For a relative beginner like me (great scenic wide blue runs, some reds) Madonna is just awesome. Especially from the very top, Passo Groste. The best of 10 places I’ve been to: Mutters, Axams, Filzmoos, Courchevel, Wengen, Zermatt, Zell am See, Grand Bornand… must have forgotten 1 or 2. Here is a rather rough ski video from there
As posted previously, one would fly to Bolzano or Trento. Bolzano has customs and avgas, Trento has avgas. Yes the IAP looks dodgy (the lower MDA needs crew authorisation) but in reality you would check the webcams in the morning and fly only if it is CAVOK. This video shows the whole IAP, flown in VMC, and you can check off the normal MDA and the special-auth MDA on the video:
The main challenge with Madonna, from Bolzano or from Trento, is that the shuttle buses run only at weekends, and due to some local mafia cartel they are not allowed to stop at Bolzano. So it is either a taxi (€200+ each way) or public transport which, ahem, I did do to Corvara 2 years ago and posting my experience here generated, ahem, some controversy which followed me around the internet 
Italian bus and even train timetables can be fictional. The Verona-Madonna “Fly Ski Shuttle” runs great, at just £35/person.
I looked into buses from Bolzano to Madonna when I was in Bolzano last year and there is an outfit called Flix Bus which may do it but nobody was able to find a timetable…
To be honest if you can get 2 people into a taxi, that is hard to beat for the lack of hassle. I’ve just spent almost that much on Swiss trains, Geneva to Zermatt (OK everybody knows Zermatt is the fleece capital but one has to do it once ).
Madonna is my next trip, with Justine so by airline to Verona. Just booking the apartment. I am not posting dates publicly, for obvious reasons
What about rental cars? Any chance of getting one of those at the airport? I really dont have 400Euros to burn on a cab ride as Im burning it on my airplane already.
Found the Bus schedule great prices $5.99 each way but only run on weekends. Fri thru Sunday So its late enough on the return that it would necessitate an overnight in Bolzano for Sunday night. Or you can stay a week; longer if your unlucky and weather turns sour at the end of the week when you are planning to return.
Then there is always the chance that the bus encounters icy roads and falls off a cliff into a gorge 200’ deep. As a pilot, we assess all possibilities and contingencies..
Trento-Madonna is 140EUR with Ms. Bacca +393358189510. Went a week ago.
Landing fee in Trento is on the order of 15EUR, so probably some saving over Bolzano and a 30 min. shorter ride as well.
Restaurant and aviation museum on site. I see no reason to fly to Bolzano when going to Madonna other than being non-schengen.
The distances appear roughly similar. That taxi # is very interesting! The €200+ was a totally obvious ripoff. The bus ride is 2hrs and a car is faster.
Yes, I wrote 30 minutes, not 30 kilometers. Of course, depends on traffic conditions and route chosen.
I’ve flown from both. Got standard controlled airport treatment at Bolzano, with X-ray and empty pockets. Trento is “press button to enter apron” type. For me, it’s the preferred one :-)
I flew to Sion on 27/12/18 and there was no issue parking, there was just one other plane (a small jet) and my TB20 in the Southern parking area. It was very busy with light jet and turbo prop movements but they were mainly going to TAG. The departure was interesting as the forecast of the overcast disappearing proved a bit ambitious, however we were able to depart and had a night landing at Lydd. There were at least three planes holding to land including a Swiss flight due to go to Porto (they went to Geneva instead). A PC12 did manage to squeeze in.
The landing fee was 25 CHF, passenger fee of 7 CHF and Skyguide charge of 16.50 CHF all plus VAT at 7.7%. Avgas was 2.26 CHF per litre plus VAT (around £1.95 inclusive of VAT). As for the skiing in the Valais I’d say that Zermatt is not really for beginners but is an absolutely beautiful place, it’s as busy in high summer as winter and has wonderful summer walks. Good skiing places from Sion are Crans Montana, Val d’Annivers (made up of St. Luc, Chandolin (both linked together), Zinal, Grimentz (both linked together) and Vercorin), Anzerre and Verbier (very expensive).
Happy New Year!
WillC wrote:
The landing fee was 25 CHF, passenger fee of 7 CHF and Skyguide charge of 16.50 CHF all plus VAT at 7.7%. Avgas was 2.26 CHF per litre plus VAT (around £1.95 inclusive of VAT). As for the skiing in the Valais I’d say that Zermatt is not really for beginners but is an absolutely beautiful place, it’s as busy in high summer as winter and has wonderful summer walks. Good skiing places from Sion are Crans Montana, Val d’Annivers (made up of St. Luc, Chandolin (both linked together), Zinal, Grimentz (both linked together) and Vercorin), Anzerre and Verbier (very expensive).
Thanks for the PIREP reports are always more worthwhile when numbers are attached to them.
Yes; a great and very useful post.
So, a big change from this when overnight parking at Sion was (or appeared to be, even following a phone call by me) monopolised by some expensive outfits.
I guess many airports go through phases where they allow somebody to establish a monopoly on something (usually parking) and then a year or three later they realise they have lost a lot of traffic they do something about it. Until the next time
Happy new year to all!
Sion’s parking was closed in the Southern area a few years ago when a new hangar was being built for Air Glaciers. The work took longer than planned and the only parking then available was with TAG or Farner Aviation as I recall and was very expensive. I seem to recall that situation lasting several months if not extending to around a year or so. I generally email the airport (aeroport at sion.ch) to check and always get a quick response.
I would be up for a ski fly-in in February. I can’t do January for several reasons, one of which is the Annual which takes out a week.
Sion sounds good.
Zermatt was actually fine for (my level of) skiing; the problem was the number of kids having lessons, after the first hour or so.
