We grabbed an early bargain holiday in December to Risoul, travelling by train. On departure day it had snowed very heavily, we were staying at the top of the resort and the shuttle bus hadn’t started running so we had to walk. We couldn’t manage cases and skis at the same time because of the snow, so we left our skis hidden in snow near the main bus stop. When we got back with our luggage the skis had gone. With only 50 minutes to spare before the bus to the train station, I tried to report our skis stolen to the police, in order to claim on our insurance when we got home. The police refused to make a report because I hadn’t visited the Tourist Office and EVERY ski shop in the resort to check they hadn’t been found and handed in as ‘lost property’. By the time I’d explained myself to the police, and they had told me this, it was time to get the bus. So the holiday wasn’t such a bargain after all as of course the insurance company don’t want to know without a crime report. Has anyone else ever had a problem like this? I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of anyone having their skis stolen let alone being unable to report the theft! Another annoying thing - our accommodation price included a 6-day lift pass. We took the voucher to the lift pass office on the Saturday we arrived just after 1pm to avoid queuing next morning. We didn’t notice, but she started the lift pass when we handed the voucher in, so although we didn’t ski the first day, we only noticed on the Thursday that it was the last day our lift pass was valid. When I took this up with the office, of course they just said ‘Ah, but you should have looked… you COULD have skied’ and ended the conversation with that shrug of the shoulders the French do so well. An expensive mistake to make by not checking at the time the pass is handed over. Needless to say, although Risoul had some good skiing, I don’t want to go back there, ever!

Sorry, to hear about your problems Linden, but even if you got a crime report you may still have had problems with the insurance. My insurance policy excludes luggage left unattended. We always leave someone with the bags while they are moved even a short distance eg from the road outside the apartment to the apartment.

On one ski trip we were packing and putting the packed bags outside the apartment door when full. Someone stole one of the bags. There were some police nearby and I asked them to investigate (since I was by the door of the building packing skis I new the bag had not left the building). They said they would not, but we had to report it to the Gendarmes. It appears the police were only interested in car parking. We found the bag stuffed into a fire hose cupboard later. This was also on departure day which appears a popular time for theft.

Another occasion the chalet operators said they would carry our bags upto the chalet in their van leaving us to walk the few 100m. Mysteriously my wife’s brand new skis never made the journey. The tour company resort manager didn’t want to know about it, but the police did file a crime report and we did get some money back (and the cost of renting replacements for a week). So it is possible to get at least some money back from stolen skis.

Since I have bought 7 day lift passes after 13:00 and used them that afternoon (often cheaper than a 6 day pass plus a half) I would have been really surprised that the lift pass office thought you were buying a pass at 13:00 and not expecting to ski that afternoon and as such gave you a pass that was immediately usable. It used to be that you could not buy a lift pass for the next day until the lifts had stopped running. 

Sorry to be so negative, but your story is of great value to others about the problem of theft in ski resorts and a good warning to be careful.

John