skied deep powder around Fornet chair twice. The route 6 down to Plan Maison top station. It was not quite steep enough for this deep snow, so we started looking something steeper. We rode the gondolas up to Cime Bianchi Laghi station. The cable car up to Plateau Rosa was closed and would remain closed the entire day. So then we skied to Goillet chair and rode that up. At the top the wind was fierce. We skied down route 7 and stopped at the Igloo Restarant for lunch. Luckily we got a good table and enjoyed a really good lunch there.
After lunch skied down to Plan Maison base station and rode the gondola up. Then up the Plan Maison, Fornet chairs. There was dumping more and more snow and it was getting deeper. Then skied to Plan Torrette and skied the slopes of Pancheron chair four times. Snow was getting really deep there. A quick drinking break at “Super G” lounge which was pretty empty, usually very busy.
Then ended the day by skiing down to village on route 3. We did get to ski lots of knee deep powder on the slopes. It was a good day.
Walked back to hotel. Dinner at 18:30, then to sleep.
9.1.2026
https://www.wikiloc.com/alpine-skiing-trails/cervinia-day-6-2026-01-09-251164220
This was the last day of skiing. It had snowed all night and snowfall was continuing. Warmer than yesterday. Connection to Zermatt was and would remain closed, but the connection to Valtourneche did open, so we decided to head there, because we could.
Again woke up at 7 and breakfast 7:30. Then to Cretaz chair station. Like yesterday, the chair opened late at 9:30. We rode up once, skied down once in deep powder. Then once more up and skied to the gondola station and rode up to Plan Maison and Cime Bianchi Laghi station. Skied route 7 down in deep powder once. Then the same gondolas up, to Goillet chair and Du Col chair, over the ridge to Valtourneche side. Route 5 was closed due to avalanche danger, so we had to take the other routes, and there was knee deep powder all the way down. We stopped for hot drinks at Motte bar, which was very crowded. Terrace was cover with deep layer of snow. Skied down to Valtourneche village. But the route was quite bumpy and the snow very heavy.
Rode the gondola and Motte chair up. Then went to Motte upstairs restaurant for lunch. Our timing was perfect and we got a nice table from upstairs.
After lunch we skied the slopes of the upper two chairs twice, then headed back to Cervinia. Down the route 7, we stopped at the Igloo bar for drinks and stayed there until it was getting dark. We were the last skiers down to the village. Then walked back to hotel.
Last dinner at 18:30 at Dragon. Then we had to settle the bill for our drinks for the past week.
We had to check out from the rooms next day early, so we packed up as much we could already this evening.
10.1.2026
This was the last day in Cervinia. Checkout from the room was 10:00, but the bus to the airport was leaving at 16:30, so there would have been plenty of good time to ski this last day as well, and that was my plan. The others had decided not to go skiing and just chill in the village.
So we woke up at the usual time at 7 and went to breakfast. After that we took all our luggage to the hotel’s lounge behind the lobby on ground floor. I had dressed up for a day of skiing, and prepared to change clothes at the lounge. I had already bought a one day ski pass online assigned to my card, but here the day passes are “open”, meaning that the pass would work on any day and it becomes active once you use it the first time passing a ticket gate.
I walked to the gondola station alone and was there promptly at 9:00 when the gondola was scheduled to open. But it was closed, and the chair lifts going up were all also closed. The big panel showing lifts operational status showed all closed. Avalanche risk was shown at level 4/5, High. It was snowing and visibility was not good.
I went to the ticket offices hall, and there were a good amount of people waiting for the gondola to open. Ticket office clerks were all on standby and ticket sales were on hold. Soon info screens started showing “Yellow Alert, next update 10:00”.
I waited until 10:00, and then some time after that the info screen switched to: “RED, AVVISO – WARNING, BREUIL-CERVINIA, CHIUSA – CLOSED”. So it seems the avalanche risk was considered to be too high to open the area. Perhaps they were also taking into consideration that Saturday would be very low volume day anyway as it is the “swap-day” – most weekly guests leaving and new ones arriving. A few lifts at Valtournache would start operating later that day, but there was no way getting there.
So unfortunately, my plan to ski on this last day had failed. I walked back to hotel where the others were sitting at the lounge. I changed clothes and we went to walk around the village. Visited lots of shops. There were all the usual souvenir junk. The prices for skiing and mountaineering goods and clothing were much higher than back home in Finland, so no point buying anything. Then we went to the Glow Village Lounge bar, which did serve excellent cocktails.
We did a little research to find the best place to eat pizza and decided that “La Grotta” would be the one. Walked there and we got immediately seated to a good table even though it was pretty busy there. The name means literally “the cave”, and that was the decoration style of the place that has operated here since 1970’s. In the local style, the very extensive offering of local wines was on display all over the restaurant on various shelves. The wine list is a book of very many pages. The pizzas are baked in a wood-fired oven. On the menu there is a good selection of Valdostan specialities. Also on the menu there was a good selection of traditional and some pretty unique pizza toppings. On the menu there was even “Hawaii” pizza with pineapple, ham, mozzarella and pecorino cheese. So in these touristic places they are not at all ashamed to serve even pineapple pizza, if that is what customers want.
The “Americana” pizza of La Grotta has “French fries” on it. But in Italy the fries are actually called “patatine fritte” as in France they are “pommes frites” – a dish apparently invented in Belgium already in 17th century.
I ordered the namesake “La Grotta” pizza, that has tomato sauce, parma ham, rucola, porcini mushrooms, a whole burrata on top – 23 €. It was really good, as the other pizzas too. The lunch was completed with a tiramisu and Cappucino Corretto with Baileys.
After lunch walked back to hotel as the bus departure time was approaching. We carried the luggage to bus, and the bus ride down to Aosta valley started. There was snow down to about 800 m altitude. Arrived to airport in good time and after check in went to the local lounge. The lounge wasn’t very impressive, selection of food an drinks very basic.
Flight left in schedule at 21:00, and we arrived to Helsinki airport at 01:10. All of the luggage arrived. Antti’s wife came to pick him up. My car was waiting at the parking P3, I drove Camilla ja Daniel to their homes and arrived myself just before 3 to home and went to sleep immediately.
It was a nice trip, with good combination of sunny days in amazing views and some deep on-piste fresh powder too. Good Italian food and wine. No accidents, nothing lost or broken.
