 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm in Alpe D'Huez over Xmas  woo hoo!! along with my two lads (fifteen and eighteen). I've booked everything except lift passes so I'm looking at that now.
We're planning to buy six days (Sun-Fri incl) and then buy a half day for Sat, hoping to squeeze the last few hours as soon as we've confirmed what time the transfer coach leaves.
Here's the link to the main lift pass website http://www.sataski.com/en/winter/buy-skipass/ and I noticed that there is a family pass for two adults and two 'children' (up to age 19) which costs €739,50 for 6 days. Compare this against three passes bought individually on the same site for € 715.
It occurs to me that there is a win-win deal to be had here... if there is an adult, either solo skier or member of another group that wants to reduce their ski lift costs and is willing to buy their lift pass together with us.
So, anyone interested in a reduced cost lift pass for 21-28 Dec in Alpe D'Huez?
And just to keep things really fair, maybe we can even invite the forum to suggest what a fair price would be and way to work things out to each of our benefit.
Oh and just to kick off the discussions for deals on Alpe D'Dhuez ski rental, the best deal I could find was with skimium by using the discount code PRESKIUK13 (for 5%) and using a decathlon card (for 5%). It was actually very close with ski republic however the thing that swung it was the mondial rescue insurance avail online at skimium costing €2 per day instead of the carte neige for €2.80 (and also having a bit more more 'bells and whistles' cover). This later one I would have bought at the lift pass office.
Any thoughts?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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accel, those family pass deals usually need passports to prove you are. Friends visiting me last year who have been together (but not married) for years and have two kids only got theirs because I knew the lift pass seller and she trusts me - I have NEVER cheated on a pass so she took my word for it they were a genuine family, just not married!
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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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pam w, I think it must depend on resort. I bought passes for our guests all last season and they frequently made up family groups between themselves to save money on family passes with unrelated persons. This was paradiski.
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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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"just to keep things really fair, maybe we can even invite the forum to suggest what a fair price would be"
What about the fair and simple approach of dividing the total cost by 4? You'd be quids in.
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| Bergmeister wrote: |
| What about the fair and simple approach of dividing the total cost by 4? You'd be quids in. |
I was thinking exactly the same!
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The Crystal brochure says, of La Plagne
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| To qualify for a family pass all members of the family should have the same surname or provide proof they live together at the same address (child 6-17yrs). |
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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pam w, Crystal may say that but in my experience last season the lift pass office made no attempt to enforce that (in La Plagne). Does the La Plagne SAP website say that? I wonder if it's just generic Crystal advice because some resorts do enforce that.
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Gämsbock, the website says "family" of "parents and children". Not any random group. But maybe they don't care?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Sincere thanks for the words of wisdom everyone. 
pam_w and skitowI'd interpreted this section of the conditions of sale in this way (Alpes D'Huez, sataski.com) mostly because the sataski.com t&cs didn't mention anything about needing to be married.
.... la famille doit être composée d’un minimum de 4 personnes, d’une même famille, dont 2 adultes maximum (20/71 ans) et 2 juniors minimum (5/19 ans).(Ref 1)
I'd therefore interpreted 'the same family' in the wider sense, as in 'cousins' of whom I've found a great many...
I was looking to buy the tickets direct online, so any Crystal or other operator conditions wouldn't be applicable whereas the sataski.com terms and conditions seemed to have been the most appropriate reference.
Hells_Bells I was planning to buy online and pick up at a location in resort (hoping for maybe my ski rental shop perhaps). So prompted by your advice, I decided to try out the online booking and of course you were right - it wouldn't let me book less than 10 days before (I had thought that the 10 day rule were because of postal constraints which could be worked-around with a local pickup).
However, I did wonder about the family booking issue (even if it won't help me this time, perhaps others might benefit) and so I trialled an online booking by using set of personal details to simulate my own proposal above. I stopped short of a full payment. There was nothing which indicated any prevention of a full completion of the sale of a family pack of lift tickets for me and my cousin (male, female or whatever).
However, the 10 days rule seems to have beaten me in this instance 
Ref1: http://www.sataski.com/en/common/terms-and-conditions-of-sales/
N°14-ENR-004 Conditions vente et utilisation SATA hiver 2014
CONDITIONS D'EMISSION, DE CONTROLE DES TITRES DE
TRANSPORT Clause 1. Para 3.
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Mon 16-12-13 19:55; edited 2 times in total
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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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We have bought the Sata Ski family pack a couple of times and I can't see what would prevent you from transferring the pass to someone outside your family.
I have just reordered ours and rather dopily assigned my name to the one intended for my son (his age was correct). I emailed them asking if there would be a problem with my son using a pass with a female name, but have received no response, so I can't think that they are that bothered about names, just ages. You don't need to specify the sex of the person using the card and I'm sure that I wasn't particularly careful about who used what pass last year.
In contrast, I think that passes for the Gand Massif have our names on them, so it would seem that it very much depends on the lift operator.
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| hammerite wrote: |
| Bergmeister wrote: |
| What about the fair and simple approach of dividing the total cost by 4? You'd be quids in. |
I was thinking exactly the same! |
Thanks for the suggestions hammerite and Bergmeister.
Can I ask? would this deal be equally attractive to the person buying the ticket? (i.e the 4th person joining the family deal) because imho any deal has to be a win-win and attractive for all parties.
For the 'new cousin', the normal price would have been E238 instead of E185 with us. This equates to a saving of E53, which is 22%
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You know it makes sense.
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| Gämsbock wrote: |
| ... I think it must depend on resort. |
| rachelharrisonsmith wrote: |
| .... so it would seem that it very much depends on the lift operator. |
Thanks for those very practical and local perspectives.
I wonder if there is anyone watching this forum who is based at Alpe D'Huez? It would also be handy to know the normal prices at the booths.
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Mon 16-12-13 21:54; edited 1 time in total
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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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All 4 of you save €53 each - so, "equally attractive to the person buying the ticket." Seems very fair to me! 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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accel, see you there
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Has any one used these guys before? Any comments on their service? Dare I even ask whether anyone has a discount voucher for them?
http://www.skiholidayextras.com/ski-equipment/liftpasses.php
The final thing on my planning list, is to book the lift passes and if I cant set up a family sharing deal (less than 10 days notice and we fly in 4 days time... woo hoo!!) then I'll fall back on a 'normal' booking for best rates I can get for the three of us and this company looks good. Must admit that it would be nice to have the tickets delivered to the Hotel too, to save time (although I don't really mind going to a ticket booth).
I also like the look of their 10 Euros cancellation insurance, only because I'm still a bit concerned that its not snowed since 30th Nov...
Update: Spoke to the company by phone (Sussex based). The 10 Euro lift ticket cancellation insurance is true but only up to 48 hours before you travel. So not much use to me I'm afraid.
Also, the aren't allowed to book lift tickets in Alpe D'Huez unless we are booked into a skifrance accommodation. So much for that idea then!
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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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accel, not much help to you now, but I'm sure I've used Skiholidayextras to buy either pass or equipment in the past - can't remember exactly though!
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accel, ditto, we're driving though. Staying at Oz, skiing at ADH. I'll be behind a snowboarder (he had a mid life crisis and took up the dark side) and a 14yr old skier on his ipod, skiing backwards. I'm always last.
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Oh and for what it's worth there's snow forecast for Thursday. Lots.
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Thanks hammerite. Its all useful for the information data base to help others later.
Fruity - Thanks. you have really given us a boost! Thursday would be nice timing to top up all the routes. woo hoo!!!
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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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Seems like they'll be quite a SH crowd in Oz next week. I'll be there with wife, 8yo son and 6yo daughter.
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We have bought family tickets before, the only issue we had was we were staying in Val Claret, Tignes & had an area pass, dropped onto Val D'Isere & my son who was 15 at the time inadvertently had his younger sisters pass & the staff pulled him, they allowed him on the lift but de-activated the pass, they were fine, we had to go to the ticket station in Val Claret to get it re-formatted.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Fruity wrote: |
| ...... ditto, we're driving though. Staying at Oz, skiing at ADH.... |
| Layne wrote: |
| Seems like they'll be quite a SH crowd in Oz next week. I'll be there with wife, 8yo son and 6yo daughter. |
Might be fun to have a SH coffee/beer/wine some time (I'll apologise in advance for two teenagers who are good guys and ski well but take a while to become conversational).
I was also thinking about joining one of the free SCGB intro sessions for one of the days http://www.skiclub.co.uk/skiclub/skiclubleaders/programme.aspx?programmeID=2416#.UrCrh-K3DIg
I'm not a member (used to be years ago, before I found SH) but a free session from a good ski guide could show some good routes.
Would it be bad form to (partly) hyjack one of the SCGB ski leader happy hours for SH chats I wonder?
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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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| michaelbury17 wrote: |
| .......my son who was 15 at the time inadvertently had his younger sisters pass & the staff pulled him, they allowed him on the lift but de-activated the pass, they were fine, we had to go to the ticket station in Val Claret to get it re-formatted. |
| rachelharrisonsmith wrote: |
| .... I think that passes for the Gand Massif have our names on them, so it would seem that it very much depends on the lift operator. |
Thanks for the tip michaelbury17 and it does sound like it varies from operator to operator.
One question that occurs to me. Is there a 'user group' for lift operators, where they get together and discuss issues affecting them all? I've seen these kind of groups in different sectors and other sports and I'll bet that they are sharing concerns (and stats and discussing the implications) and making changes as a result.
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accel, The SCGB meets are in ADH not Oz from what I can make out. I know ADH really well anyhow so not much use to me. I'd offer to show your goodself around but might be difficult as I will be skiing with a 6 & 8yo plus wife. But if you've any questions beforehand...?
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You know it makes sense.
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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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accel, look at the piste map for a lift called Poutran, at the bottom of this is a village called Oz-en-Oisans.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Back to the lift passes thing... I finally booked our lift passes with Crystal, just because it was the easiest option and they'll hand over the passes on the transfer coach from Grenoble.
But one slight niggle is that Crystal wouldn't sell us a seven day pass.
Given that we are on a later return flight on the 28th (17.40) our transfer would probably be leaving about midday. Being experienced skiers, this gives us the option to grab a quick morning skiing on return day and thus squeeze as much out of the trip as we can (as we usually do). Am I being unfair in thinking that they simply can't be bothered? Yes, of course I can buy three more half day tickets (and I will) but it works out more expensive (and less convenient) to buy them at the ticket office than to simply add another day to the existing one.
There was no offer of a reason and when I asked the direct question 'why not?' they had no answer. From the perspective of Crystal management, I'd have thought that they would want to maximise additional sales (such as lift tickets).
So, am I being unreasonable? Ok, its a small niggle and it won't cause any loss of sleep but I'd be interested in other views, especially from those who have 'served their time' as reps.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 18-12-13 15:11; edited 2 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| hammerite wrote: |
| look at the piste map for a lift called Poutran, at the bottom of this is a village called Oz-en-Oisans. |
Thanks hammerite I'd previously been looking at the ADH town map. Now I see where Layne and Fruity are.... Well, maybe lets stick to lunch/coffees in the higher piste cafes.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Wed 18-12-13 17:11; edited 1 time in total
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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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| Quote: |
Given that we are on a later return flight on the 28th (17.40) our transfer would probably be leaving about midday
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Hmm. It's a very busy transfer day and it might be snowy (you hope it will be snowy). It could be leaving earlier than you think and you'll probably need to vacate your rooms by 10.
They probably just get a stack of 6 day passes.
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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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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
Given that we are on a later return flight on the 28th (17.40) our transfer would probably be leaving about midday
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Hmm. It's a very busy transfer day and it might be snowy (you hope it will be snowy). It could be leaving earlier than you think and you'll probably need to vacate your rooms by 10.
They probably just get a stack of 6 day passes. |
...and as they don't normally sell 1/2day or 7day passes they won't have the price structure. Probably best to just buy in resort once you're sure there's time. TO's tend to allow huge time margins for the return trip so I wouldn't bank on having time to ski Sat morning anyway... they'll probably want you on the coach at 9am 
We're on the 11:35 Jet2 flight from Manchester and get to AdH Sat pm. If you do decide on meeting up somewhere, post the time/place here and we'll try and make it (no promises).
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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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In our area you can buy a 2 hour pass - usefully cheaper than half a day. You can buy them at any time but if they're electronic make sure you don't ski with them in your pockets until you want to use them.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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You probably wouldn't want to, but if you would like a very gentle ski there's a couple of free lifts along Rif Nel and Les Bergers. Having flown out of Grenoble a few times we've always wondered why we're leaving resort so early, only to seem to spend next to no time at the airport.
From Crystal's point of view it's not worth it, they'll only get a few quid more at most, will have a bit more admin to sort out the 7 day passes from the 6 and then might have to deal with passengers who aren't at the collection point on time as they're late back from a ski.
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I'll reply by inbox to you both when I get home from work... looking forward to possibly bumping into fellow SH's!
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pam_w, adithorp, hammerite, thanks for the advice. Makes good sense. I suppose I've been very selfish (naughty me  ).
Package ski holidays are useful and it's fair to acknowledge the boundaries. Saturday skiing is arguably one of those boundaries...
Hmmm, mind you.... I'm not known especially for just sticking to the rules.
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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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Fruity, Layne, Adithorp
Thanks for your kind advice before the trip. Pity we never managed to meet, hope you all had a terrific Xmas on the ADH slopes.
My only regret was that the Sarenne and Tunnel runs never opened. Otherwise we had great fun, mind you I was surprised how quickly the 'big dump' on boxing day disappeared.
Thanks again for the input and advice from everyone else too. Great job snowheads
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FAQ
family. I suspect if you order them on line you will have to show the relevant passports when you collect the passes. Interested to know how you get on though.
Maybe any SH ADH (the birth of another acronym?) get together should be in Oz because it looks like 