Cumberland

Go Sky High & Ski Free in Courmayeur
By Lisa Jeeves
Courmayeur, nestled in the Italian
Alps at the foot of Mont Blanc, may
be famous as an elegant ski resort,
but for those who want the snow and
mountains without the high octane
thrills, it also offers a range of other
activities. With exclusive boutiques
and excellent restaurants scattered
around the resort’s pretty pedestrianized
centre, combined with the short
transfer from Geneva to Courmayeur,
it makes a wonderful spot for a winter
break, even without the skiing.
Restaurants and boutiques are all very well, but if you’ve come to the Alps for stunning
mountain views but don’t want to do too much walking then you’ll be thrilled to
discover that the Skyway Monte Bianco cable car makes the mountains accessible to
all. First built as a way of connecting the Italians of Courmayeur with the town of
Chamonix in France as early as the 1930s, the original cables were destroyed by French
fighter planes during World War Two. After the war, a station was opened at 3300m,
but engineers were unable to reach the summit due to the shifting glacier ice. It wasn’t
until 2015 that the top station at Punta Helbronner was finally opened at 3466m. Today
the Skyway Monte Bianco takes visitors from Courmayeur, up through a series of
stations, to the summit of Mont Blanc with views of many of the Alps’ highest peaks.
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