Sent away from La Thuile

16/02/2026

Never, in our ten years of travelling in a motorhome, have we been asked to leave a parking area. This was a new one for us.

Leaving France

We had driven down from Saint Gervais to Passy where we stocked up and filled with fuel at the Super U. Despite our oath never to venture to a supermarket on a Saturday it was indeed Saturday. And it was busy. But thankfully not as mega busy as our previous Saturday scrum.

The plan was a drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel to the Aosta valley, that all went without a hitch, just a quick stop off en-route to make a bacon butty. Paul’s shock at the price of the tunnel was unexpected, but it turns out he thought I’d said it would be about £20. I don’t know how you mix up twenty and sixty, but there you go, we’re both getting old and will probably have enough misunderstandings for a Two Ronnies’ sketch at some point.

One Night in La Thuile…

Once we were through the tunnel we were in a winter wonderland. In Courmayeur it was definitely more snowy than we’d seen before. We didn’t realise at the time that two skiers had been killed by an avalanche the day previously. This winter has taken a massive toll in avalanche deaths. The slip road to the autostrada was closed due to the avalanche, but we weren’t planning on taking the toll route anyway, there’s a large toll charge somewhere along this stretch, we can never remember where it is so it’s easiest to just avoid it.

Our aim was La Thuile. Somewhere we’ve been before where there is a large sosta with EHU and showers. We drove the switchbacks up to the resort with a great deal of anticipation. There had been a lot of snow and we were keen to get our skis on. Only after watching the Six Nations of course.

When you enter the La Thuile sosta it is plastered all over with handwritten signs. It might seem a bit confusing but really it’s just a case of parking within the blue lines and giving the manager a ring or text to let him know you’ve arrived. We parked ourselves up in a space waiting for Silvio, but his expression when he turned up was quite hang-dog. “One night only” he said, “there is too much snow coming and I’m closing for the rest of the week”.

This cant have been good news for him. This week is the Carnevale Italian holidays. Not everyone gets a whole week off school, but everyone gets at least a couple of days, and some workplaces also provide time off, so it’s prime time for Italians to get out for some skiing. Of course it’s also UK half term. It should have been a money spinner.

I checked the forecast, it turned out we were ok to ski the following day as the snow was due to arrive in the evening. According to one website at 6:17pm precisely.

So that’s what we did. One day that started very well with incredible snow conditions, and ended with a strong bitter wind that pushed us backwards when we tried to get off the chairlifts. A hot shower for a euro (a chance to wash my hair thoroughly) and then we were making our way back down those switchbacks.

We’re still not sure the sosta was closed but we have encountered some of the vans that were there with us. So some people definitely left. It looked like others were moving closer to the exit of the sosta. Maybe if we’d offered to just sit it out then it would have been fine. The forecast snow wasn’t quite as heavy in La Thuile as forecast either but better safe than sorry.

…and one night in Pre Saint Didier

After our skiing we descended to the bottom of the switchbacks and the village of Pre Saint Dider. There is a sosta down here which we have used a few times which was our destination.

We were disappointed on our arrival. The sosta, which used to have barrier entry and working EHU and services all year round was now just a pay and display car park. The water appeared to be turned off and people had been using the grey waste drop for their toilet waste. The EHU was turned off, Paul even checked the junction box but it was padlocked. There was still a charge but it is now cheaper at €10 per day (one euro an hour between 8am and 6pm and free overnight. As a place to stop overnight it was ok, just not quite the luxury we’d been looking forward to. It was a good job I’d washed and dried my hair up in La Thuile.

In the theme of disappointment we’d also tried to book some time in the spa, but it was fully booked (unless we wanted the expensive all day option) and the brand new swimming pool which we have watched being built over the years, is not quite complete so we couldn’t go for a swim. I think it’s just about finished though, so by next winter it should be done.

We settled in for a night of potential snow, parking next to the river rather than under the slope in case of snow dropping off the wall above us. A few other vans we recognised from La Thuile joined us, each plugging optimistically into the EHU points and then looking around and realising that no one else was on EHU.

In the end we only had rain down in the valley. A bit of a damp squib for us but it did mean we were able to get away whenever we were ready. We just had to plan the next few days.

Motorhome Ski La Thuile – the practical stuff:

Here is the practical stuff, an update from our previous visits

La Thuile sosta

There is a sosta in La Thuile. Now called Sosta Grand Assaly although you may see it referred to as Sosta Azzurra.

The sosta has 6 Amp EHU for most of the spaces, services and a couple of showers (€1 for four minutes) and toilets. Remember to take paper with you as there is no toilet paper in the loos. There is now a key code on the bathroom door which you will be given when you pay.

On arrival you might find the office open, in which case you can go in and pay. Otherwise a phone number is provided and you can call or text.

The cost for two people for one night is €23.50 inclusive of tourist tax. You can now pay the whole amount by card (previously you needed cash for the tourist tax). You’ll need to take in some ID for the usual Italian bureaucracy. Once paid you will be given a ticket to display in a window.

Getting to the Slopes

There is a free navetta (bus) which stops just opposite the sosta. The timetable is here. However you will then go all round the resort before being dropped at the gondola. So we prefer to walk to the gondola station which is about 400m and pretty flat.

Ski passes

Ski passes can be ordered online, bought from self-service kiosks, or bought from a manned kiosk next to the gondola. There are morning, afternoon, two, three and four hour options as well as all day and multi day passes. Ticketing is priced seasonally so will be more expensive over Christmas/New Year, Italian carnevale week and UK half term.

Skiing La Thuile

To access the slopes you can ascend the gondola or use the chair lift from the area opposite the gondola station. Skiing back down to the village is usually possible and due to the altitude is usually in reasonable condition. You can always try the world cup downhill course if you like it steep.

The area is linked to La Rosiere in France across the San Bernardo pass and the lift pass covers both sides automatically. The connection can often be closed due to wind which is a bit of a feature of this resort. There is plenty of skiing on the La Thuile side though and it never feels busy. The connection is quite flat and requires the use of at least one drag lift which can be quite tedious.

We noticed that a new lift is being constructed this year starting from the top of the gondola station. This will hopefully replace or supplement the Chaz Dura lifts which are old and hard on the backside.