Telecabina Campo Smith - Colomion

The Campo Smith-Colomion gondola is the heart of Bardonecchia’s ski system, the direct link from the town centre at 1,312 metres to the main ski terrain on the Colomion plateau at 2,100 metres. Bardonecchia holds an important place in Italian ski history: it was the venue for the first Olympic snowboard events in Italian history during the 2006 Turin Winter Games, a status that brought international attention to this Cottian Alps resort and left a legacy of snowboard infrastructure and culture that endures today.

The Colomion sector is the larger and more varied of Bardonecchia’s two ski areas, offering a mix of open, above-treeline terrain on the upper mountain and more sheltered forest skiing lower down. The runs range from wide, gentle blues suitable for beginners and families to steep blacks that make good use of the 788-metre vertical drop from the summit. The exposure, predominantly north-west, ensures snow retention through the season and often later into spring than south-facing resorts.

Bardonecchia as a resort has a character shaped by its position on the French border and by its historical role as a gateway between Italy and France through the Frejus rail tunnel. The town has a pleasant, unpretentious Alpine atmosphere with good value accommodation and restaurants serving the hearty Piedmontese mountain cuisine: fonduta, carne cruda, gnocchi al Castelmagno. The snowboard culture introduced by the 2006 Games has given the resort a younger, more energetic edge than some of its neighbours in the Via Lattea domain, and the terrain parks remain among the best maintained in the Cottian Alps.