Pila

2008 – We rented an apartment in the ski village Pila on an altitude of 1800 meters. Going there we decided to take the Great Saint Bernard Pass, half to see the lake and half to avoid the costs of taking the tunnel. Don’t underestimate taking the pass, it is rather time consuming. Looking back at it now, we would most likely take twice the tunnel, for convenience.

Downhill on the World Championship track

During our visit the World Championship track of downhill was still setup. There were different colours like you have for ski slopes. We took the (easy) blue one as for beginners the red and black tracks were discouraged. When going as a beginner, even before our biking period, the blue track was more than difficult enough. First time we had to step down for a few obstacles, but as from the second descend we were able to stay on our bikes. As of then we were able to go faster and faster. 

With bike on the ski lift
View on the track

A 45 minute drive away from Pila you can find the Lillaz waterfalls. From the parking lot you have to keep the waterfall at your left side. The waterfall exists out of several parts which you can reach by follow the hiking trails. Be careful as some parts are rather stee and they can be slippery when it’s wet. During our visit we luckily had nice weather.

Lago di Miage

We visited the area of lago di Miage on an afternoon. During that visit we could see the Mont Blanc as well. We hiked from the parking lot towards the lake and from there we went up to the glacier lake. 

Hiking

During our stay we did a couple of hikes in the direct area of our appartement. As this was in the pre Strava area, we don’t have GPX tracks and I don’t remember the distances or the durations. We did start from the appartement up the hill and made it to the highest point. During that hike we passed at the Pila golf course, one of the highest in Europe.We continued our hike on the ridge for a while, till it became quite dangerous and then we went back down. We were very lucky to be back on time, as the weather can change quickly in the mountains, and a small storm started few minutes after our return.

The picture
The making of

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