We skied Prali during the busy Christmas / New Year period of 2025. The ski resort was fully snow-loaded by a classic, deep, retour d’est weather pattern over Christmas. The rest of the Alps had been very dry, so to ski here in deep snow was a real bonus. Unfortunately though, all the terrain opened up in the preceding days, so whilst we were getting favoloso deep untracked lines at nearby Limone Piemonte, the local freeriders were smashing Prali.
Regardless of our ‘was better yesterday’ finding, we experienced some sensational skiing in what could best be described as a beast of a ski hill. It is definitely a ‘we are not in Kansas anymore Toto’ ski area. The off-piste below the top lift is challenging & steep, but great fun. The larch tree skiing opportunities are amongst the best (if not the best) in Europe. And the easy access sidecountry is so full of adventure it will make the hardest freeride hombre swoon with delight.
For the paltry ski lift pass price don’t expect hooded, express, seat-heated chairlifts. The lifts are simple but perfectly placed to provide maximum access to the best terrain. And with a little skinning from the top, the skiable terrain expands exponentially. The two chairlifts are doubles that on most days here would be more than adequate. On our visit it was the busiest day of the year, so the first chair had a line up, but nothing too hectic. After that there were no queues of any significance. That’s a big tick. The upper mountain platter (J-bar, button) lift was a little spicy down low but otherwise fine. The upper mountain chairlift is the most important for beginners on a fine day, as it is the only way to do some safe turns on what is otherwise definitely not a beginners hill. Between the base chairlift and the main village of Ghigo (why is it not called Prali?) a short surface tow and a conveyor provide sheltered novice terrain for those learning. Expect masses of snow play visitors on sunny weekend days here also.
Prali’s piste terrain is generally steeper than most resorts. Intermediates will find the top to bottom runs challenging at best. In poor weather, all the runs from the first chairlift are tree-lined and beautiful for navigation in a white out. Advanced riders will have a hoot screaming down these runs. From a previous reconnaissance in late February 2025, we know the pistes are largely empty during the week. On this visit several upper mountain pistes had not been groomed yet (i.e. #3 & #4), but it mattered little.
Whilst long, exciting pistes are fun, Prali is about off-piste trees. And oh my goodness they are good. Gentle (ish) up high, they then plunge in all directions to emerge at various points in the valley below and eventually back near the base area. Several exits require a short walk back to the lift base, but that is fine and really quite satisfying.
To start out, in the upper zone on skiers left of the Bric Rond chair, ski some open, old growth larch emerge onto the #6a piste cat track. Below there you can dart in and around the piste most of the way down. Similarly, skiing vaguely under the lower chair from the top has an easy (ish) exit traverse about 2/3 of the way down to get back to the base via the pistes. My point is, just because this mountain is best for advanced & expert freeriders, there is still plenty of enjoyable off-piste for mere mortals (i.e. most skiers chasing powder).
Due to our last-minute decision proclivities (and to be fair it was the school holidays) we had to stay in Perosa Argentina, a 30-minute sometimes white-knuckle drive from Prali. Accommodation was excellent, well-priced and close to numerous fantastic bars, cafes & restaurants. We stayed a night at the Maison Manu & also at the fabulous La Ciuenda.
The final word is that Prali is best sampled in fresh snow, during the week. It can be skied on a whim if you have a rental car and are skiing the Via Lattea (particularly Sestriere), otherwise it is one of the Ultimate European Storm Chase Destinations.
See our thoughts on the resort’s pros & cons via the Prali overview page.