Skiers staying in Samoens are dependent on the Chariande Express for access to Flaine and the Grand Vans for their return journey. But high winds last week closed the access to Flaine for three days running , then on Wednesday 23rd December the lifts opened up and skiers poured across the Vernant, from Samoens, Morillon and Les Carroz and dropped down into Flaine. But as storm clouds closed in so they closed the Chariande and all the Sameon,Morillon link lifts out of Flaine at about 2.00pm. Huge queues quickly developed for a very limited supply of buses to ferry skiers home to the smaller villages of the Grand Massif. Taxis and transfer minibuses journeyed round from Samoens to assit with the evacuation, which was still proceeding 4 hours after the lifts in Flaine closed.