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“Send it Tim!” I hear shouted from behind as I take a route down through the trees. The encouragement, helpful at the best of times, comes with an added boost that it is from former GB Olympian Jamie Nicholls. I am among a small group being led through the forests bordering the Valle Argentera high above the ski resort of Italian ski resort of Sestriere on an off-piste adventure. In The Snow joined Nicholls, his wife, and guide Diego Bonetto for a sojourn in the Italian Alps as this year’s Winter Olympics got into full swing. Nicholls competed for Team GB at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and the 2018 games in Pyeongchang. Although he may not be competing in Milano-Cortina this year, he still trains on his favoured discipline, rails, and had come to Sestriere with his family for a short break and join in Club Med’s beginner ski and snowboard programme for his own kids. Nicholls is a fan of any slope-side winter sports, be them snowboard or skiing. “What on earth was that!,” he says about the Olympics big air ski final. “That was probably the most insane big air ski final, I’m not an expert on ski tricks but we can all agree that was completely bonkers. It had two of the biggest combined trick scores I have ever seen.” For Nicholls, trying his hand at tricks in Sauze d’Oulx’s snowpark will have to wait, , at least until we had navigated down to the bottom of the valley. To say that the gods of winter snow have been kind to The Via Lattea ski region this year would be an understatement. The Piedmont area of the Alps has had one of its best seasons in years, regular dumps of snow have built up a healthy snowpack since December that has been topped up on an almost weekly basis. The tree-lined north western slopes of the 3,280m Rognosa del Sestriere were our powdery playground for the morning. The ridgeline also doubled up as a shelter from the storm front which threatened to blow in. “I’ve never left a soldier behind,” says 34-year old Diego Bonetto from Sestriere’s Scuola Sci with a smile, commenting on the conditions. Bonetto is as keen to crack a joke or retell a story as he is to show us around the area. “My other life is as a beach lifeguard in Miami,” he jests. The humour however belies a savvy knowledge of the local mountains. Hailing from a village halfway between Milan and Turin, Bonetto has made Sestriere his second home, having ski raced as a child down the valley’s slopes. Those decades have allowed him to scour the contours of the various mountains across Piedmont, and find routes many others don’t know. For one morning we were the beneficiary of that knowledge as he picked his way down a slope in safety. “I started skiing when I was four years old and competed in the ski club until I was 18 years old. I started teaching at almost 19 years old, now I am 97 and so it has been a long time teaching.” Diego Bonetto Apart from his knowledge of the region’s hidden off-piste spots, Bonetto is a walking encyclopaedia of the area's Olympic history. He recalls the story of how, decades ago the downhill race from the top of the 2,702m high Mt Fraiteve down into the neighbouring resort of Sauze d’Oulx was effectively an open route. Competitors simply had to find the quickest and shortest way down to Oulx and the valley floor, which depending on the route is anything from 10 to 15km away. “The old ski instructors told me that the downhill nowadays is within different gates. I heard from an old ski instructor that the very old downhill wasn’t in between any gates, it was free and wild,” Bonetto adds. “It was about who got down to the bottom using the shortest way, and the wildest way. Down in the forests down there, some athletes were going in the night before, to study the paths.” As we stop for lunch I appreciate the feat of taking on the whole mountain in one swoop. Club Med Pragelato is nestled down the valley from the main Sestriere ski area, which is both a bonus but when it comes to lunch a potential drawback, so the resort has signed agreements with four different mountain restaurants to allow residents to eat for free on the slopes, it means that you don’t have to organise your ski route around lunch, and can enjoy a more relaxed day exploring the 400-odd km of piste the region has to offer. The various resorts of the Via Lattea are strung out, like the areas translation Milky Way, with fairly large areas in between used as off-piste routes. Bonetto shows us various routes that can be taken, far more than would be possible in one day, to link up back routes over the summits. Some advanced, others possible for high-intermediate skiers, with a guide. Jamie, Tim, Diego & Alex As we make our way across the ski area it feels at times like I am shadowing the ghosts of winter Olympic’s past. The snow kept falling all morning, with visibility fading in and out depending on altitude. As we got to the end of the Red 71 Bassa route the former Olympic bobsleigh track in San Sicario comes into view. The curving concrete standing silently as it gets a fresh dusting of snow. “That’s sick!” Nichols says as we gaze at it. An abandoned Olympian staring at an abandoned Olympics, lost together in the mist. Further up the slope lies a crumbled fort from World War II. Different eras of history leave their mark on the valley in very different contexts. “When you are going at 80kph even the widest slopes can feel so very small," he says as we overlook Sestreire’s women’s World Cup Super G run. “Like a narrow walkway.” The north-facing slopes of Sestriere are home to dozens of stories from successive World Cup’s and Olympics. In February 2006 veteran US skier Bode Miller failed to place in three of the five events he had been entered into. The running joke in the press was that Miller was equally at home on the dance floor as he was on the piste. Speaking to a reporter from Associated Press at the time Miller defended himself, saying “I got to party and socialise at an Olympic level.” If there was an Olympic medal for socialising in Sestriere then Club Med’s Pragelato resort would win it. The resort is based in a former ski village from the Olympics which has been extensively renovated prior to the opening of the current ski season. Located a little way down the valley from Sestriere itself, the village is a mix of alpine cabins, a central area and a giant perspex igloo which doubles up as a reception by day, and discotheque by night. People come to Club Med for the spa, the all inclusive food, the kids entertainment and the well designed rooms. For Nicholls it’s a far more simple reason to visit. “The kid’s club even helps get their ski boots off and on again at lunchtime,” he says. Any parent would agree that trying to encourage children into any clothing is difficult. Cajoling kids into ski wear and boots is among the least attractive options of a ski holiday, as is trying to ensure they are well fed, and have enough to do if and when the skiing options are not available, “I like that I don’t have to think about anything,” he adds. “I can have an actual holiday.” The lift connection built originally to help transport competitors up to the main Olympic’s area is now effectively Club Med’s own private lift access. It is open to the public, but not many people use it. This allows you to get onto the eastern slopes of Sestriere with relative ease. Our group made use of it numerous times to get into the main ski area, and also enjoy that long, last run down to Après-ski. As the afternoon wore on Nicholls and Bonetto split off, taking a sharp off-piste route through the trees at an Olympian’s pace. As the Pattemouche run weaves its way down into the lower valley you see them as silhouettes in the treeline, darting between trunks with ease. Diego says he likes to be “wild and free”. You expect nothing less from Nicholls either. It leaves me wondering if we’ll see Nicholls in the French Alps in four year’s time. It would be a loss to the sport if we didn’t. Seven nights all-inclusive stay at Club Med Pragelato Sestriere, Italian Alps from £1,969 per person (based on double occupancy). Price based on the departure date 21.03.26. Book now at www.clubmed.co.uk/r/pragelato-sestriere/w or call 03453 676767 If you are looking for the perfect destination for your next trip, our Resort Guide has everything you need to know. You can check out our award-nominated podcast, The Whiteout (finalist at the Travel Media Awards) available on Apple | Spotify | Podcasts or search The Whiteout on your chosen podcast directory.

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