Sestriere & Via Lattea Piste Map
The Sestriere & Via Lattea piste map
Sestriere sits at the top of the Via Lattea — the Milky Way — so the map below isn't just one resort. It's the whole circuit: 400km, 313 runs and 8 linked resorts running west from Sestriere all the way over the border into France — all of it linked on skis, though the French end needs the right pass, which we come to below. Zoom and drag to explore it, then read on for how the sectors fit together and where to point yourself.
Map © Vialattea, reproduced with permission.
How the Via Lattea fits together
The map looks sprawling until you spot the shape of it. The Via Lattea is a long chain running roughly east to west, with Sestriere at the top of one end and two mountain hubs holding the rest of it together. Get those two hubs straight and the whole thing makes sense.
- Monte Sises & Monte Motta — above the townSestriere's own skiing rises straight out of the village on this side, topping out at 2,800m on Monte Motta. This is where the Olympic race pistes from 2006 are, and the resort's best steep pitches with them. It's north-facing, which is why the snow up here keeps its quality when the sunnier corners of the map are going soft.
- Banchetta & the Pragelato side — the gentler flankThe other side of the town, and the softer half of Sestriere's own terrain: wide, rolling runs where you can carry speed without committing to anything, plus the open ground that holds the best of the local off-piste after a fall of snow.
- Monte Fraiteve — hub number oneThe single most important point on the map. Fraiteve is the crossroads where Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx and Sansicario all meet, and it's the gateway to everything west. Ride up here in the morning and the rest of the circuit opens up. It's also high and exposed, which matters — see the warning below.
- The Monti della Luna — hub number twoFurther west, the Monti della Luna carry you between Cesana, Claviere and, over the border, Montgènevre. The area's low point is down at 1,400m around Cesana — well below the town of Sestriere, which is why the far end of the map behaves like a completely different mountain.
- Montgènevre — the French endThe far west of the map is in France, run by a different lift company, and it counts as part of the Via Lattea — the area's headline kilometres include it. Two practical consequences. It's the one stretch your pass may not automatically cover, so check before you set off. And it's the only place on the map where you'll see a green run, because Italy doesn't use that grade at all.
- The rule for a big day outBoth hubs are high and exposed, and they're the first thing to shut in wind. If Fraiteve or the Monti della Luna close while you're out west, you don't ski home — you're getting a bus or a taxi back round by road, from a resort that may be an hour away. Check the forecast before you commit to the far end, and know the time of the last lift back.
What each resort on the map is good for
One pass, but the resorts along it are genuinely different mountains. Here's what you're actually skiing to, and the one place we'd think twice about.
- Sestriere — the high endThe highest base on the map and the best of the race terrain, with wide cruising runs to balance it. It's also one of the better places on the circuit to be learning: the nursery lifts sit at the edge of the village at 2,035m, so a beginner's morning starts on the snow rather than with a gondola ride up the mountain, which is not true everywhere out here.
- Sauze d'Oulx — trees, and The BowlDrop over Fraiteve and you're into long runs through larch forest, which is the best of the map in flat light. Locals will point you at The Bowl, which holds natural snow well and is worth timing after a dump. Sauze is also where the circuit's Italian snowpark is.
- Sansicario — good skiing, awkward exitYou can happily lap Sansicario's lifts for a whole afternoon. The catch, and it catches people out every season: the way out is a long, narrow drag lift. If you've got beginner snowboarders with you, that drag is a miserable way to end the day — plan the route home before you drop in, not after.
- Cesana & Claviere — the quiet, low endThe lowest and least busy corner of the map, and a proper find for confident skiers: Claviere in particular has some genuinely good off-piste for anyone who knows what they're doing. Being low, it's the first part of the circuit to feel a warm spell, so save it for cold weeks.
- Montgènevre — the far westOver the border, and a long way from Sestriere — a full day's mission rather than a morning's detour. It has the better snowpark of the two on the circuit and the boarder cross, plus a good spread of runs from easy greens up to blacks. Check your pass covers it before you set off, and be honest with yourself about the time.
What's on the map
The full Via Lattea, graded by difficulty. It's a red-run circuit above all else, with blues linking it together and a decent scattering of blacks — which tells you almost everything about who this map suits. Read the green column with the border in mind: Italy doesn't grade pistes green at all, so on the Italian side of the map blue is the easiest grade there is.
Best of the map, by ability and conditions
A map shows you every run; it doesn't tell you which ones you'll want. Here's where to head from Sestriere depending on who you are and what the weather's doing.
- BeginnersStart where you're staying. Sestriere's nursery lifts are on the edge of the village, so a first lesson doesn't begin with a lift ride, and the snow at that height is dependable all winter. Then know how to read the map: Italy doesn't grade pistes green, so blue is the beginners' colour here and Italian blues are gentler than the blues you'd meet in France. The wide, easy blues on the Sestriere side are where to spend your first week, and there are plenty of them — the map only looks short of easy terrain if you're expecting a green scale that this side of the border doesn't use.
- IntermediatesThis map was made for you. The classic day: up Fraiteve early, over to Sauze d'Oulx for the tree runs, lunch a resort or two from home, then work your way back with an eye on the last lift. You can ski for a week here without repeating yourself, which is not something you can say about many areas at this price.
- Advanced & expertsThe Olympic pistes off Sises and Motta are the real thing when they're firm, and the blacks hold their pitch rather than flattering you. Off-piste, the Pragelato flank and Claviere are the two to know. Be clear on the limits, though: there's no glacier here and nothing lift-served that's genuinely severe, so this is a few excellent days rather than a fortnight of them.
- FreestylersThe weak spot, and we'd rather be straight about it. Across the whole circuit there are two snowparks and one boarder cross — and none of them are in Sestriere, because the resort's own park closed several seasons ago. The Italian park is over at Sauze d'Oulx and it's modest and awkward to lap. The better park, and the boarder cross, are at Montgènevre at the far end of the map — a long ski away, and only on your pass if you've bought the right one. Worth knowing that the area's official listings mention only the Italian park, so the French one is easy to miss entirely. If the trip is about the park, this isn't the map for it.
- Flat light & bad weatherTwo moves. First, get into the trees — the larch runs above Sauze d'Oulx hold definition far better than the open ground up top. Second, don't go far. The high links are the first to close in wind, and being stranded at the wrong end of the circuit is the classic Via Lattea mistake. Ski local, and check the lift status before you commit.
- Early or late seasonSestriere's advantage. The season runs from around Early Dec to mid-April (approx), and with the highest town in Italy and most of the circuit sitting high, the cover up here lasts when the lower links are thinning. It's a dry, sunny corner of the Alps, so a lot of that is snowmaking rather than fresh — but it works, and Sestriere's system has recently been rebuilt.
Know the map? Now sort the kit
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Sestriere piste map — common questions
Is the Sestriere piste map the same as the Via Lattea map?
Yes. Sestriere is one of the resorts on the Via Lattea, and the whole circuit is shown on a single map, so the Sestriere piste map and the Via Lattea map are the same sheet. The panorama on this page is that full area map, with Sestriere at the high, eastern end of it.
How do you ski from Sestriere to Sauze d'Oulx?
Over Monte Fraiteve. Fraiteve is the hub where Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx and Sansicario meet, so you ride up from Sestriere and drop down the far side into the Sauze slopes. It's a straightforward run for a confident intermediate, but Fraiteve is high and exposed and closes in strong wind, so check it's open before you set out and know the time of the last lift back.
Can you ski from Sestriere to France?
Yes, as far as Montgènevre. You work west over Fraiteve, then through Sansicario, Cesana and Claviere on the Monti della Luna, and Montgènevre sits over the border at the far end. It's a full day and it depends on every link running, so set off early. Longer Vialattea passes include a Montgènevre day in the chip, so check what your pass covers before you go.
Where are the beginner runs in Sestriere?
At the edge of the village. Sestriere's nursery lifts sit right by the town rather than up the mountain, which makes it one of the better bases on the Via Lattea for a first week — you're on the snow within a few minutes of your door, at an altitude where the cover is dependable. The thing to understand is the grading: Italy doesn't use green, so blue is the beginners' grade on the Italian side of the map, and Italian blues are gentler than French ones to match. The wide blues on the Sestriere side are the right place to build up.
Are there green runs in Sestriere and the Via Lattea?
Not on the Italian side, and that's the grading system rather than a shortage of easy skiing. Italy grades pistes blue, red and black, so blue is the easiest colour you'll see signed anywhere in Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx, Sansicario, Cesana or Claviere. Green only appears at the French end of the map, around Montgènevre. Because Italian blues cover the ground a French green would, they're generally gentler than a blue in France — so don't read this map as though it were a French one.
Can I download the Via Lattea piste map?
Yes. The official map is available as a PDF from the Vialattea site — use the button above, which also takes you to the live slope and lift status. The zoomable version on this page is there for planning, so you can explore the whole circuit without downloading anything.
Where can I check if lifts and pistes are open?
On the official Vialattea slopes and facilities page, and in the Vialattea app, which both show live opening status for lifts and runs. We deliberately don't reproduce live status here — the official source is the one to trust for a day's plan, and it matters more than usual on this map, because the high links between resorts close in wind.
Why do sources give different numbers for the Via Lattea?
Because the bodies doing the counting don't agree, and one of them doesn't agree with itself. The lift company and the local tourist board each publish their own totals, and the lift company's website quotes one figure in its text while its own breakdown by colour adds up to another. The area also crosses a border into a country that grades pistes differently, so there's no clean like-for-like comparison. We use the lift operator's colour breakdown, because that's the count attached to the pass you buy. It's also worth knowing that the official count lists only one snowpark, when the French resort at the far end of the map has a snowpark and a boarder cross of its own.
Which runs are best in bad weather or flat light?
Head for the trees above Sauze d'Oulx, where the larch forest gives you definition that the open high ground can't. Just as important on this map: stay close to home. The high hubs at Fraiteve and the Monti della Luna are the first lifts to shut in wind, and being caught at the far end of the circuit means a long journey back by road.
Where are the snowparks on the map?
Two snowparks and one boarder cross across the whole Via Lattea, and none of them at Sestriere itself — the resort's own park closed several seasons ago. One park is at Sauze d'Oulx on the Italian side, and it's a modest one that's awkward to lap. The second park and the boarder cross are both at Montgènevre at the French end of the circuit, which is a long ski from Sestriere and needs a pass that covers it. The area's own official listings mention only the Italian park, so it's easy to miss that the French one exists at all.
Now sort the rest of your trip
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- Via Lattea – Vialattea14: © Vialattea
