 Poster: A snowHead
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I've found lift queues nearly everywhere I've been skiing. In general which countries don't have lift 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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England, well apart from the dry slopes and snowdomes.
Andy
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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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| Quote: |
England, well apart from the dry slopes and snowdomes.
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I should have added, and pistes that are more than 20 seconds long.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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During the peak season, go ski touring.
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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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e.g., Austria is your best bet. No queues.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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rob@rar, what's it like in France?
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e.g., it's not a country thing, it's a case of skiing outside school hols, or smaller resorts/satellite villages linking to areas with big fast lifts. I've skied La Tania (6 times) and La Rosiere (once) during Easter holidays and max q has been a few minutes at one or 2 chairs....
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go w/c 13th December to any of the major french resorts and just slide right onto the lifts all day
go w/c 13th/20th Feb to any of the major french resorts and q for 20 minutes (or more) just to get up the 1st lift of 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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| e.g. wrote: |
| I've found lift queues nearly everywhere I've been skiing. In general which countries don't have lift queues? |
As kitenski says, most of them outside peak season.
And even more so if you avoid the "mega" resorts, although even in those places it tends to be a few bottlenecks or particular times, rather than everywhere, all the time.
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Whilst there are often queues to get up the mountain most areas of any size have a sector where the queues are much shorter. Get up and out early and try and avoid skiing back down all the way to the bottom.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Can't say I've ever experienced lift queues of more than a couple of minutes. I normally ski in mid Jan or mid March, i.e. outside school holidays.
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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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Canada (except Whistler) mid-week
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Five minutes is the most I've ever queued in Grimentz.
Worst queue was Meribel, more than 20 minutes in January. Hate to think what it's like in peak time.
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You know it makes sense.
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there are queues and there are queues
i don't mind a bit of a queue somewhere like La Grave where the lift is slow and rubbish BUT the low uphill capacity means there are very few people on the mountain when you get to the top
a big queue for a high speed quad somewhere like Meribel is the worst of all worlds - fast uphill capacity means more people skiing at any particular time and more crowded pistes 
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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I agree a faster uplift just puts more people on the route down...the new Eggs replacement at Grand Montet is a case in point.. but then again, if you can avoid the way down...then they work and to be fair, who would want to take the red down anyway...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Go west.
I've nearly always had to ski in school holidays, so I've probably seen more than my fair share of queues and crowded pistes. My experience so far is this: every time I've visted a European resort, I've had several waits of 20 minutes and at least one wait of an hour or more. In North America, despite often skiing over President's weekend, I've never had to queue for longer than 5 minutes.
I don't think my experience is atypical. A quick glance at the resort ratings in Where to Ski and Snowboard suggests that its editors and readers have found the world to be in the same shape.
Unlesss there are mitigating circumstances such as adverse weather conditions, I regard queuing as little more than legalised theft. The punters in the queue have paid a significant sum to the lift company for the privilege of being escorted swiftly to the top of the mountain, and any resort that routinely allows queues to develop is allowing greed to take over: if the mountain's full, sales of lift passes should stop. Skiers who willingly participate in this scam simply help to legitimise and perpetuate the fraud - if a resort has a reputation for queues, go somewhere else.
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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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| Quote: |
Go west.
I've nearly always had to ski in school holidays, so I've probably seen more than my fair share of queues and crowded pistes. My experience so far is this: every time I've visted a European resort, I've had several waits of 20 minutes and at least one wait of an hour or more. In North America, despite often skiing over President's weekend, I've never had to queue for longer than 5 minutes.
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I am sceptical of all received wisdom admittedly it was a few years back but on my trips to Whistler and Jackson Hole the queues were farworse than the European average.
From my erading these are worse than most destination resorts from the UK but many resorts near the cities particualrly East Cost but some Californian resorts are pretty bad at weekends.
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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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| Quote: |
It eventually comes to your turn and if you manage it up you have 30 seconds back down to the bottom to repeat the experience.
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That's what happened to my son in Cairngorm - his first outing on snow. After the longest queue I've ever experienced anywhere he fell off after ten yards and was so embarassed he shuffled right off to the end of the queue, though I think the liftie would have let him have another go. He was mortified, poor lad. That was a Saturday. Great snow and sunshine. Next day there were no lift queues after 1030am because high winds had shut all the 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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| Jonny Jones wrote: |
Go west.
I've nearly always had to ski in school holidays, so I've probably seen more than my fair share of queues and crowded pistes. My experience so far is this: every time I've visted a European resort, I've had several waits of 20 minutes and at least one wait of an hour or more. In North America, despite often skiing over President's weekend, I've never had to queue for longer than 5 minutes.
I don't think my experience is atypical. A quick glance at the resort ratings in Where to Ski and Snowboard suggests that its editors and readers have found the world to be in the same shape.
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My (admittedly limited) experience is the opposite.
I found in Canada (Jasper, Lake Louise, Sunshine), that there were significant queues most of the time for all the base lifts, and some of the higher ones, even though the pistes were then very much more quiet than I have usually seen in Europe.
But each lift on average served more runs than the lifts in European resorts tend to.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Queue lines were non existant virtually in Winter Park, Co. At most we waited 5 mins for one of the more popular lifts.
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I'm hoping Montgenevre won't be too bad easter week, as there are lots of starting points from the village, rather than just one lift to get everyone up
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I can think of many Euro resorts where I've encountered long queues and equally know that certain resorts in N America e.g. Whistler, Heavenly, Vail can be problematic at times. The key to avoiding queues is timing and local knowledge. If you're somewhere where there is a single gondola or cable car for base uplift it doesn't take a genius to know that rocking up at 9.30-10 am is not a great time to avoid queuing e.g. Whistler, Engelberg, Zinal, Heavenly . Similarly familiarity with a piste map can help you identify pinch points which will be a nightmare at times of peak transit e.g. Lindarets back up to Avoriaz late pm.
I would try to be as far as possible from ski school meeting points at the relevant times on any day in a peak holiday week.
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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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| fatbob wrote: |
| I would try to be as far as possible from ski school meeting points at the relevant times on any day in a peak holiday week. |
Good advice. Even in relatively quiet times hitting the main lifts out of the resort at the start of group lessons can suddenly add 15 minutes to the loading time of any lift.
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I would say SH who owns a property in a resort and those who have own transport can avoid the majority of the queuing problem.
The chalet owners will have all the local knowledge, most likly have cars and know where and when to avoid queues.
The car is the key to move around to avoid queues, get to the chairlift earlier than others to set off before the crowd has time to build up, access the quieter chairlifts by driving to there or even move to a neighboring resort that has less queues.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Mon 5-10-09 16:33; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I once skied in Panorama on what the resort claimed was the busiest day in its history. No real queues - maybe 20 minutes total all day.
I've skied in Big Sky on President's Day under blue skies after a huge powder drop. No real queues - maybe 10 minutes for the tram, nada elsewhere.
Both times the trails were deserted, too. If you hate queues but are tied to peak periods, those are two possibilities. to consider.
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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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Jonny Jones,
Try last week in Feb in Meribel or La Plagne!
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Jonny Jones, sshh! 
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You know it makes sense.
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| saikee wrote: |
| The car is the key to move around to avoid queues, |
Very rarely has that been the case for resorts I've skied in. Mostly I'll use the car to go down the valley to do some shopping, or maybe to another resort to ski with friends. I don't think I've ever used a car to avoid lift queues.
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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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rob@rar,
It is your choice. You can take the car and park it at Courchevel 1800 underground car park to join the crowd there. Others can drive to St Martin de Belleville or Val Thoren where there are less skiers to run into.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| saikee wrote: |
rob@rar,
It is your choice. You can take the car and park it at Courchevel 1800 underground car park to join the crowd there. Others can drive to St Martin de Belleville or Val Thoren where there are less skiers to run into. |
Sorry, I don't follow your logic. Are you assuming that people are based away from the resort? I usually have a car with me when I'm in the Tarentaise or the 3V but I wouldn't dream of driving for 90 minutes just to avoid a queue for a ski lift, especially as I'm normally within walking distance of the nearest ski lift. Driving to a different resort in the same domain to try and find a shorter queue seems like an insane way of avoiding the crowds!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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queen bodecia, Would agree, always ski Austria and have never experienced more than a handful of people ahead of me at that time of year, New Year was much busier but never more than a few minutes.
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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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I skied around 50 days in the three valleys last season, including school holidays, and rarely had to queue for more than a couple of minutes. There were probably 6 or 8 times, during the whole season, where I had to queue for more than 10 minutes. I honestly don't believe that the queues are as bad as some think PROVIDING you can 1. avoid the resorts at peak times ( 9.15 to 10am, and lunchtime) 2. avoid ski school start/end point/times and 3. avoid known bottlenecks (e.g 3V crossover points) at the end of the day. (I know this isn't possible for everyone)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Patch,
4. Avoid Cime de carron cable car late season mornings
Maybe it's just when I've been but I first saw it 20 years ago and the queues were bad. Have been over from Orelle in the last few seasons, always seems bad then.
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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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rob@rar,
So you have chalet in both 3V and Les Arc that are within walking distance. It would be insane to visit other resorts then.
As regarding distance. Starting from Moutiers, say as the common base, to Courchevel 1800 is 23.8km, to St Martin de Belleville is 20.1km and to Val Thoren is 33km. Somehow you reckon it is an extra 90 min to drive to either of the last two locations and no time at all for the first one?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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T Bar,
I think it is fair to say 3V has been pretty quick to rectify the deficiencies of the lift systems. I seem to find new improvement every time I visit the resort.
The wife was once thrown out of a drag lift that turned about 120 degree in one visit and found it replaced by a new chairlift the next year. Can't vouch this on the Swiss resorts though.
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saikee,
Yup, I agree that 3v upgrades a lot just that Cime De Caron always seems to have pretty long queues when I have visited(mainly late season)
Also agree that Swiss resorts seem a bit slower to update their lifts than the big French and Austrian reosrts. Doesn't bother me unduly though, I'm that unfit I sometimes need a slow chair to catch my breath.
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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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| saikee wrote: |
rob@rar,
So you have chalet in both 3V and Les Arc that are within walking distance. It would be insane to visit other resorts then.
As regarding distance. Starting from Moutiers, say as the common base, to Courchevel 1800 is 23.8km, to St Martin de Belleville is 20.1km and to Val Thoren is 33km. Somehow you reckon it is an extra 90 min to drive to either of the last two locations and no time at all for the first one? |
As I said, I didn't understand what you were saying. I thought you were recommending driving from Courchevel to the Belleville valley (about 90 minutes to VT) in order to avoid lift queues. You didn't say that you were assuming a Moutiers base (which very few people on holiday would do). If I was based in Moutiers and wanted to avoid peak season queues I would drive to Courchevel 1650, go to the top of Rue du Belvedere and park at the end of the road and jump on either the Stade or Granges drag lift to avoid getting out of the resort centre. Free parking and a convenient end of the day if I'd dropped off the back of the piste network and was returning home via Les Avals. As I said, a little bit of local knowledge helps get the best out of a resort...
The only point I'm making is that if you are based in the resort (as an apartment owner or a visitor) having a car is rarely useful in avoiding queues.
BTW, I have a small apartment in Les Arcs that is ski in/out. It would be nice to have a chalet in the 3V within walking distance of the pistes, but alas the costs of buying such a place were just a wee bit out of our price range
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| saikee wrote: |
As regarding distance. Starting from Moutiers, say as the common base, to Courchevel 1800 is 23.8km, to St Martin de Belleville is 20.1km and to Val Thoren is 33km. Somehow you reckon it is an extra 90 min to drive to either of the last two locations and no time at all for the first one? |
you might like to stay in Moutiers for your skiing holiday, but I guarantee that 99% of English punters wouldn't
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