The end of October really feels like the beginning of another season is just around the corner. The London Snow show is back, the peaks of the mountains start taking on their winter coat and Vialattea announce their intensions for the coming season.

The one thing that most people look for from the announcement is understandably the lift pass prices. This year the headline take away is that we’re seeing a 20% increase on a 6 day pass for those coming out in high season. If you look a little closer though at the details you’ll see that for the first time they have also introduced proper High & Low season periods akin to those you’ll find else where in the alps.

The season is due to open on the 7th December and close on the 7th April. The Low season periods are from the 7th December – 22nd December, 8th January – 2nd February & 4th March – 2nd April. That means for those who can avoid New Year and February you’ll be paying the Low season prices of €243 for a 6 day pass, this is a 12% increase on last seasons price. Not too bad considering the current global energy prices and still very good value for money when comparing prices to elsewhere.

Look a little deeper though and you’ll also see that from the 7th December they intend to open many more lifts than they have in previous seasons. Historically here in Sauze we’ve been limited to Sportinia until the Christmas week when everything opens, this year from the 7th December they intend to open the Colo chair which will give access to Sestriere and Sansicario which is great news! It goes without saying, this is dependant on snow cover.

The other thing that people want to know from the announcement is “will there be any new lifts”. The short answer is no, not on the Italian side of the Vialattea at least. They have decided, due to the unpredictable weather these days, to concentrate on improving the snow making facilities in the area. They are embarking on a multi year project which will see millions of Euro spent on improving and expanding the snow making infrastructure. Personally I think this is a wise decision, there’s no point being on a nice fancy 8 seater chair looking down on patchy pistes.

There is a new lift however going into Montgenevre on the Italian/French border at Eagles Rock. Those that have been to the area before and skied the Milky Way will no doubt remember the slow exposed chairlift that takes you back up to the top of Colletto Verde, this is being replaced by an 8 seater gondola.

As far as announcements from sauzeonline go we’ve been working all summer on improving our website. The main look and feel of the website hasn’t changed but from the back end perspective everything has changed making it more robust and future proofing it for years to come. One thing that our regular customers will notice is a slight change to the journey through the shop, other than that our great deals on rental equipment and lessons remain. We hope to have these improvements live in the coming weeks.

We have the Chalet Valentin again this year so if you’re in a large group and you’re struggling to find somewhere where you can all stay together then get in touch, we may just have the solution you’re looking for. The chalet sleeps up to 17 people and is bookable from Saturday – Saturday.

If you’ve got this far then thank you for reading this round up ahead of the coming season. It goes without saying that myself and Sinead are looking forward to getting back on the mountain and bringing you the weekly snow reports so keep an eye out for those, not long now!

Ciao for now, or to use Vialattea’s new hashtag, #Skiyousoon.