Resorts where modern chairlifts can be avoided?

A snowHead

I have skied for 40 years and prefer the large French resorts eg the 3 valleys and Tignes/Val D. Unfortunately I now have bad arthritis in one knee which limits the extent to which it bends. This problem combined with the fact that I am 6' 4" means that i can no longer use most modern chairlifts (i.e. seats very low to the ground , 8 person chairs where someone always wants to put the bar down before leaving the station, and automatic bar release systems which stop me standing up early). I just had a successful holiday based in Brides-Les- Bains and could ski lots of the Meribel/Mottaret/Mont Vallon area , Courchevel, La Tania , Le Praz etc. by using only gondolas and some prior route planning. Any recommendations for other resorts that offer plenty of linked skiing without the use of chairlifts would be appreciated. On the same theme, any information regarding countries/resorts that don't employ auto - release systems on chairlift bars would be appreciated.

A snowHead

Welcome to Snowheads, @IanL1

. There are some skiers here who know the Dolomites well. I have followed a couple of them round, and much appreciated their expertise and taken little notice of where I was going! I do, however, recall that there are a lot of gondolas and perhaps one of our Dolomites experts could identify a corner of that domain (you'd only need a corner, it's so vast) where you get good options using only gondolas.

The ease of getting up off a chairlift also depends a bit on the depth of snow, but you're almost a foot taller than I am, and I can well imagine the difficulty.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Most resorts list gondolas cable cars chairs. The two resorts you mention are those I know best and agree that 3v is better than Tignes Val/d against that criteria I would say Val thorens is particularly well blessed at the other end of the 3V in gondolas cable cars etc.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Montgenevre is the best place I can think of. It has a couple of gondolas, some telemix gondolas where you can choose between chair and gondola and some older chairlifts and a few drag lifts.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Kronplatz (in the Dolomites) is often referred to as a ski area that has a very large proportion of gondolas.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Would a ski mojo support help? Not sure what they are / aren’t designed for.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

That's correct - a ski mojo support wouldn't help.

@IanL1, not France, but maybe try a glacier resort like Kaprun or Hintertux - gondolas to get up to the glacier, then primarily T-bars due to the lack of anywhere to place a concrete base.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Come to North America! We Americans don’t believe in safety bars. Wink

Automatic bar release are almost unheard of except in a few rare exceptions (Big Sky has quite a few. Don’t go there). On all non-automatic safety bars, Americans have a tendency to not lower the bar, or even when it’s lowered (often belatedly), raise it long before the unloading zone.

Just stay away from chair serving beginners and children. There, the chairs tend to be lower (for children), or the bars lower quite soon by nervous beginners, or overly protective parents.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Also, on my limited travel to Japan, I found the Japanese aren’t too enthusiastic about safety bars either. There’re still chairs without safety bars at all!

snow reports

Saalbach has a lot of gondolas, probably Leogang is the only place that can’t be accessed without chairlifts. OTOH the chairlifts are all modern ‘child-friendly’ 6 or 8 packs often with automatic bars.

Zermatt? I’m pretty sure you can get to the top of all three areas without using chairs at all - gondolas, cable cars and trains. I think there’s only a few pistes youd miss if you didn’t take a single chair

I even think you could ski a lot of Cervinia without chairs

You know it makes sense.

I'm in a ski area with no chairlifts whatsoever; but also no gondolas, just drag lifts!
I shan't even bother to tell you where. Cool

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I have the same issue. I employ the following tactics;
Get right up to the stop line, sometimes beyond it, so the ground falls away after.

Engineer a situation where you don't get on a busy chair, leave room to one side and throw yourself sideways as you sit down.

If those 2 aren't possible, keep standing up, let the chair push you along and sit down at the very last minute

I have one that has only bent to 100 degrees for the last 40 yrs and have perfected my technique.

Avoid beginner lifts at all costs.

A snowHead

A snowHead

La Grave?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

“Saalbach has a lot of gondolas, probably Leogang is the only place that can’t be accessed without chairlifts. OTOH the chairlifts are all modern ‘child-friendly’ 6 or 8 packs often with automatic bars.”

Apparently Saalbach has the highest number of gondolas of any resort in the world. Most of the peaks can be reached by gondola, without any need to use a chairlift. Various itineraries are possible without the need to use any chair lifts (only gondolas). For example, you could start at Hochalm, beyond Hinterglemm, and spend a couple of hours on the Zwölferkogel (including its World Cup runs), using its two long gondolas, before moving on to the Schattberg mountain with its 5km, gondola-served red run, then take the 7km run down to Jausern (at the other end of the valley from where you started), and take another gondola up to the Wildenkarkogel on the other side of the valley, from where its another long run of at least 5km all the way down to Saalbach.

And from the summit of the Reiterkogel you can ski all the way to Fieberbrunn and back using only gondolas, and no chairs. And once at Fieberbrunn you again don’t need to use any chair lifts. To reach the summit of the Reiterkogel you need to take only one chair from the Hinterglemm direction, and two chairs from the Saalbach direction.

A trip from Saalbach to Leogang can be achieved by using two chairlifts in each direction.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I'm pretty sure that French chairlifts are lower than Austrian ones. Anecdotal evidence only but some of the ones I've come across are comically low down!

You'll need to Register first of course.

Another vote for Kronplatz, it’s pretty gondola heavy.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

Avoidance of modern lifts? Scotland's where it's at! wink

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Please keep them coming , and Ill check out the piste maps for anywhere suggested. The resort not only needs to have lots of gondolas /cable cars/ drag lifts but giving access to link up ski routes without the use of any modern chairs

snow reports

At Les 2 Alpes you can take back to back gondolas and then a funicular to the top of the glacier.

Are you OK with T-bars, @IanL1?

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

A snowHead

Madonna di Campiglio is a good option. Think the only auto chair is Nube d’Oro, which is only used to get back up to Spinale from mid mountain. There’s a gondola to take you up from town virtually to the top of all 4 surrounding peaks. Worth avoiding lower run 66 on Groste, very flat. Avoid by taking Boch, or Nube d’Argent chair.

You have to go back to town level to travel between summits so all the runs are really long. You have to take a regular fast chair to get to Folgarida/Marilleva and 2 or 3 back. While there, there’s 3 gondolas, taking you to near the summits. Not sure if Spolverino is an auto? Bypassable anyway.

There’s a long 3 stage gondola to Pinzolo and you’d need to take chairs over there. I didn’t spend enough time there to find any auto chairs.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Thanks for all your suggestions so far (Montgenevre, Kronplatz, Kaprun, Hintertux, North America generally (as few auto release systems on chairlift bars), Saalbach, Zermatt, La Grave, Les 2 Alpes, and Madonna di Camiglio.) I've never skied at half of these and checking out piste maps along with your comments has certainly given me some options.

Just in case anyone else has an interest in this topic. If staying in Brides- Les - Bains, Meribel, Mottaret or Courchevel , there are plenty of gondolas and a few older chairs which are OK ( eg the Suisse chair) , which enable all the runs down from the top of Saulire eg. Combe de Saulire, Suisse, Piste M , Pylons and the runs down to la Tania and Le Praz eg Jean Blanc, along with lots of variations on the Meribel/Mottaret side, including Mont Vallon.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

I recently skied in Europe for the first time (Dolomites, based out of Val Gardena). Prior to that only in North America. Had never experienced an auto release chair lift before. Nor had I heard of the concept. The first time on one we had a bit of a panic attack because the bar wasn't raising when we tried to raise it.

One tactic that may help you, generally, is that when dismounting, stay on the chair as long as possible, which will allow the down hill pitch to come into play, and the chair will essentially push you off of it. I do this in order to avoid standing up, although I don't have nearly the issues you seem to have. And I am only 5' 9".

Several of the western NA mountains that are smallish/less commercial will have only old chairlifts. Some of them, like at a place called Monarch, don't even have safety bars on some of the lifts.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@wjrlaw, Good point on dismounting and always get on the inside side of the chair as the outside swings around fast and can whack you if getting off late

You'll need to Register first of course.

Verbier.
Everything can be gondola accessed.
The extended 4 Valley system too...especially since you like The Devil's Lift ( T Bars)

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

@IanL1, once on the chair, have you tried (going to be hard to describe) using a pole as a splint to support that leg in a straight position? Pole goes under the calf of the affected leg and across into the opposite armpit. Not as weird as it sounds, and totally unweights the knee in a neutral position for a few minutes.

“@IanL1, once on the chair, have you tried (going to be hard to describe) using a pole as a splint to support that leg in a straight position? Pole goes under the calf of the affected leg and across into the opposite armpit. Not as weird as it sounds, and totally unweights the knee in a neutral position for a few minutes.”

The Ski Mojo (which I used for one season, and saw a couple of people using yesterday) keeps the legs sticking out straight and supported whilst on a chairlift, if you accidentally or deliberately don’t unlock it before sitting down. That might work, as it would restrict the bending of the knees.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Help!!

Resorts where modern chairlifts can be avoided?

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Resort Reviews and Trip Reports