Courmayeur: Val Veny  
If you are not staying in Courmayeur, and are skiing the area for a day trip by car or bus, chances are, the cable car from Entreves, a few minutes from the town center, is where you will enter the system. The parking facilities here are large and convenient, plus there is a hotel and a small snack bar at the foot of the cable car station.
 
There is absolutely no inconvenience to starting your ski day here. The Val Veny cable car deposits skiers directly in the center of all of the vast range of skiing on this side of the mountain. And, as we've said before, the lift system on this mountain is efficient and convenient. All skiers, no matter their starting point, can go from the Val Veny to the Checrouit side, from Checrouit to Val Veny, or to Youla, and back.

But I digress. Once out of the Val Veny cable car, there are many choices. Your starting point will be Pre De Pascal, and from there, a succession of lifts will let you play in this area to your heart's content.

Alternatively, it will connect you to the skiing in Zerotta, where once again you can explore the VV side of the mountain, or venture over to the Checrouit side.

Immediately at Pre De Pascal, the departure point of the VV cable car, is a great little beginner's area. This is called Prato, and here beginners and others can enjoy the mountain, sun, and handy restaurants.

A closer look at the journey from Pre De Pascal to Zerotta will reveal some pretty nice skiing along the way. In fact, it is not even necessary to go all the way to Zerotta. The Gigante chair lift, the one you see on your map to the left of Zerotta, provides access to the run bearing its name and to the Competizione, one of Courmayeur's few black, or most difficult category runs.

The Gigante is classified red, or of middle difficulty, and this writer for one, finds this particular trail one of the most enjoyable on the hill. It is wide enough to avoid congestion and sheltered enough so that it holds its snow. It is also a good place (as is Competitizione) to ski on a foggy or very windy day as the tree proximity provides shelter from the elements.

Competizione is especially black after a long period without snow. The bumps are large, unformed, and sometimes icy on the down side.

You will find restaurants on the Gigante side of the run, and then again, at the beginning of the Zerotta lift. At the arrival point of the Zerotta lift, you can both turn right and ski back to Zerotta, link up with Gigante or Competizione, or return to the Vail Veny cable car piece of the action.

Also, you can make a left turn (all this is happening by the way at the little restaurant just after the Zerotta chair arrival point), and either ski down to Plan Checrouit (another left turn) or turn right and take another fairly difficult route to Zerotta.

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