When talking about freeride in the Alps, there are names that keep coming up, season after season: Alagna and Gressoney in winter are transformed.
Places that don't need to impress: just put on your skis. It's no coincidence that riders from all over Europe come here: you don't come here to "go skiing," you come to experience the mountains with style, technique, and passion.
Monte Rosa dominates the scene with its massive presence, the lifts take you to altitude quickly, the guides know every corner, and the natural snowfall often makes all the difference.
Here freeride speaks many languages, but the adrenaline is the same for everyone. Alagna and Gressoney in winter are not villages frozen in time. Stone and wood still speak, but today they contrast with carbon ice axes and ARTVA in your backpack.
The ideal conditions? They're often called January. Those who know the season understand: the peak quality arrives between January and February. Dry snow, perfect temperatures, ideal conditions for dream lines.
The descents often start from Punta Indren, but they don't stop there. Outside the boundaries of groomed slopes begins the real game: couloirs, valleys, and forests become the perfect terrain for those who can read the mountain and push at the right moment.
La Bettolina on the Gressoney side: varied and fun route, with forest sections, ideal for beginners.
La Balma: 1900 meters of vertical drop in one of the most complete lines in the alpine arc. A classic that always remains powerful.
Passo della Civera with descent to Zube: a less beaten area, perfect for those seeking a more intimate dimension and wild views over Val d'Otro.
Vallone delle Pisse: classic starting point for accessible and fun freeride days, with infinite variants and options.
Want to try a freeride experience? Choose yours here: Freeride on Monte Rosa
Local UIAGM mountain guides are an integral part of the system: they accompany, train, observe. It's not just about safety, it's culture. In Alagna and Gressoney in this season you grow up with the mountain beside you, not above you.
Those who want to alternate skiing and ice axe find what they're looking for.
The ice in Alagna is varied and technical: ranging from accessible flows to routes that require experience and precision. In Gressoney the choice is varied. The climbs are quick, access is direct, and the setting... magazine-worthy.
Le Grotte di Cristallo and Il Silenzio Walser in Alagna and Velo Azzurro in Gressoney for those who want to start without giving up the environment.
Il Cascatone di Gender in Alagna and La Cascata di Punta Iolanda in Gressoney: constant flow, variable difficulty, pure aesthetics.
Lacrima sul Viso in Alagna and Thriller in Gressoney are serious business, to be tackled with mind and preparation.
Here too, mountain guides make the difference. Some climb with them to learn, others return to test themselves, others alternate skiing and ice in an intense and full week.
When the sun begins to rise and days get longer, Monte Rosa transforms. Freeride continues, but for many, the real time of ski mountaineering begins.
March offers space, light, and snow that holds. Dawns stretch out, and the mountain seems to slow down only for those who know how to listen to it.
Want to see our ski mountaineering experiences? Click here: Ski mountaineering on Monte Rosa
Capanna Margherita (4554 m): a climb that must be earned meter by meter. Glacier, altitude, thin air: to be tackled with experience, it offers rare emotions.
Piramide Vincent (4215 m): a less crowded option, perfect for testing yourself at high altitude.
Punta Giordani (4046 m): excellent entry into the world of winter 4000ers. Progressive elevation gain, opening panorama, growing awareness.
Tour del Monte Rosa: a spectacular traverse connecting Alagna to Zermatt, Champoluc, and Gressoney. Four days among grandiose panoramas and peaks over four thousand meters, with light backpack and high-altitude rhythm.
Those who practice ski mountaineering on Monte Rosa take home much more than a summit. They take real experiences: timing, strategies, adaptations, managed errors, shared decisions. Real mountain, in other words.
The day doesn't end at the last turn. The return to the valley is part of the experience: skis on feet down to the village and a craft beer at the Centro bar. In Gressoney, people gather at the Wunderbar.
The scene is made up of local freeriders, passing alpinists, tourists. Evening brings everyone to the same table: those who traced alone, those who followed a guide, those who made their first off-piste descent. People talk about snow, laugh, plan next outings.
On gray days, you slow down. You study, recover, adapt the plan. No anxiety: the right snow always returns. And if there's no snow, you search for it.
Because the mountain isn't always perfect powder, but it's adventure, adaptation, curiosity. It's discovering new lines, exploring different corners, reading the weather and choosing the right window.
Sometimes you turn back, sometimes you change zones, sometimes you learn more in a day without descent than in a perfect day.
If snow doesn't arrive, you change approach. We're used to linking winter to skiing and summer to mountaineering, but those who adapt to climate change discover new paths and continue to be amazed.
Alagna and Gressoney in winter today are no secret. They are well-connected realities, with real services, simple but curated hospitality, people who know what they're doing.
They work well for those who want an intense week, for those seeking a guide for the weekend, for those who organize last minute by checking Windy and SnowForecast.
Those who arrive in Alagna and Gressoney in winter bring different experiences, but the same direction: upward.
A varied community: splitboarders, skiers with legs and brains, alpinists who return every year, active families seeking something more.
The offering grows every year: more courses, more collaboration between guides, more accessible refuges, evolved rentals, shuttles and transfers for day trips. But the heart remains the same: those who come here seek the real mountain.
Those who come here seek real experiences, not catalog promises. Those who choose Alagna and Gressoney in winter know what they're looking for: authentic mountains, strong emotions, and an environment that doesn't need to be explained.
You don't come to "disconnect," but to connect to something that matters. You come to work hard with purpose, to look at a slope and feel it's the right moment. You return with burning quadriceps and a lighter head.
Behind every successful experience, there's the silent competence of UIAGM mountain guides.
They build experiences, scout, train clients, read the territory. Many of them were born or live here. They've climbed Rosa in every condition, traced in every valley, slept in bivouacs, and know the refuges where you eat well. They're a precious resource for those who want to level up, for those seeking a technical and personal growth path in harmony with the territory.
Do you have a project in mind? Write us.
Alagna and Gressoney in winter is the right place to make it reality. No pre-packaged deals, no flash offers. Just people who love this territory and want to help you experience it in the best way.
