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Sauze d'Oulx,IT
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Reservations #:
+39 0122799411
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| MOUNTAIN STATS
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| Top Elev: |
8225 ft/2507 m |
| Base Elev: |
4019 ft/1225 m |
| Vertical Drop: |
4206 ft/1282 m |
| Lift Capacity: |
0 |
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| TRAILS ACRES
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| Beginner: |
% |
| Intermediate: |
% |
| Advanced: |
% |
| Expert: |
% |
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Along the border of Italy with France, the Alps rise majestically, the Italian dolce vita blends with French laissez faire and the regional cuisine draws from the best of Italy and France. This region, the Piemonte, owes its French/Italian lineage to the continuous shifts of the international borders for centuries between nobles pledging allegiance alternately to French and Italian kings.The hilltops and valleys bear witness to the warfare that marked relations along this mountain border. Massive castles and fortifications lie along mountain ridges and protect narrow valley entrances. But for all this defensive posturing, valleys and towns still shifted sides based more on politics and religion than military might.These mountains that once formed a natural boundary today are linked by hundreds of km. of ski and snowboard trails and web of gondolas, chairlifts, pomas and cable cars. This is the region that hosts the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.The Games will be spread throughout the region. Sestriere will host most of the men's downhill events. Cesana-San Sicario will be the site of women's downhill, biathlon, bobsled, skeleton and luge. Sauze d'Oulx will showcase the freestyle events. Bardonecchia claims the snowboard venues. Olympic Villages will be in Bardonecchia and Sestriere.For American and British tourists, the best towns to use as a base for discovering this area of Piemonte are Sestriere and Sauze d'Oulx. Though these resorts are linked by snow-covered trails there is a dichotomy in village flavor. Sestriere is on the main road, modern, bustling, surrounded by lifts and fashionable. Sauze d'Oulx is a traditional village laced with a warren of narrow cobbled streets, tucked at the end of a winding mountain road with at least a dozen switchbacks, with limited lift access to the far-reaching trails. Sestriere is very Italian with a rhythm that reflects traditions of coffee, apres-ski at the hotels and some late-night disco action. Sauze d'Oulx is packed with British, Dutch, Irish and other European tourists and its pubs positively rock when the lifts close. Sauze d'Oulx has beautiful winding trails through forests. The best skiing and lift service is higher on the mountain. Access to the town, whether skiing down or trying to get a lift up, is torturous. New lifts being installed for the Olympics will help, but all skier and riders from Sauze d'Oulx need to catch one of two double chairs, neither of which is convenient, or a quad lift that is hike or bus ride from the center of town. This is a town where getting to the lifts is a chore, but finding a wild bar is child's play. Almost all of the trails are intermediate and beginners don't really have an easy time of it. There are beginner trails winding down snow-covered mountain roads. Expert can make their own challenge by ducking off-trail whenever they choose.
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resort info
