Pre Christmas skiing
I had a very irritating experience this year, skiing in the pre-Christmas week in the Alps. There was thin snow cover and not many visitors in the resort. The lift company, as a consequence, did not sell passes for the full area, but only for the local sector.

It is not unusual for large ski resorts to limit the number of pistes open in the pre-Christmas week, when there are only small numbers of skiers, but on this occasion, despite the fact that full price was charged for this local sector pass, only 7 of the 29 pistes were opened for skiers. This seems very expensive to me. What do other skiers think, and is it normal practice across the Alps to charge full price for such a small percentage of open pistes?

Hi,

Unfortunately this is a problem in many resorts in the Pre-Cristmas season, although in my local stomping ground of Les Arcs the pre season (12-18/12/2009) price for a 6 day pass was 150 euros which was 59 euros off the normal 6 day pass price of 209 euros.

With many of the alpine lift systems being sold off to private/commercial profit making companies some of whom have somewhat of a monopoly on the lift systems profits come before anything else,and with maybe less people going skiing or taking multiple ski holidays now they are just protecting their margins….....which doesn’t help us skiers, but with some resorts going bust over the last coupkle of years it helps them keep going i suppose.

When picking a resort checking the lift pass prices can now make all the difference bewteen a price that is manageable or one that is downright expensive.

jon.

Hi,
Douginchis, divide what you paid by the number of hours you could have skied (I like to spend about 6 hours per day up the mountain albeit including up to 2 for morning drinks break, lunch break, and afternoon drinks break). Compare it with the price for an hour at your nearest UK “fridge” (as I’ve heard them called) if you have one within reach, then tell us if you still think you’ve had a raw deal.

(I do enjoy a session or two at my local fridge to get me back into the swing of things before heading off to the Alps. The price includes ski and boot hire but no reduction for bringing one’s own)

At least for you the lift and piste capacity sounds like it was proportionate to the number of skiers so you had reasonable quality (in terms of queues and crowds, if not snow conditions). In that respect it is the mid-February peak week skiers who get a raw deal and subsidise others (especially the mid-January and late-season ones like I often am). (XMas week skiers I rightly or wrongly consider are there then by choice and can afford to subsidise everyone else). And you did get some discount through buying a local instead of whole area pass.

I was at a resort once where four days out of my six the numbers of lifts open was similar to yours - and mostly the shortest, lowest lifts at that, including none of the links to other parts of the area, when I had bought a whole area pass - because of continuous snowfall (poor visibility, high winds, piste crews unable to do avalanche control checks). This was the week spanning Jan-Feb. Out of the kindness of their hearts the lift company gave out vouchers to those who asked - tour op reps passed the word - memory may be faulty but I think for one day’s free local pass the next season.

Jon, I’ve opened a couple of tour op brochures to the Les Arcs page (being too lazy to go to resort websites right now) and surprisingly (or not?) their pre-paid lift pass price is the same all season. (One only started 19th December but the one which did go on the 12th made no mention I could see of any discount that week) Whereas at St.Anton for example the same operators have lower lift pass prices for January (9th to 29th) with 12th Dec (and some April weeks) cheaper still . Does this reflect different policies by the respective lift companies themselves?

regards, Richard

Hi Richard,

I totally agree with your point about places such as Milton Keynes Snow Dome and other UK Fridges (lol), I think MK is around the £20 - £25 an hour mark, extra if you are hiring yur own kit so the actaul resort lift pass price is actually excellent value taking into consideration all the other extra skiing,scenery etc.

Again as with yourself i like to spend at least 6 -7 hours skiing, more if possible so again it turns out to still be good value,also peole can redyce the costs of a family ski holiday by going self catering,or staying in satellite villages and smaller resorts which are linked into bigger ski areas (Montchavin, St Martin ,Le Pre/Villaroger etc in my area for example).

Thinking about the family side of things if the tour operators didn’t rip off families during school holidays when some prices can be put up +100%  per person, the lift pass price might not seem such a big hit,again if you an avoid scheduled Saturday flight holidays and make your way there on say a Friday morning/afternoon flight and transfer many resorts have free lifts running at the weekends so even though the pistes serving them can be a little limited you can save a up to around £120 - £150 on the pirce of ski passes ,by only needing a 3-4day pass instaed of a 6 day pass.

All the best

Happy New Year

jon.

MK (SNO!zone at Xscape) is my local place much appreciated for an occasional visit. Never £25 an hour except for lessons. Last time I looked weekday daytime (except in school hols) is still £16 adult for one hour “recreational” (including ski and boot hire if you want it) plus £1 (used to be a deposit but now a fee) to use locker. Be careful to avoid the most expensive rows of car parking nearest the building. £1 in a standard-rate zone gives lots of time to both ski and tour the main shopping centre (four or five hours I think). There are even some 2-hours-free spaces across the road outside where Sainsburys used to be.

£21 adult (again plus extras) evenings (but free car parking after 6pm?) weekends and school hols but £23 on “super peak” weekend afternoons.

Better deals for longer sessions if you want them. ... Richard

PS a further thought for Douginchis: if so few runs are open that you would be bored after 2 days then the way to “get your own back” on the lift company is to only buy a 2-day ticket. What you then do for the rest of your hol is unfortunately another story.

Hi Doug, I had the same thing for a few days pre Xmas skiing in Montgenevre, with only one gondola and one baby drag available from the village and also only one chair from the other side of the mountain.  Nothing at all open to the bowl at the top which was most frustrating, this was 17th 18th and 19th Dec.  The slopes were absolutely deserted for the first two days and even though there was only two proper lifts open it gave us about 20% of the resort to ski, not much but by the Saturday the rest opened for all the locals coming up for an early season ski.  The price for the first two days was only about three euros less however per day.  I also agree with the above however, 30 euros for 8 hours is pretty good but then there are dozens and dozens of resorts vying for you euros, Where were you Doug?

Adrian