In the Fog at Monterosa

12/03/2026

At the head of the Lys valley, above the last village of Gressoney-Saint-Trinitie, is the tiny hamlet of Staffal. It’s also known as Tschaval, which is it’s name in the Germanic language of the Walser people who migrated into these high altitude alpine areas from Switzerland in the 12th and 13th century.

Last time we came here we couldn’t get into the sosta because it was too late in the season , the sosta was covered in snow, the barrier was down and the caretaker wasn’t working. This time the sosta was open and a couple of other vans were already in residence. We got ourselves parked up and attached to the EHU.

The electricity (which is €3 for 24 hours on top of the nightly €13.50 cost of the sosta) is paid either online or through a coin operated machine. That meant we could get EHU without waiting for the caretaker to arrive. It’s only 3 AMPs so it’s not going to power very much but it keeps the batteries topped up and is better than running our noisy generator.

In the sosta at Staffal, with a bit of snow falling

We went for an afternoon stroll to re-familiarise ourselves with the area, returning to find that the caretaker had turned up. I went into the office to pay for our stay, trying out some of my Italian phrases. She was very happy to have a simple conversation with me in Italian, saying that she didn’t speak English very well, but did speak some German and French. We only stayed a couple of nights but each morning and evening we had another little conversation about the weather or how many more nights we might stay. It was really nice for me as someone who is trying to learn the language. So often people just switch straight to English or the conversation is too complex for my ability.

The best thing about this sosta is that it’s a short walk to the ski lifts in the central of the three connected Monterosa valleys. We could even have got a bus if we wanted to cut out the 300 or so meters up to the gondola. The central location makes it easy to ski over towards Champoluc in the Val d’Ayas or in the other direction to Alagna and the Valsesia.

After such a long period of sunshine we were a little discombobulated to find that the mountains were shrouded in cloud. This was a bit of test for our skiing. Fortunately the slopes were never too busy as we felt our way around in occasional thick fog and snow flurries on the Val d’Ayas side of the resort. Skiing by feel is a good exercise even if it’s slightly stressful. It did make me feel very disorientated, the skiing itself was ok but each time I came to a standstill I lost all sense of which way was up which resulted in a couple of instances where i just toppled over. It didn’t seem to affect Paul’s sense of balance in the same way. I’m in awe of the visually impaired skiers we’ve been seeing in the Paralympics.

On our second day the piste conditions were much improved with a few cms of new snow.  We headed up the other side of the resort. The cloud was still around, a blanket of grey that hovered just below the top of the gondola, obscuring the Indren lift and causing mild carnage at the top of the runs. But below the cloud the visibility was fine and the skiing very enjoyable.

Great views when the sun came out

Motorhome Ski Monterosa – from the Lys/Gressoney valley:

Because of the geography of the Monterosa ski area and the way it is spread across three valleys there are lots of options for staying and skiing. This post covers some Lys (aka Gressoney) valley options.

Parking

There are a several places you can stay in the Lys valley. Here are a few options, two of which we’ve tried and one which was a recommendation:

Use the Staffal sosta. This is a paid sosta with services and 3 Amp EHU. It’s moderately priced and is very close to the lifts.

Use the Weissmatten sosta. This is a paid sosta with 10 Amp EHU. It has direct access to the Weissmatten ski area, but the ski bus also stops here and will take you to the main Monterosa area.

Stay at Margherita Camping in Gressoney-Saint-Jean. We haven’t stayed here ourselves but were recommended it by someone we met. The ski bus stop is nearby and will take you to the main Monterosa area.

It may be possible to park in the main car park by the gondola, we didn’t see any ‘No Campers’ signs, but it is a paid car park at €10 for 24 hours.

Getting to the Slopes

If you stay at the Staffal sosta you can easily walk to the gondola, it’s about 300 meters slightly uphill.

There is a free ski bus that runs all the way from Pont Saint Martin up to the end of the road at Staffal where the Monterosa lifts start. The bus from Pont Saint Martin runs about half a dozen times a day, but there is a more frequent service starting in Weissmatten. Timetables are here.

If you stay elsewhere in the valley then you can use this free bus to take you all the way to Staffal. There is also a lift slightly lower down the valley in Tasch which can be used to access the Monterosa area.

And don’t forget to spend a few hours in the tiny resort of Weissmatten.

For people travelling by bus and staying for a few days, there are ski lockers at the bottom of the gondola for storing skis and boots if you want an unencumbered journey.

Ski passes

Ski passes can be ordered online or there are self service and manned kiosks at the lift stations.

If you are buying a skipass online then take care to buy your pass with ‘first access from the Aosta Valley’. There are different tickets if you are accessing the resort from Alagna.

To use the Indren lift to access the freeride area you will need to buy the pass with the freeride option. If you aren’t interested in off piste skiing you don’t need this.

Skiing Monterosa

Monterosa is a high altitude resort and is particularly known for it’s freeride area (off Indren) and ski mountaineering. It is a high altitude resort and has a high proportion of red and black runs, so not the best resort for early intermediates who are lacking in confidence. The runs are long, which means that the lifts are also very long, and while some lifts are modern and fast, others are slow and old. However the area is rarely busy during the week so you’ll encounter minimal queuing. More Italians visit at weekends and during holiday periods when it gets a lot busier.