Spent some quality time in around the Alta Valtellina in January 2020. Bormio presents itself as a pillar of the region. From the moment one arrives you know this is a place that takes pride in its appearance. Neat as a pin, dressed to impress, classy but with no pretence, Bormio is built for tourism but has the beating heart & history of an authentic mountain town. The original town centre has enough towers, piazzas & cobbled laneways to evoke images of the past, albeit interspersed with snappy fashion boutiques these days. No sign of the super high-end Dior’s & Prada here though, just classy, mostly local vendors selling quality goods.
I first arrived on a mid-week Monday night & was concerned (wondering more than concerned!) the place might be quiet. And it is relatively I suppose. A beer at the Clem Pub was followed with cocktails at Skianta in Piazza Anzi with its crazed barman (& owner?) serving up great tunes as well as a cracking G&T. Further along the old town, booming music drew me to the expansive Piazza Cavour. A DJ was pumping out popular ‘80s disco tunes plus a host of locals in traditional dress were dishing out mulled wine & such to a massive group of the town’s guests. I could only draw from it that if this was a Monday night, how does the rest of the week look? A fine welcome indeed.
Eating wise, burgers at a pub, plus pizza or steak restaurants are common enough. For something interesting with local food & wine, the stone arch, lane, lighting & doors rightfully draw one into the Guanella Restaurant & Enoteca. It was the best of the restaurants we came across but are sure there are many more. A place like Bormio couldn’t exist without them.
Despite the classy demeanour of Bormio, when one wanders between the old town & the gondola base, the heady scent of bovines is in the air. I do love that about European ski resorts – always keeping it real.
Skiing wise, Bormio & its Cima Bianca is a big hunk of mountain that is a touch more limited in scope than its well-known reputation & 1800m(ish) of skiable vertical might otherwise indicate. First impressions are that the very low base (low for Italy anyway) of 1225m is reasonably bereft of snow for much of the season. A shame, but a modern-day reality. As a result, much of the skiing is effectively in the top 1000m vertical above the mid-mountain Bormio 2000 base area. Regardless, snow-making makes top to bottom skiing a reality all season long, meaning the mountain has one of the longest, sustained fall line skiable verticals in Europe (broadly referred to as the Stelvio slope) – no flat linking trails to break it up. Completing the full vertical in one tilt will test the very best skier or boarder.
A fast, long & pitchy piste skier’s dream, Bormio has more race wannabes hurtling down it than is probably healthy. The result is piste trails that are fast & fun early but rapidly degrade to fast & frightening soon after - particularly on weekends. For the freerider, this means just about everyone is on the piste trails – woohoo! For the beginner skier though, this means Bormio is just not for you. Intermediates & above need only apply. The trail map may look tame, but there is more on-piste interest for advanced riders than is otherwise indicated. Several sections on intermediate trails would be rated advanced (black) in other ski resorts. Trail A2 from Chair 4 into Ciuk is case in point. However, skiing on piste in Bormio for a week could get rather swiftly tiresome, so it helps to have a quality off-piste freeride zone, plus some great nearby ski areas (Santa Caterina et al) to mix it up a little.
Scoping the mountain out from afar on my way to Bormio from Livigno, the massive alpine bowl (bowl = a simplistic description of this extensive high alpine zone) called the Vallone, lookers right of the Cima Bianca (Bormio’s 3012m highest lifted point) showed massive promise. Only question was how tracked it would be? The last snowfall had been 3 days earlier & I was re-visiting to ski on a weekend – the true test of any mountain!
The question was quickly answered as I made the journey up the hill. Very few tracks were in the entire Vallone below the long ridge running between Cima Bianca & the highest summit of Monte Vallecetta (3148m elevation). Surprising. Pleasing. Unexpected. But such is Bormio. Full of pleasing, unexpected surprises!
After watching a couple of locals bootpack the magnificent ridge toward the Monte Vallecetta summit (I should have joined them!), then entered the ‘Classica’ zone immediately below the ancient Cima Bianca cable car station. The snow varied between wind affected breakable crust at the top to gorgeous creamy powder below & most of the way down. The shaded north-aspect in the Vallone is perfect for powder seekers. Halfway down I stopped & watched the two intrepid summiteers drop into La Croce (the Cross). Looked like fun. Several lovely looking broad chutes extend into the main bowl complex. The exit is either a traverse onto the piste or continue through a chokepoint (be interesting on an avalanche day!) to an exit trail of sorts, with a short walk to the same piste (trail C3), but lower down.
Other off-piste opportunities are between the runs in the mid-alpine zone of the resort as the pine forest diminishes around La Rocca, plus more extensively outside the resort boundary below the ‘Antennas’ at 2700m elevation (skiers right of the B2 slope). The area has ridges, couloirs & tree skiing. The return is via a nasty but flattish aquaduct (strada dell’acqua) back into the resort at about 2000m elevation. The terrain aspect is generally the same as in the Vallone, even though on the opposite side of the ski area.
Being a weekend, I didn’t really enjoy the groomer skiing. Too many people, too scrapped off & icy. Maybe on a different set of skis it would have be more fun, so I stuck to the quiet off-piste (maybe I am just getting old & too picky!). If you want some peace & quiet on the slopes during a weekend, there are better options across & up the valley (Santa Caterina & Valdidentro). Regardless of people and conditions, Bormio’s super long skiable vertical certainly leaves one with the impression of having skied a ‘real’ mountain, and as such it will appeal to many a skier & boarder.
Low down the mountain in the shadows is the best little bar to have a few drinks toward the end of the day. Located on Piste I (one of the few real blue/beginner trails on the mountain), it is called Bar Bosk Bass (say it 3 times quickly as a sobriety test!). You can’t missed it on the right as you slide toward Bormio. Loads of other bars are interspersed in all the hotels around the base.
Choosing where to stay in Bormio is a little bit of a pickle. The two broad options are on either side of the river – either in the old town or at the base of the ski lifts. Neither are anything more than walking distance apart, but the choice remains. A cheap convenient option is the excellent Hotel Giardino which is perfectly located near the bottom of the ski slopes. At the entrance to the old town, the Hotel san Vitale gets the chocolates for its perfect rooms & location.
Bormio makes a beautiful base for exploring the region. Its ambiance makes Livigno look positively over-run & tawdry in comparison. By bus or car, the ski resorts of Santa Caterina, Valdidentro-Valdisotto (Cima Piazzi-San Colombano) & Livigno are day-tripable (is that a new word or not ever a word?). Visiting Lombardy following the COVID19 nightmare will not only help the locals recover but will provide an enriching & diverse ski experience as well.
You can see our thoughts on the pros and cons on the Bormio overview page and also see our Europe ski resort ratings regarding how we score it against other ski areas.