Sauze d’Oulx Skiing & Snowboarding
The terrain one gets at Sauze d'Oulx (or perhaps ‘Oohlz or 'Sow-zee' to its friends), for the princely sum of the lift pass is a modern skiing & snowboarding miracle. Skiing Sauze d’Oulx on a weekday, even in the worst conditions is sheer pleasure & everyone is smiling!
Sauze d'Oulx slopes are beautifully situated with a predominantly northerly aspect which maintains snow quality throughout the season. The base at around 1,500m extends nearly 1,200m vertical to the alpine ridge above. The lower ⅔ of the resort is sheltered & tree lined. The high-alpine is eminently approachable with loads of rolling, low angle meadows & steeper offerings across broad bowls then leading onto trees of varying tightness.
Whilst anyone skiing Oulx has access to an amazing 400km+ of ski trails, it is worth knowing that several piste trails have been deleted off the trail map since the 2016/17 season. The Powderhounds skied most of them & can attest to them being a lot of fun. Compare the old & new trail maps.
The off-piste freeride skiing & snowboarding at Oulx is exceptional. Piste trails are mainly intermediate. Beginner runs are spread across the entire resort & whilst not the world's best, offer more than the neighbouring ski areas. The tree skiing and high alpine bowls are what makes the Sauze d’Oulx ski resort a standout.
Being fully interlinked by lifts, pistes & pass, one cannot ignore the adjacent Via Lattea ski resorts of Sestriere & Sansicario. Both are as integral to the joy of skiing Sauze as the main resort itself. In fact, the on piste & lift deficiencies of Sauze d'Oulx are more than made up by both neighbours.
Oulx is a generally snowboard friendly destination however some long connecting traverses & several important linking surface tows (i.e. from Sansicario back to Oulx) may present some challenges. The terrain park at Oulx is uninspired, so those in search of man-made terrain enhancements should head to Sestriere, where it is marginally better!
Sauze d'Oulx Skiing Highlights
The Oulx skiing highlights are a rite of passage according to Powderhounds. They are only to be undertaken when there is no powder because skiing powder ALWAYS takes priority. Tick off the following when at Oulx.
- Using the ‘old’ Sauze d'Oulx trail map explore all the piste trails & try to ski them all - this is a serious challenge. The Oulx piste trails have a rather haphazard placement but flow reasonably well across the resort in what is quite complex terrain below the tree line. Given the paucity of information on the trail map, doing all the marked trails is harder than it seems. Expect to get lost, especially in the 'bandit country' below the Moncrons lifts heading into the top of the Clotes chair.
- Whoop & yip down the longest piste trail in the area - the 7km run into Sansicario from the summit of Fraiteve (2701m).
- Journey across to sensational Sestriere to ski & ride the steeps on Motta & Sises.
- Head off the piste and into the trees. Larch forests line all the lower runs at Sauze d’Oulx & most are spaced well enough for exploration (with all due care). Wonderful on a powder day, exciting & challenging otherwise.
- Complete the full ski tour of the Via Lattea by following the aptly named Giro della Vialattea. The route includes all six ski areas in the Via Lattea, utilises over 21 ski lifts & requires the purchase of the more expensive ‘international’ Via Lattea ski pass which includes Montgenevre. The journey takes between 6 to 7hr, so an early start is necessary. Don’t attempt the Giro on a weekend, you may find yourself taking a bus or taxi home!
- Ski the high alpine steeps around the summit of Fraiteve (2,701m) under the Colo chair, either on or off-piste.
- End the day with a glorious 1100m vert top to bottom ski from the top of Triplex all the way to Jouvenceaux for some great après ski at La Fontaine near the bottom of the quad chair. The combination of runs used is just as good at the start of the day!
Ski Lifts
Ski lifts at Sauze d'Oulx are perhaps part of the reason for the low lift pass price. The lift infrastructure is generally quite dated, slow & struggles to cope on busy days, particularly during sunny weekends.
Sadly, or perhaps thankfully, most of the best alpine terrain is only accessible by single person surface tows or slow, low-capacity chairs. During our first visit to Sauze d'Oulx, the 'new' chair on Moncrons never seemed to run! This has been alleviated over time and vastly improve access to this lovely off-piste area on busy days. That said, lift queues at these lifts & at the central hub of Sportinia are horrendous on weekends & peak periods - hence the resort should be avoided at these times. Head to Sansicario of Sestriere instead. Some poorly designed lift exits also let the mountain down.
The main lift connection to the rest of the Via Lattea via Monte Fraiteve is the Colò double chair. Seemingly an ancient relic of the past, it was in fact only installed in 2009. Whilst serving a luscious 500m+ of skiable vertical, its low capacity highlights the generally lacklustre ski lifts in this part of the Via Lattea.
Lift Passes & Tickets
The standard lift pass at Sauze d’Oulx includes all the Italian ski resorts of the Via Lattea (305km+ of ski trails) for a super cheap price compared to the rest of Europe & the world. A better deal you will not find anywhere, but we are happy to be corrected.
A supplemental fee can be added to the standard lift pass to make it valid in the fantastic French resort of Montgenèvre to increase the access to the full 400km+ ski trails. Alternatively, an ‘international’ ski pass can be purchased outright for only a little over €10 more than an Italian sector lift pass, representing incredible value for money.
Trail Maps
The Sauze d'Oulx ski trail map provides a poor representation of the lifts & pistes of the ski areas, let alone the off-piste terrain! Check out the ski trail map for Oulx below.
Similarly, the larger scale Via Lattea ski trail map is only good for the most basic navigation. Read the signage throughout the resorts & just expect to get lost! What a great place to get lost though! Check out the ski trail map for the entire Via Lattea below.
On-Piste Terrain
The ski resort has mainly intermediate on-piste trails with a smattering of easy beginner trails spread throughout the resort area. Sauze D'Oulx has more beginner trails than any of its neighbouring ski areas.
Novices & Beginner
Sauze d’Oulx has a variety of beginner trails across the resort, but there are major gaps that can cause issue. The Clotes area is great for novices, but beyond, the trails are disparate & don’t reconnect to the lower resort, forcing beginners to utilise intermediate trails. Interesting to note that the beginner terrain at Oulx is better than the neighbouring resorts of Sansicario & Sestriere. An exception is the long connecting trail from Sauze d’Oulx to Sestriere Borgata. The sunny aspect & long slide ends with an eventual return journey on a gondola. Beginners need to be mindful of trail signage. This is NOT an easy ski area to navigate.
Intermediates
With over half of the piste trails at Sauze d’Oulx & the Via Lattea are rated red, there is no shortage of ‘destination skiing’ for intermediates. Every day will be a journey of discovery as you travel from one area to the next - all on the same ski pass! The only challenge is to keep an eye on your navigation & make sure you don't miss last lifts in a far-flung part of the Via Lattea. Anyone looking to learn powder skiing can find easy gentle alpine meadow terrain under the Triplex chairlift & the lifts on Moncrons.
Advanced
Advanced on-piste terrain at Oulx is limited to the high-alpine since the deletion of several lower elevation trails since season 2017/18. They are now off-piste trails! Anyone seeking quality on-piste advanced runs should make the journey across to Sestriere.
Off Piste, Freeride & Backcountry Terrain
The off-piste tree skiing at Oulx is wonderful - almost as good as Serre Chevalier simply because less people are exploring it! Free-riding in the high-alpine meadows & bowls is equally delicious for similar reasons. Backcountry routes are possible along the range at Monte Genevris (2,540m) down into the valley or returning into the lower parts of the ski resort. If the snow is deep & low in the valley, a variety of options exist below the lift bases on Fraiteve.