Rosskopf (Monte Cavallo) - Sterzing (Vipiteno)

The link to the town and the quality of the operation earn the praise. The ten-person gondola stands a five-minute walk from the centre of Sterzing, so no car is needed. Lifts and snow reliability score top marks in industry testing and grooming is called exemplary. The runs are predominantly red, making it more interesting for a confident skier than usual. The standout attraction is Italy's longest floodlit toboggan run, for which the gondola runs into the evening twice a week.

Size and pricing are the complaints. The area is small and built along a single axis, variety is minimal, it is skied out in a day and only one descent is genuinely difficult. Reviewers write that the cost of skiing and services is out of proportion to the mountain, with ski storage rates rising by over ten per cent year after year. There is no apres-ski on the slope - everything happens down in Sterzing.