 Poster: A snowHead
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Are our alpine lift companies about to give Christmas / New Year half price or less lift passes, to reflect roughly how much of their area is open? Ho ho hohhh!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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If the snow doesn't arrive soon, I expect resorts will have to start making offers to tempt visitors.
I received a mail from the Saas-Fee Tourist Office with details of their "Holiday Back Guarantee", where if you cannot ski down to the village they will pay for you to come back to ski the following year - http://www.saas-fee.ch/en/we-have-snow/
Now if one of the highest resorts in the Alps is making that sort of offer, then others may have to follow.
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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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Not sure that's entirely fair. Certainly in L2A they've made huge efforts to get as much open as possible and keep it skiable. The red run down from the glacier was transformed from a very thin, bare, rocky area to a skiable piste over a couple of days. No snow making so this must have entailed moving god knows how many tons of snow down from the glacier where it's farmed. They have even "built" a new black run on what is normally off piste on the glacier. Teams of pisteurs are also being deployed in a vain effort to keep pistes clear of stones. Cost of all this must be significant.
You can ski from top back to resort but only if you aren't too worried about your skis. Glacier is superb, anything below has stony patches, some quite severe and getting worse daily.
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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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| PowderAdict wrote: |
If the snow doesn't arrive soon, I expect resorts will have to start making offers to tempt visitors.
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What did you have in mind?
Courchevel sent me free lift passes for last weekend (19th) for the whole family but they went in the recycling. If they paid my travel costs, lunch and a hotel full board I would go for the weekend. Are you listening guys?
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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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@Claude B, I have no doubt that resort snow managers and staff are doing their very best with limited snowfall. That's how their employers sell their products and make the profits that pay them. Still, there are few businesses who can get away for long with charging full price for half a service( or less).
Liftcos need to become more flexible and innovative with their offer IMO. Few seem to offer flexible passes (eg any 4 days in 6), Or multi-activity deals, such as those offered in summer. The attitude and pricing seems to largely be based on '6 consecutive days skiing/boarding in our resort'...or else we'll overcharge you. Look forward to learning about specific examples of innovative flexibility that prove me wrong.
Then when they hit a poor snow cover period, they wonder why customers don't come. The hardworking staff preparing the pistes are not to blame for this. The top bosses need a rethink.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| intermediate wrote: |
| Few seem to offer flexible passes (eg any 4 days in 6) |
My girlfriend has a Ski a La Carte pass which allows her to ski as many or as few days as she wants on any single trip, across a number of large French resorts. She's not committed to skiing every single day of a trip, especially if the weather or the snow is poor, so this card means she can ski as often as she wants without the pressure of thinking that she's wasting a day of a 6-day pass. The daily rates for the Ski a la Carte pass are normally discounted from the usual daily rates offered by the resort, your pass itself works automatically so you don't need to visit a ticket office every day, and you are billed at the end of the month (IIRC) to your bank account or credit card.
The following resorts are covered, and you can choose to ski any of them with the same pass:
Les Arcs / Peisey-Vallandry
La Plagne
Paradiski accessible from Les Arcs / Peisey-Vallandry and la Plagne
Espace Killy (Val d'Isère and Tignes)
Serre Chevalier
Le Grand Massif (Flaine, Samoëns, Morillon, Les Carroz, Sixt Fer à Cheval)
Massif (Samoëns, Morillon, Les Carroz, Sixt Fer à Cheval)
Flaine
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@intermediate, supply and demand.
The Compagnie des Alpes charges what it thinks it can get away with and usually does.
What else would you expect?
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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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@rob@rar, thanks, that's just the sort of pass I was hoping to learn about. That one would definitely be useful for me.
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@Claude B, @under a new name, call me an idealist, but I would hope liftcos would want their customers to feel happy that they'd had a good experience at a fair price....as well as making a reasonable profit.
I'm looking at people just arriving at Chambery airport now wondering what % will tick the 'happy' box next week.
Good luck in the lift queues during Russian New Year week.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| intermediate wrote: |
| @rob@rar, thanks, that's just the sort of pass I was hoping to learn about. That one would definitely be useful for me. |
If you are going to get one let me know and I'll send you a referral which will reduce the cost of your subscription.
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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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@rob@rar, thanks very much for the offer. I'll be looking carefully at whether it would suit this season, depending on how plans unfold. It's very useful to know about it.
@Claude B, @under a new name, @davidof, @PowderAdict,
I wonder if Jan Sale Liftco will be offering cheap area passes now, as the unrelenting snowfall must be keeping most of the lifts closed 
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FAQ
Russian New Year though 
