 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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zippy, Cervinia is a possible for you to consider. The learner lifts in the village are drags, as far as I can remember. Montgenevre in the Milky Way is also worth checking out.
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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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| zippy wrote: |
but he's afraid of heights and won't go anywhere that he needs to get on any lift system other than a button \ drag lift!!
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To be brutally honest, if that is his firm opinion is there any point in learning to ski if he will only be able to ride surface lifts? His choice of skiing is so limited that he might as well try another sporting holiday such as scuba diving. I'm really very anxious about heights and chairlifts are a bit of a torture for me, but there is no way that I'd be prepared to stop skiing because of this. I just grin and bear it, because the reward when you get to the top of the chair is immeasurable 
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He needs to "feel the fear and do it anyway "- to quote the famous book. well worth reading. I've been scared of heights all my life, but like rob@rar.org.uk, i have GOT to ski. The secret for me is to stare at my hands on the lift, and only look down towards where the next turn is going to be while on the slope...
Being terrified just adds to the adrenalin rush
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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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zippy, Serre Chevalier had lots of drag lifts, but they're becoming a rarity.
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I am also anxious about heights, I have had one or two mild vertigo bouts. The feeling has diminshed over time, occasionally I still hold on, when on a chairlift. I used to loathe whiteout days, which used to make me really dizzy. Now I just get on with it, occasionally my head wonders which way is up, and then I fall over 
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| rob@rar.org.uk wrote: |
To be brutally honest, if that is his firm opinion is there any point in learning to ski if he will only be able to ride surface lifts? His choice of skiing is so limited that he might as well try another sporting holiday such as scuba diving. I'm really very anxious about heights and chairlifts are a bit of a torture for me, but there is no way that I'd be prepared to stop skiing because of this. I just grin and bear it, because the reward when you get to the top of the chair is immeasurable |
I think he is scared from afar; he's never been to a ski resort but has seen horror stories on the news about gondolas crashing to the floor, people being stuck etc - so I think it's perceived fear rather than actual (he's been to the top of the Twin Towers in NYC !).
My belief is once he's out there, has learnt the basics and been bitten by the bug (god willing) then the issue of lift height will go away...
and i'm not taking him scuba diving as well, that's something I want to keep to myself and my diving buddies!
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| zippy wrote: |
| My belief is once he's out there, has learnt the basics and been bitten by the bug (god willing) then the issue of lift height will go away... |
That's a fair point. I suppose if he doesn't have the fear of going up on chairlifts for the first few days it will allow him to concentrate on the skiing until he gets bitten by the bug, then nothing will stop him from heading up the mountain to zoom back down...
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why not try him on an Xscape slope and see how he gets on with it first???
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| gregh wrote: |
| why not try him on an Xscape slope and see how he gets on with it first??? |
hmmm possible, however i think he's doing this for ultimate brownie points with his missus, she's a keen skier who hasn't been in a few years and gets desperately unhappy every time we come back from a trip with stories of deep snow and even deeper glasses of red wine.... 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Does he get afraid on planes? If not maybe gondys & large cable cars are less scary than chairs so would be fine for him.
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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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Saas Fee has surface lits in the village. Should be fine there.
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Tignes, and once he has learnt to ski he can ride the funicular.
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You know it makes sense.
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zippy, there is a Swiss resort which has these cute trains up the mountain, good for vertigo sufferers like me who wimper every time a chair slows or stops. The skiing is quite easy as well.... Wengen
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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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zippy, Wengen, can access many of the slopes by train, nursery slopes in the village center plenty of beginner and easy intermediate runs, plus its a pretty place which is always a bonus
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Poster: A snowHead
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D G Orf, took your time with this one!! Were you offline for 5 mins? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Belle Plagne for a beginner would involve at most one shortish chairlift which never gets more than a few feet above snow. The main nursery slopes in the bowl are served by drags.
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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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Alpe D'huez, think all greens are from drag lifts
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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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zippy, Either Wengen - train takes the strain as previously mentioned or here. We've got masses of drag served ski-ing right here in the town. Beginners can then progress to the glacier - OK there's a big lift to get there, but if they look at the floor in a well-packed one they won't feel a thing. Once on the glacier there are no edges, and pistes about 3/4 mile wide. I've had lots of scared folks do this, and it usually cures them.
BTW I suffer from Vertigo - really - the real thing - it's no joke, and not at all the same as being afraid of heights. I would never dream of going to the top of a tower block though, so I think as you say, your friend suffers from perceived danger rather than real fear.
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Last New Year we took a friend skiing with us. This friend had an absolute terror of heights but really wanted to try skiing. To give some perspective, she gets nervous on slightly steep slopes and terrified (unable to move) on steep steps or near edges. Her first ride on a chairlift was an ordeal for her and she was in tears the whole time but she was determined to go skiing so she did it - every day. She now wants to go skiing again.
The added bonus of her determination is that she now has less of a fear (it's still there but less pronounced) and is now happy to go walking up mountains with the rest of us - something she could not have done a year ago.
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provenjohn, Got a few chairs around the bowl - but it's home to one of the scariest cable car arrivals in the world! Imagine coming up from Vaujanay without knowing what you were in for???? Pic Blanc is no picnic either!!
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| easiski wrote: |
| provenjohn, Got a few chairs around the bowl - but it's home to one of the scariest cable car arrivals in the world! Imagine coming up from Vaujanay without knowing what you were in for???? Pic Blanc is no picnic either!! |
cheers everyone, whilst I am tempted to call the guy a big wuss and throw him off the nearest mountain, in this day and age of care in the community I will try and work around his issues and come up with a nice flat field somewhere.
Has Holland got any ski slopes?
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zippy, I would have thought that gondola lifts are much less likely to cause a problem than chairlifts, as they're enclosed - one of my brothers has a real vertigo problem and didn't find gondolas difficult. On that basis, Meribel may be worth a go - loads of gondolas.
Whatever, don't put him on the 3V1 chairlift at VT - I didn't suffer from vertigo until I got on that lift  .
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We have booked Les Menuires (Reberty) because of the exact reasons stated above by Alistair
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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zippy, 4 snowdomes in holland.
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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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| easiski wrote: |
| zippy, 4 snowdomes in holland. |
i better check he's not afraid of snow or ice as well
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zippy, Mr HH was much the same....well still is really! Persuading him up the mountain took me 10 years....once there he caught the bug and never looked back. He still hates gondolas, freezes occasionally on runs where you can see right down the mountain into the valley, and goes pale and clammy on some of those scare chairs out there....but skiing is enough of a buzz for him to overcome the fear.
You're right, start on drags, graduate to easy chairs - ride them first yourself if you're not sure as chairs which swing out over a cravasse/drop can be horrendous - move on up to small gondolas and finally try the big ones. That order based on Mr HH fear factor! The big gondolas are the better on the ride up as you don't have to see out but most of them arrive at a point where they hang off the side of the mountain and you walk over open grating to get to solid ground....a great big no no!
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You know it makes sense.
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thanks for that, although I don't know now if Cervinia's ski school is in the town or up on the mountain - one brochure indicates the nursery slopes are in the town yet the meeting point for the ski school is reached via a cable car??!!
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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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if it's only the media news stories that's scaring him, then why not give him the facts, u know, 99% of lifts don't crash. it's like flying, u gotta think, for every flight that goes wrong, 1000's go right. also i have this irrational fear of stuff i don't know, and when i was younger and not as good at skiing (i'm not great now) i had to go in my first gondola (!!) and i was scared, but once i got to the top i was like 'what was all the fuss about?' knowledge is the key! once he knows it's alright, he'll be ok.
and don't look down! at the PSB when we went over one of the deep valleys I got a bit, you know... higher than i'd been before!
take him on a small chairlift first. gondolas n cable cars should be ok after one go. and let him have a good look at it all before he does go up, it's a good idea to just let people check it out, but don't let himself phsyc himself outta doing it. (i have a habit of doing that with runs.)
gud luk.
also Le Mont-Dore in the Auvergne in France has a: loads of snow right now, b: tonnes of green slopes, and c: only one chairlift. It has over 30 drags, all the resort is drags. it's been quite a few years since i was there but i don't think they've updated that much. it's a good budget option as well.
good luck n have fun!
jules
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Poster: A snowHead
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Alastair, 3V1.... is that the chair if ypu open your eyes you can look across and down into peoples apartments? Don't like that one.
Up and over chair between Solaise and le Fornet in Val d'Isere, thats a brown trouser lift, although better now it's high speed as the fear is briefer.
Agree about gondolas, as they are enclosed have no problem, except in high winds if they stop. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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zippy, Livigno's got a whole hillside covered in pomas for the schools and there's enough mountain for the rest of you for a week. + the guides have re-opened the back country for some good off piste, but you will have to have a guide.
Tigne's funicular isn't a bad idea but the glacier can be a bit weather extreme for a first timer. But the bottom lift is a big demounting five/six? seater and free. It would be a gentle intro to chair lifts.
La Ros still has quite a few drags, but apart from the nursery one they're all in pretty ratty condition and make a good fist of dislocating your hips on take-up. Probably a bit fierce for a beginner. Though with all the new investment in the resort, they may have addressed the poma servicing. Anyone with an up to date report?
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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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It's amazing how quickly learners will ask to get on the lifts once they have climbed the bunny slopes 3 or 4 times, lugging their skis etc!
Here it's called the 'Sparta Ski Education Method' and of course it's totally free  , but do they ever appreciate those lifts!
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Just back from Saas Fee - we took a learner 3 out of ?? village based drags open - he looked at the blocks in the middle of the gondola as we went up. After a couple of mins the windows were so foggy you could not see out.
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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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Dunk, I agree absolutely about the up and over chair Solaise/Le Fornet. I've really struggled on that one, not helped by being on the chair behind some locals who jumped off at the rige!!!! I'm sure I'd be better now, I can go down on chairlifts quite happily so long as they don't stop. If on my own and that happens I'm overcome with the desire to jump off - bl**dy silly!!
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Dunk, I thought the up and over was better from a "wow" factor now it's a fast chair, best fairground ride I've been on! You seem to move at an amazing speed from vertically up to vertically down! easiski, do people still jump off the chair at the top, I've seen jump off marks before it was a fast chair but can't say I've seen any since? You'd have to be mad or James Bond to get off at that speed.
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Dunk, that's the one - right through the middle of the resort.
I rather enjoyed the 'up and over' lift at Val d'Isere, although I haven't been on it since it was upgraded. The views from the lift are stunning.
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sorry, me again - anyone got any opinions on Tignes?
Is the ski school in the centre of the main resort or will he need to climb the highest mountain to get to them?
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FAQ
didn't get back till nearly midnight 
My eyes are shut :nice 