 Poster: A snowHead
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Just wondering What people consider an acceptable time to queue? I've read a report where somebody said that queues no problem with maximum wait of 15 minutes. I think that's a lot, but perhaps I've been spoiled. We've skied only in Norway and Finland for 5 years, not the main European countries and the maximum is about 6 People in front on a drag lift and that's in school holidays (although I believe we've managed to avoid THEIR holidays so that will help. I'm interested because it's now too expensive in scandinavian for us so we are considering Austria.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@bambionskiis, great question, there is a continuing debate on Facebook around the Bansko gondola. Most people are saying shut up and suck it up, or plan around peak times  My view is that there is a core problem and throughout discussion i came up with 20 mins at the peak of peaks. That is to say in the worst of all possible conditions (in relation to usage / load) a resort should be able to provide enough capacity for a max of a 20 minute queue time.
It should be said that there is obviously a whole load more to it than that, but i think i'd be willing to wait 20 mins for a main or bottleneck lift, more and i'd probably get frustrated. Similarly i wouldn't want to be waiting 20 mins for every lift.
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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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In my experience (many holidays and working a season in La Plagne, France), feb half term can be pretty bad, but most of the remainder of the season you have no waiting or only 1 or 2 minutes.
There are always bottlenecks and careful planning of your day can avoid the biggest problems, even during the school holidays. The longest I've ever waited for a chairlift was in Meribel late afternoon. Waited for about 35 mins, horrendous, but I've never before or since experienced anything like it.
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I consider anything over 5 minutes an age whilst up the mountain. 15 mins just about acceptable for first gondola up in the morning but only because it's your fault you're running late
We did a day trip to Zell last week and it took nearly 30 mins to get on the gondola so won't go back in HT again as too many school groups. At Maria Alm, I would get the 8:43 bus from the hotel and be doing my warm up run by 9
The trick, I guess, is to get up before the ski schools meet
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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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As @robandliza says, 5 minutes while up the mountain and maybe 15 minutes if I am running late for the first lift. I don't like queues, and wouldn't ski at half term for that reason. I like resorts that have a single person line for busy lifts as I'm happy to abandon my friends, wife and children just to get a bit more slope time  . Of course the other problem with busy lifts is busy slopes so a resort has to have enough piste to be able to absorb the skiers it's shoveling up the mountain...
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worst I ve had was 45mins for a chair out of AlpDheuz middle of the day on an Xmas week trip - a massive ruck seemed par for the course that week so avoided that part - won't be going back their any time soon.
Also the same week encountered the most orderly lift queue (outside of scotland)... a single line queue running for about 60metres up the piste, wait time of about 15mins for the chair.
we're usually at resorts where a queue of 5mins is massive in holiday weeks.
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Any lift you can't ski straight on is too long. 5-6 chairs probably ok.
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I've read a report where somebody said that queues no problem with maximum wait of 15 minutes.
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It is called being ironic, I beleive.
A couple of minutes is about right for me. I wonder if I am able to ski straight on that the lifts are being underused and the lift company will remove that lift. It seems to have happened in Les Arcs the last few years.
The worst lift queues (and crowded pistes) I have ever come across were in St. Anton. To get upto the ski area we wanted to ski at took 3 lifts and 3 seperate queues of over 30 minutes each. An hour and a half later we still weren't skiing. I have never been back
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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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Last half term in Samoens we had about an hour wait/fight to get on the Molliets chair as the Corbablanche chair broke down in the middle of the afternoon so they were funneling everyone down there to get back over to Samoens. I've never witnessed anything like it; you had to take your skis or snowboard off it was that much of a bun fight.
In answer to the OP question, outside of school holidays I'd say about five minutes is acceptable for normal wait times. For some reason I get more impatient waiting for a chair compared to a gondola or cable car. I was quite happy to wait a good five or ten minutes for the main cable car from Courmayeur to Checrouit last year for example.
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| johnE wrote: |
The worst lift queues (and crowded pistes) I have ever come across were in St. Anton. To get upto the ski area we wanted to ski at took 3 lifts and 3 seperate queues of over 30 minutes each. An hour and a half later we still weren't skiing. I have never been back |
Were you there for lift opening? If not then you are yourself at least partially to blame. Pretty easy to stay ahead of crowds if you get a wriggle on.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, +1, anyone who queues in St Anton is either getting up too late, taking too long for breakfast and wasting ski time, or doesn't know their way around....never had an issue.
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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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Never really timed it. Worst was probably at Schladming over new year, felt like it was about 25 minutes but probably less. I'd generally think of a 10 minute wait as okay in a peak area, 15 minutes is about the limit of what I want to be stood around waiting for.
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@johnE, which ski area and which lifts? Never experienced the queues you described (or anything near near it) in 10+ years of annual visits at all times of the season.
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You know it makes sense.
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Were you there for lift opening?
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Yes and so was everyone else. It was the first week after new year which is normally a very quiet week, but it was heaving
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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 you're queuing longer than skiing, then it's too long.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Markymark29 wrote: |
| @Dave of the Marmottes, +1, anyone who queues in St Anton is either getting up too late, taking too long for breakfast and wasting ski time, or doesn't know their way around....never had an issue. |
If only everyone in the resort could be bothered to get up early and have a quick breakfast to get to the lifts when they opened there would be no queues...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Against my better judgment, but with an exceptional deal and the only week my mates could agree on, were off to Serre Chevalier this Saturday 25 Feb. We generally go Jan and again in March to avoid queuing and busy pistes etc. Looking at Webcam lift queues looks horrendous for Yret,Cibouit and Eychauda lifts from about 9:40 each day this week. The lift company has introduced 8:30am opening times until end of French School Hols on 5 March for some of the strategic lifts in the valley if your fortunate enough to stay near by. (We're near Casse Du Boeuf one of those) So hopefully we will get a couple of runs in before it comes to a standstill. Most of the upper lifts are still at their usual times, which seems a bit bonkers as it will be difficult to avoid coming back down unless we loop the Foret and Combes chairs. Also gonna try for lunch about 2pm and keep going until lifts close as i think its the only way we will get the milage in.
Worst recent experience getting out of Meribel towards VT and LM late afternoon in January! 30 mins+ per lift. Best experience spent winter 2015 in SunPeaks, Canada and outside of presidents week week there were often less than 200 people on the whole mountain.
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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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In the 90's in Saas-Fee before the new lifts, the Felskinn main lift regularly had 2 hour queues while running a 100 people every 10 mins in the morning.
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@SlipnSlide,
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If only everyone in the resort could be bothered to get up early and have a quick breakfast to get to the lifts when they opened there would be no queues...
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Probabaly would, they'd just be earlier.
Seriously though, if you wait about until 9.30-10am and then get stuck in queues then its simple isn't it....go on another lift, eg Rendl that'll probably be quiet or take a chair to say Gampen/ Kapall and do a couple of runs up and down there until you know Zammermoosbahn will be clear by 11am and then only pinch point could potentially be Schindlerbahn, in which case dive down to Arlenmahderbahn and if busy across low level track to Rauz/ Stuben or play about on Kandahar until say 12.00 when it'll all be clear but don't stand in it that's crazy......or better still choose weeks when its not school holidays. Equally if you know its really busy and you've got in the queues play on Fang/ Nasserein reds for a bit until it eases up a bit.
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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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it really depends on the lift type....a fairly quick 6/8 man chair i would expect to wait less than 5 min. If it's a big cable car that is running to a timetable then 15-20min is acceptable at the end of the day its your fault for arriving just as the other cable car left!
As i do most of my skiing in Austria and outside the main holiday times I pretty much ski straight onto the next lift!!
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| Markymark29 wrote: |
@SlipnSlide,
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If only everyone in the resort could be bothered to get up early and have a quick breakfast to get to the lifts when they opened there would be no queues...
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Probabaly would, they'd just be earlier. |
Err, yeah, that was kind of my point.
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| johnE wrote: |
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Were you there for lift opening?
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Yes and so was everyone else. It was the first week after new year which is normally a very quiet week, but it was heaving |
OK sounds weird - powder day? Not that anyone's trying to dissuade you from your opinion - not like the Arlberg needs more skiers.
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Worst queues I've ever seen were in Cervinia in the late 1980's (over an hour at mid station) never been back, and Kitzbuhel same era (Pengelstein area). Used to also be bad in Val D'Isere mid 90's first thing in Solaise/ Bellevarde areas but I guess its better now.
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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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@Dave of the Marmottes, Dave - there a misconception that first week of the new year is a quiet week, presumably because we Brits go back to work on the 2nd January.
The Germans/ Austrians are often on holiday until 6/7/ 8/ 9th ie until the following Monday...that quiet week is actually one of their busiest, Drei Konigs Woche (3 Kings Week), also a big one with Russians (ie, best avoided!)
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The question is too simple because there are a number of factors involved. There are connecting lifts for example that won't be particularly busy most of the day but come 3.30 will be mobbed and therefore a queue will form. So a delay would be somewhat understandable and acceptable. Also if there is a technical issue or another lift is out of action temporarily then a lift may be unusually busy. Long running and consistent bottle necks are ones where the lift company should look to take action. The punters sometimes don't help themselves by a) queuing in a disorderly fashion and/or b) not filling the seats and/or not working the lift system to their benefit.
As we go Christmas week and spring term break we generally don't suffer too much with queues. I've not really found any resort to be particularly good or bad.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Layne wrote: |
| As we go Christmas week and spring term break we generally don't suffer too much with queues. |
Surely those are the busiest times? 
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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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Depends on the lift, something serving 2000m of powder with numerous different options to take, I really wouldn't balk at a thirty minute wait.
Conversely a beginner drag for a nursery slope that takes a few seconds to ski down and then is repeated a five minute wait would be really frustrating.
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@eat>sleep>ride>r,
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Looking at Webcam lift queues looks horrendous for Yret,Cibouit and Eychauda lifts from about 9:40 each day this week.
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I left on Saturday, and yep - you're right all three of those were getting pretty full. At one point it was difficult to tell the Yret & Cibouit queues apart. That said, I don't think we actually waited more than about 5 minutes for any of them.
We did hit a 10 minute wait at Verdons on the way over from Briancon towards Monetier one morning, and the old three man Cote Chevalier chair on the way back one afternoon must have been a good (bad) 20-25 minutes. Long enough for us to be too late for the Prorel chair to get up for the last leg back to Briancon.
Peak ski school departure times clogged up the Bachas in Monetier at 11.30, though whilst the queue looked big, it moves pretty quick. Still - it was a perfect time for the first Affligem of the day while my son went off for his lesson. And an hour or so later - no queue at all as everyone was off for lunch.
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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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@UkuleleDave, Thanks for that on Serre Che. Good to know moving along as its difficult to tell from a static webcam shot. Will try and avoid Cote Chevalier from mid afternoon if possible. The frejus sector has always been the weakest link when heading east towards Briancon. If we see that queue might be tempted to go all way down to valley and back up Casse Du Beoeuf or brave the Pre Du Bois drag lift (although i suspect this too will be clogged).
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Poster: A snowHead
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If we see that queue might be tempted to go all way down to valley and back up Casse Du Beoeuf
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That's what we did later in the week. No hanging about at all.
Have a grand time.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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L2A last year in and around Feb half term - First morning lift from the bottom was about 15 min wait. Once up the mountain, maybe 2 mins max. Anything more than this and I'd be getting annoyed but that's just me.
This year in Montgenvre, didn't queue once at any lift, but we did go at the end of Jan.
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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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From my first ski holiday, I seem to remember enormous queues for the gondola up from bellecote in la plagne, 45 minutes or more in the mid/late afternoon as people headed back up to belle plagne. But, there was also a separate queue for people without skis/snowboards, which was quite useful sometimes. This queue was generally non-existant so you could just walk straight on.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
That's what we did later in the week. No hanging about at all.
Have a grand time.
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@UkuleleDave, thanks
Was trying to post a photo of my last trip New Year 2014 and lack of queue. Computer (mac) says no! but you can guess it was pretty queue free!
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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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We had a 30 minute+ wait for the G-Link gondola at Flachau to Wargrain last week due to crowding - we avoided using the link again after that other than to get back.
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@Rcav, been to La Plagne twice and the most I ever had to wait was about 15 minutes one morning. If ever the queue was too big for the gondola I'd just take one of the chairlifts instead.
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I've encountered a few enormous lift queues over the years which I really hate as everyone stands on your skis and it wastes so much time.
One of the longest was probably trying to get the gondola back down to Aosta from Pila on a windy Saturday when it was running slowly. That was an hour. Another wait for well over an hour was the cable car in Val Thorens one day late season when all the resorts had poor snow. We were bussed in to Orelle along with all the world and his friend.
I've also had annoying waits for the Lanches chair in Tignes and a few lifts in La Plagne. There was a bottleneck somewhere near Zug or Zurs last month at a 2-man chair (preceded by an exhausting hike!) - that thing needs upgrading! Didn't encounter any other major queues in St Anton.
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Depends on the lift, something serving 2000m of powder with numerous different options to take, I really wouldn't balk at a thirty minute wait
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@T Bar, Fair point - I've waited 20 mins in the past for high level lifts like Grande Motte, Valluga, Tortin, Mt Gele, Mt Fort, Gde Montets on big pow days but you know the prize is worth the short wait. Also gives you time to get your poo-poo together because you know what's coming.....!! 
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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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Pila Italy , some ridiculous waits over the new year 
45 minutes for a cable car to a beginners slope was a particular nasty.
Most chairs were 20 minutes and lengthy queues to get back down the main gondola to Aosta with all the pushing and shoving that entails.
Do your head in big time.
Problem with small resorts and crazy crowds is the pistes deteriorate quickly and too many people on the main slopes and too many accidents.
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The biggest issue in Europe is no lift queue management, it's not unusual to see half empty gondolas / chairs / t-bars leaving the station and a large queue waiting. Plus there's a total bunfight in a funnel of netting, then through the lift pass machines then a further bunfight until just before the lift access. It's madness! I much prefer the system from my one trip to America, where there was orderly queueing and active queue management to ensure minimum waiting times for everyone.
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