Slide on Snow 2027: Booking, Accommodation & Resort Info

Following last years very successful Snow Test in Champoluc, Italy, the UK snowsport industry's big alpine test event will return next year on 25th-29th January – time to highlight the week in your 2027 diary! For those of you who didn't attend this year, the venue is the traditional mountain village of Champoluc, situated at the head of the Ayas Valley in Aosta Valley province, and just a few kilometres south of Cervinia and Zermatt. The village is at the western end of the Monterosa ski area, made up of three valleys with 100km of pistes and a huge reputation for off-piste and freeride.

The whole area has a wilder feel than most of the better-known alpine resorts, and apart from busy weekends and peak holiday periods, it's mostly very quiet. Less commercial than many of the big ski areas, lift passes are great value here, and food on the mountain is generally excellent - and considerably cheaper than many. If you've not skied here before, you can expect long, quiet and very well-maintained pistes and a staggering array of off-piste adventure when conditions allow.

Lifts go up to 3275m and though it has a good record for sunshine, it tends to stay cold due to altitude and proximity to so many of Europe's biggest 4000m peaks. Heli-skiing is also an option, and if you get the chance the local guides office will organise some top notch itineraries. The area benefits most from 'retour d'est' weather systems - this means an excellent sunshine record, and when it snows, big accumulations are common. In January the snow tends to stay in good condition as the whole area remains cold - we were treated to good weather at this year's Test, with cold temperatures and good snowfall during the week.

For the first time this year, the test became a four day event, leaving the Friday for social skiing or pre-arranged testing. This was a success and will be repeated next year, allowing attendees to enjoy some recreational skiing.

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Access

Airport transfers:

1hr 30m from Turin

2hrs from Milan Malpensa

2hr 15m from Milan Linate

3hrs from Geneva

The Village

Champoluc is spread out along the valley floor, has a wide range of (mostly) family-owned hotels and some great restaurants and bars, but it’s not particularly big on late night options. Locally owned shops and businesses and a friendly welcome in a big mountain environment are the main themes.
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Test Site

The test site is SW facing at 2000m next to the Ristorante Bar du Soleil at the top of the Frachey funicular. As the name suggests it’s often sunny, and the Monterosa ski team made and moved tons of snow to make the site as large and as flat as possible. We hope to further increase the size of the site for 2027.

Test Pistes

Test turnaround times are much faster than in La Clusaz thanks to a fast, four-person chair right next to the event village, and there's a choice of pistes from (Mandria) the main 'test lift.' 4min 52secs on this gets you to the top of a FIS accredited (GS) red piste, and a choice of blue slopes. This lift has 480m vert, with trees if the viz is poor and some great side-piste and freeride features between the groomers. The only thing not on site is a park/pipe.

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A further fast 4-man (5 minute) chair above this one arrives at over 2700m, with wide red pistes and more off-piste options. Lift queues are normally minimal or absent here in January. The layout of the hill makes for very efficient and fast turnaround testing. For bigger backcountry, touring and off-piste missions there are plenty of options, including glacier terrain and some of Europe's best big mountain freeride.

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Test Site Facilities

The Boot Room is in a heated converted groomer garage and there is access to a snow-making plant room for overnight ski storage. There are two cafes at the test site with a huge variety of good value food. There are two other excellent rifugios/restaurants and another café on the Test ski piste circuit too, so you won't be stuck for a choice of quality food.

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Coffee and wine available pretty much everywhere on the hill at suitably Italian prices and a real pizza for under 8 euros. Info on deals at cafes and restaurants for Test attendees will be shared nearer the time.

Lift Passes

Ski passes for this fabulous ski area are already known as excellent value, but Monterosa Ski have kindly offered a 20% discount on all pre-registered SIGB Test attendees’ lift passes – from 1 to 8 days*.

NOTE: Discounts will only be available to confirmed and pre-registered attendees.

A dynamic pricing system is already in operation here, so we advise making the most of this by booking early. When the ski pass booking system opens for the season (November likely) prices are already well discounted (up to 27% off), and the additional 20% SIGB discount code will still apply – providing some serious bargains on uplift.

*discount code and details TBC

Accommodation

Champoluc isn’t on the radar for most of the tour operators and happily retains its laid-back Italian mountain charm and community vibes. It’s handy for Milan and Turin though, so fills up at weekends and local holiday times. There’s a great selection of hotels, but not the choice of apartments you find in the big French resorts, so we advise booking accommodation early.

Simon Brown of Ski Champoluc and his son Ryan have been providing a fantastic service here, catering to the UK ski market for over 25 years. Their company is part of the community and they've been a big supporter of getting the SIGB Test to come to Monterosa. We're very grateful for their huge help at load-in and load-out at this year's Test - skidoos and plenty of human muscle were involved! The team at Ski Champoluc have once again put together an impressive selection of offers for accom/transfers etc. - all way below normal list prices.

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Please note these discounts are only available to registered Test attendees.

See Accommodation Offers here

Early booking strongly advised for the best deals - get in touch with their office direct to discuss details - you'll find more info and can contact them directly via the Ski Champoluc website. We’re also working with the official Aosta Valley Tourism organisation – who are looking into ways of supporting the Ski Test. In the meantime, they have a huge choice of accommodation - have a look here – you can spread your search as wide as you like with the filters.

Get signed up for the Test early

Following the success of this year’s Test in Champoluc we expect high demand from brands and testers to attend in 2027. The good news is you can book now, so here’s what you need to know:

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Registration for Suppliers, Retailers and Media testers

- Please see the charges below to attend the Snow Test

Retailer and Media testers

- The SIGB Ski Test is open to both SIGB members and non-SIGB member retail and media delegates. Please register and find out more at the button below.

Suppliers only

- Supplier Registration is only open to companies in current membership of SIGB who are also exhibiting at Slide & OTS Winter 2027.

- First refusal will be offered to Suppliers who attended the 2026 Snow Test in Champoluc.

- Please sign up as soon as possible, and before 30/09/26 so we can make the arrangements. Please register and find out more at the button below.

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REGISTER HERE

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Test Costs 2027

Socials and Fringe Events

The popular SIGB Snow Test Quiz will return to Champoluc, as will the well-attended group meal on the last night of testing. We were given a great welcome by local bars, hotels, restaurants, guides and instructors to provide some additional activities this year and we’ll be sharing details for 2027 soon - so everyone can make the most of their visit to Champoluc and the Monterosa Ski area. If you want to organise either a social event or product activation of any kind, please let us know and we’ll sort out the diary/details with you.

Details to follow as we have them, but ideas welcome, even if it’s just wish-list at this point.

More soon

More offer details and full info to follow soon, but spread the word – testing will be super efficient and it’s a fantastic place to ski/visit, with all the good stuff you expect from an unspoilt ski village in the high Italian Alps.

Organisers

The SIGB Ski Test is organised by Neil and Sarah at Hillside Outside Ltd on behalf of the SIGB Ski Test Committee.

For more information contact:

Email: sarah@hillsideoutside.com

Phone: 01721 588050

Partners

We’re very grateful to, and looking forward to working with, Montreosa Ski, Val d’Aosta Tourism and Ski Champoluc as our main partners in bringing the Test to Champoluc.

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