 Poster: A snowHead
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On the Cervinia online pass shop (https://cervino.skiperformance.com/en/winter/store#/en/winter/buy?skugroup_id=2973&product_id=9492&bookable_y_n_a=a),
if I look at 1 day local passes, the following dates are greyed out: 1-8 Jan, 28 Jan-5 March. (There is no greying out for the multiday passes.) Those are presumably the busiest periods, so I'm guessing this is about managing visitor numbers, by cutting out day trippers. Does anyone know if that is right? I can't see any mention of this on their website.
Are these blackout dates locked in or do they add further blackout days if it gets busy?
Presumably you can't buy a 1 day ticket at the ticket office either, on those days?
A way round this would be to buy a 1 day open pass, but that is €57 vs €51 for the dated 1 day pass, so it is an extra €6 if you want to ski on those peak days.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sounds a little odd, for sure. Never heard of anywhere doing this just because it's going to be busy, although there were limits of day tickets imposed here on the Swiss side of the PdS during COVID, when France was completely closed for skiing. Clearly that was to allow social distancing, which was initially very much enforced in lift queues, so couldn't conceivably explain what you're seeing 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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At first, I thought it might just be a temporary, improvised measure, because Cervinia has more snow at present than most resorts, so it might have lots of people commuting from other resorts. But then I saw that the whole of February is not available, so this seems more systematic.
It is strange if Cervinia is the pioneer in capping numbers, because it is far from being the busiest resort. I've been there 5-6 times and never known it to be close to as busy as the slopes/lifts at, say, 3V or La Rossierre. Admittedly, I've never been to Cervinia at New Year, but judging by the webcam archive for the last week it does not look like it has got even close to being swamped. https://cervinia.panomax.com/matterhorn
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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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Generally, you can find space even at the busiest times, but as per most resorts I imagine, there are areas which act as bottlenecks.
Runs 24 and 26 coming off the top of the Pancheron lift and the sections to the west of Chalet Etoile heading down to Plan Maison can be pretty miserable as can sections of 14 and 60 towards the bottom of the Cretaz lifts.
I've experienced much busier areas at Sestriere and Madonna though.
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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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I've no idea why they do it this way, but if you look at the info about the ticket it explains:
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During the high season and in all ski areas, we offer you the opportunity to buy the daily ticket with seasonal expiration (*) at the same price as the daily ticket. It’s easy: access the ticket catalogue and select the product "1 Open Day".
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i.e. At high season they'll sell you the open pass that has no specific day but you can use whenever you like. As confirmed by the info on the open 1 day ticket:
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The ticket valid on the slopes of Cervinia and Valtournenche, allowing you to ski for 1 full day and appreciate all the corners of the Italian side of Cervino Ski Paradise. Buy it today and use it whenever you like, until the end of the season.
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So it doesn't look like number capping to me although it is odd that the price is different when they say it will be the same. It's not unusual for lift pass prices to be more in peak season.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| olderscot wrote: |
i.e. At high season they'll sell you the open pass that has no specific day but you can use whenever you like...
So it doesn't look like number capping to me although it is odd that the price is different when they say it will be the same. It's not unusual for lift pass prices to be more in peak season. |
I did see those info bubbles. But the claim that they are offering the open ticket for the same price as the daily ticket is nonsense. An open ticket always costs eur57; a daily ticket for a specified date always costs eur51, but it is not available during peak weeks. As you say, perhaps this is just a weird way to charge more during peak weeks.
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I've done a bit more checking and I see that there is also peak pricing for 6 day passes, which seems to confirm this is about maximising revenue over the season.
For instance, a 6 day local pass is eur268 in mid January or from mid March onwards. But from last week in Jan to first week in March it is eur302, which is 13% higher. (I assume that was also the price for Christmas/NY, but as we are past that time I can't check.) For the weeks that are partly in their peak period and partly outside it, you pay a pro-rata amount.
Again, the website makes no mention that you pay premium prices at peak periods. You can only work it out by trial and error. It is as if they think that people who ski in February will complain if they realise they are paying more than those who ski in March.
The peak premium for an international 6 day pass (ie, including Zermatt) is even higher. eur430 for late Jan to early March; eur359 in mid Jan and after early March. So, 20% higher.
Strangely, there is no peak pricing for 1 day international passes. For these passes, there is no dated version at any point in the season; they only sell the open version (@ eur81.50). Thus, you pay the same whether you use it in the February peak or late in April. This has the bizarre result that the extra cost for a 1 day pass that covers Zermatt is eur24.50 during the February peak and eur31.50 at non-peak times.
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The lack of peak pricing for 1 day international passes has counter-intuitive implications for the calculus of whether to buy multi-day passes or dailies.
During this 'stealth' peak period of late Jan to early March, a 6 day international pass is 430. Unless you plan to ski in Zermatt most of the week, it would probably be better to get daily passes, choosing the international pass on the days when you want to go to Zermatt. Even if you plan to ski 3 days in Zermatt, daily passes are cheaper. 3x57 + 3x81.50 = 415.50. The 6 day pass is only cheaper if you ski at least 4 days in Zermatt (and you ski all 6 days).
Outside the peak period, the 6 day international pass is potentially cheaper if you ski more than 1 day in Zermatt. If you do two days in Zermatt, dailies will cost 4x51 + 2x81.50 = 367, but the 6 day international pass is 359, so is cheaper.
This assumes you ski all 6 days. If you miss a day, due to bad weather or injury or whatever, dailies are going to work out cheaper regardless of how many days you ski in Zermatt (even if you stay in Cervinia the whole week), as you just don't buy a pass that day. As there's a pretty good chance of at least a day written off by bad weather, I think dailies are the smart choice.
There is another strategy, which is to get a local 6 day and then buy an upgrade on the days you want to go to Zermatt. But the website does not say what the upgrade costs, so I can't do the maths. I doubt this is going to be cheaper, however. Upgrades are a hassle, because you need to queue at the ticket office to buy them on the day.
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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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Regarding getting the 1 day open pass, I purchased this on-line last night (for Cervinia and Valtournenche). I added it to my Ski Pass (which by the way is from Pila, but as that is in the Aosta Valley, no problem). As the day pass was ‘open’ ie. Date not specified, I was a little unsure whether it would really work when I rocked up at the bubble lift in Valtournenche... but hey, no issue at all. And I avoided the ticket queue. Hope this might be helpful info to someone else.
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