 Poster: A snowHead
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David Murdoch, I might be wrong but I thought there was a lap dancing club in Chamonix.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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JT, They may have changed it. Have purchased both Mont Blanc and Chamski over the years, been up top loads of times, but have never bought a ticket separately. Also I meant what I said about never queueing for either a ticket or the cable car. Maybe it's a seasonal problem?. For me the most challenging part is the metal staircase down the edge of the rock from the cable car. Will look at my old Chamski booklets and see what they say about the top ticket. BTW do they ever "piste" the top, always powder when I have been there. Experienced no preparation for about 2 km and a few crevasses to go past if you cross from Point du vue to Pylones:sH:
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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snowbunny,
No, I meant don't piste the whole mountain, maybe just the 4 o'clock run but thats it. That would be my choice. I have queued right back to the end of the the barriers many a time and that must be quite a few cars wait..!!
I have also done at least 45 mins at Pendant before they changed to the gondola. I know this because they used to post queueing times from such and such point...don't know if this still applies. I really do think the valley is too crowded so haven't been back there for a while even tho' Envers du plan is memorable. In fact that was our last trip, 2 days on the Midi and then off elsewhere as we couldn't stand the GM anymore...!!!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| snowbunny wrote: |
| JT, They may have changed it. Have purchased both Mont Blanc and Chamski over the years, been up top loads of times, but have never bought a ticket separately. Also I meant what I said about never queueing for either a ticket or the cable car. Maybe it's a seasonal problem?. For me the most challenging part is the metal staircase down the edge of the rock from the cable car. Will look at my old Chamski booklets and see what they say about the top ticket. BTW do they ever "piste" the top, always powder when I have been there. Experienced no preparation for about 2 km and a few crevasses to go past if you cross from Point du vue to Pylones:sH: |
A lot of people find that two trips in a week on the the one lift they want use isn't quite enough. It's an outrageous scam, the normal GM or Cham passes aren't cheap, the other infrastructure at GM is hardly exceptional. The lift company justify it as a good deal as people who aren't using the top list don't pay for it, that's insulting nonsense obviously, I've asked them for a discount for the other lifts I'm not using and they won't do one.
And, no, it's not prepared, that's the point and why it's the lift you want to ride.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I agree, The whole point of the GM is the top station although the Lavechet bowl is good fun but if you only use that it takes out half the hill. Two trips a day would not be enough to the top so two per 6 day pass is miserly...!!
As i said if they want to cut down numbers then don't piste the mountain but then that would cut down revenue which they wouldn't want. I accept that the GM is full of people who want their taste of a fantastic hill but the only piste should be from Lognan downwards...
The pass isn't cheap anyway.
Most people I know are totally fed up with Chamonix and mostly because of the above. The midi is full of people getting berated by guides for not being kitted up - and for probably not using them for the classic vallee blanche but of course the safety aspect is valid. But post someone downstairs at the lift office to warn them A lot of people have no idea what to expect and that is just the arrette. I get the feeling that the whole valley is all about money now and these two points illustrate it in my book.
It should be a high mountain area, no pistes and no patrols so be prepared to look after yourself to some degree, and then if you can't, employ a guide. Maybe there isn't an easy answer about all this but I am in no hurry to go back......................... and it IS a fantastic valley..!!!
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| snowbunny wrote: |
ise,
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It's an outrageous scam
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The ticket in question costs the grand sum of 4 Euros. For that you can take the lift to the top and ski all the way down to Argentiere. thats a lot of vertical for the price of a decent coffee.
Why such a big issue, you can afford it 
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4 euros per trip. Even season pass holders only get 10 or 12 tickets, you spend a couple of hundred euros per season on top of your season pass. It's disingenous to say you can ski all way to Argentiere for that price, your day pass already covered you to ski from the mid station anyway.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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ise, It's such a big hill, why not ski all over it. Yes, I agree that the runs down from the top are exceptional in the right conditions. There are lots of other opportunities for steeps and bowl skiing at GM. Clearly it's a big issue for you, and you want to ski off one lift all day if you are at GM, and the pricing structure is a thorn in your butt, perhaps with justification. Sadly I don't believe that it will change anytime soon, despite your best efforts 
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ise,
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It's disingenous to say you can ski all way to Argentiere for that price, your day pass already covered you to ski from the mid station anyway.
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If you meant disengenuous, as in insincere, or naive, I can't agree. Your comment is unfair to me. The point I was making is that to want to ski one lift only on GM is limiting. To ski from the top to Argentiere, gives a really long run with huge variation in terrain and conditions. Yes I know that the Lognan ticket covers mid station to town-your point?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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snowbunny, my recollection is that you only get 2 trips to the top of grands montets included but (bizarrely in my opinion) unlimited trips up the aiguille du midi.
first time i went to cham (not that long ago) the queues for the grands montets weren't too bad. most recently, even in the special queue for guided clients it was about 40mins. we did get thigh deep powder though 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Arno, Yes you are correct, the top ticket anomaly was discussed earlier in the thread, but Ag du Midi did'nt come up. JT, Complained of queueing, I have never queued for the top station at GM. However when I suggested to ise, that he might want to ski the whole hill rather than stick to one lift (with an extra charge), he called me "disingenous" (his spelling), which I think is unreasonable.
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snowbunny, Hes got PMT or summat
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You know it makes sense.
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Nadenoodlee, Quite, definitely summat. And currently I'm feeling like the target
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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snowbunny, Just use some middle age man speak (ie use really long and little used words that make people feel inferior) should sort them out. Failing that, i'll did the trench - you man the post! 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Nadenoodlee, Lock and load
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| snowbunny wrote: |
| Arno, Yes you are correct, the top ticket anomaly was discussed earlier in the thread, but Ag du Midi did'nt come up. JT, Complained of queueing, I have never queued for the top station at GM. However when I suggested to ise, that he might want to ski the whole hill rather than stick to one lift (with an extra charge), he called me "disingenous" (his spelling), which I think is unreasonable. |
I did nothing of the sort. You said:
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| For that you can take the lift to the top and ski all the way down to Argentiere. thats a lot of vertical for the price of a decent coffee. |
I was only pointing out that was misleading/untrue/disingenuous/economic with the actuality (delete as you prefer) since you could ski half that on your standard pass so you'd already paid for it once. I mentioned that mostly because it was true.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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ise,
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And, no, it's not prepared, that's the point and why it's the lift you want to ride
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You want to spend all day on one lift, fine it leaves the rest of the hill for me.
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I was only pointing out that was misleading/untrue/disingenuous/economic with the actuality (delete as you prefer) since you could ski half that on your standard pass so you'd already paid for it once. I mentioned that mostly because it was true
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So you will able to advise folk on how to reach the routes down from mid station-thats the ones that you can only reach if you take the top lift.
I am thinking outside "there's only one good lift" box. I don't believe that makes me entitled to own any of the labels that you list above. Still you believe it, so it must be true.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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snowbunny,
You sound a bit persecuted here. Don't take it so personally
Chamonix may well be your favourite town, and it used to be mine ever since 1994 but I have gotten very fed-up with the queues on the GM...still can't believe you have avoided them to the point of never queued, so to pay for the outstanding lift is tiresome. I have spent ages on the GM and think I know it well but on the last few trips to the valley I have avoided it alltogether. The GM is vastly overcrowded and so is the rest of the valley. It is very unlikely that you will ever get the rest of the hill to yourself. That is the very reason people have moved on.
And nobody skis all the way down the valley unless they use the couluirs, they wouldn't use the 4 o'clock run as it is a very poor piste in invariably questionable conditions, only to be suffered once daily at most...!!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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JT, I can do debate, however when another poster acuses me of being
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misleading/untrue/disingenuous/economic with the actuality
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on a public forum, then I have good enough reason to
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sound a bit persecuted
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IMO.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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snowbunny,
You should worrry when ise really goes at it.
I sympathise with the point he made and generally feel myself that the large ski areas don't give me as good as value
as lesser known ones and these are the ones I concentrate on now.
As for the valley I don't know how they can save it. Most of the places I go to, use Chamonix as an example of how not to do things.
But deep down I have very fond memories of it...shame..!!
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JT, You believe that his comments are an example of his benevolence perhaps. That I should maybe drop him a pm and thank him for this
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I was only pointing out that was misleading/untrue/disingenuous/economic with the actuality
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and
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I mentioned that mostly because it was true.
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perhaps when hell freezes over
Meanwhile, I do agree with the points that you make, and most of the points that ise, makes, though it is quite hard to type this last bit.
My crime was to have the audacity to suggest that to get the best from the hill, go seek out the places where the tourist "hero" crowds don't go, and quit bleating on about a 4 Euro lift ticket. It's been an extra charge since I first went there in the late eighties, I can't remember which year, definitely there was a wooden hut at Lognan, and the Bochard was an egg lift. If neither of you go there, what's the issue, the "good old days", there weren't any, you were just younger, fitter and had more hair.
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snowbunny,
Definiately younger but I still have hair, I just think you are over reacting.
And I don't go there anymore because it is too crowded.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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