Argentera

The praise is for the freeriding: the open bowls of the Andelplan and the sparse larch forest lower down let you ski almost anywhere, and off-piste is what reviewers call the real point of the place. The altitude keeps the snow dry, there are few people about, and the views are called outstanding. The main slope is rated a good teaching pitch, even and predictable.

The lifts draw the criticism: they are old and past their technical life, and the chairlift stopped after the 2020 season, leaving only the baby drag lift. The rebuild dragged on for years and cost close to two million euros. Reviews were sour even before that: the price for a single chairlift was called excessive, queues formed at both the chair and the drag lift, the drag-lift runs were often shut, and the infrastructure amounted to one bar. The village, with its derelict buildings, is described as bleak.