 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello everyone,
Forum noobie here! I arrive with a tough question:
I'm planning a trip early feb, three skiers and one boarder. One of our group has serious vertigo and cannot get on/in a ski lift, chair, gondola or cable car.
Do you know of any (drive up) resort where he can access some easy runs by button/drag lift only?
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 29-11-10 13:33; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I'm not keen on heights either and try to avoid the more hair raising rides but I find if you're on a lift with friends who understand and keep you distracted (look at the slope of the piste and your route down it and not how far it is below you) then it's not so bad.
Most restorts have piste maps on line so you should be able to see which would be suitable for all your group.
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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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If their vertigo is really that bad, I'd suggest a different pastime - seriously
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The_Deviant, maybe pick a place with funicular uplift... Cairngorm, Ellmau (Austria), Zermatt etc.
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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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xscape. Hemel...tamworth...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| The Voice of Reason wrote: |
| If their vertigo is really that bad, I'd suggest a different pastime - seriously |
Helpful, thank you.
It's not that bad, I just want to see if I can make life a little easier for him when choosing and booking a resort.
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Cheers Colin B, I will have a look through those 
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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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I suffer from vertigo but not so bad, Bode Swiller, mentioned Zermatt and I have been there several times. You can get the train up to the Gornergrat where there are several blue runs down to Riffleberg where you can go back up on the train, but I would get of the train a stop early as the first bit from the Gornegrat might be a problem. There is a run that is supposed to be blue on the Sonnegat area that I used to have a real problem with.
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The_Deviant, Well in our local ski area, it is possible to get to the top of the chairlift via a series of drag lifts and it would give you access to a very short green run at the top and then blue runs that go all the way back to the bottom as well as a shorter blue run served by a drag.
However, the difficulty is that the drag lifts themselves are not easy to handle - two of them will sometimes even lift you off the ground as they take off... bit of a shock if you're not expecting it! So while hunting around for an area, don't just look for drag access but also think about how difficult the drag lifts are if your friend is a beginner.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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also consider that lots of drags may be an issue for your boarder, so a funicular uplift would be a good idea.
Could also try Tignes - some ncie runs down from Grand Motte glacier and not too scary (went there with a vertigo-sufferer recently and they loved it - though might have helped that there were near-whitout conditions...)
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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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The_Deviant, How about Wengen ? You can get up to the skiing by train and even ski down to Grindewald and back to the top by train. If the conditions aren't great for skiing down to Grindewald, you can always ski as far as Brandegg and catch the train form there.
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There are a lot of drag lifts in the Arly Valley (Praz sur Arly/Flumet/Notre Dame de Bellecombe). Some serve easy runs, but also some longer and more difficult - quite a variety, though as miranda notes, not all drag lifts are easy to handle.
Is your vertigo-sufferer also a complete beginner skier? Les Saisies has some very easy circuits which you can do entirely by easy drag lift, as well as some more interesting slopes accessible by drag lift. Lift-linked Crest Voland also has a good number of pistes you could do entirely by drag. You can get from LS to CV without using a chair, but you can't come back without using one, though parking in both resorts is easy outside school holidays (first week of February would be OK, and a very good choice of week.
Is your friend going to have lessons? if so, would obviously have to be private lessons as all group lessons are likely to use chairlifts, as those are generally the easiest for beginners.
I have a brother in law who suffers from vertigo, though not so seriously that he can't get on a chairlift (he doesn't like them though). We have found Les Saisies very good for him because the central part of the resort is in a nice big bowl with no nasty "edges" to look over.
If that area interests you I'll give some more serious thought to precisely what you could do by draglift - rather than just go up and down the same couple of slopes. If you had your own car you could easily do three different areas in a week (Arly Valley, Crest Voland, Les Saisies). You can do the whole thing with your skis on, but not without using any chairs.
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You know it makes sense.
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Tamworth
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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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Lol @ Leeds_Skier,
My friend does enjoy the slopes very much - a couple of years back, we had a small incident in a cable car in Morzine, where it did just get a bit too high off the ground and we had to stop him getting out! But after that (the next four days), he was alright, nervous but alright.
Asking him to get into an open chair lift every time he wants to go up is a bit too much. If I can avoid it, I will.
Due to everyone's great responses, it looks like I have a lot to choose from.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to help
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Apart from nursery slopes, drag lifts and T bars are getting rarer, as when replacement time comes, they are often replaced by chairs.
It might be an idea to consider resorts that have covered chairs which might make some people feel safer with the cover pulled down. If the weather is warm and sunny however, fellow passengers might want the cover left open.
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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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| boardiac wrote: |
also consider that lots of drags may be an issue for your boarder, so a funicular uplift would be a good idea.
Could also try Tignes - some ncie runs down from Grand Motte glacier and not too scary (went there with a vertigo-sufferer recently and they loved it - though might have helped that there were near-whitout conditions...) |
I took a group to the top of the Grand Motte once that included a vertigo sufferer. He manged the cable car allright, however the group was split and I wanted to wait for the next cable car for the others.
On this occasion the weather was clear and sunny and the gentlemen in question then mentioned that he had agrophobia as well and could we go down straight away!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The_Deviant, Glad to hear he enjoys the pistes. I regularly go up in a chairlift with a vertigo sufferer and he doesn't like it much at all (though the worse, by far, was when he once had to come down in the chairlift rather than skiing back - it took a lot of whisky to recover from that  ). He's almost cured now I think but that's because he does it so often - if your friend loves skiing, only gets to do it once a year, and you can limit the need without getting stuck on a nursery slope, why not?
La Giettaz, Notre Dame de Bellecombe, Flumet, Crest-Voland etc. (all the places mentioned by pam w, in the Val d'Arly) are all very short and easy drives from each other (it takes us less than 15 mins to get to them and with lots of free parking at the bottom of the lifts, it makes life very simple) - I think her suggestion of driving so your friend can experience different slopes without having to get on a chairlift is a really good one - exploring a variety of ski areas is fun for chairlift users too (and difficult drags just take a bit of practice on the first morning  ) Good luck! 
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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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| Quote: |
a bit too high off the ground and we had to stop him getting out!
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Isn't that a bit of a contradiction? 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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The_Deviant, I get bad enough vertigo to be scared sitting on my sofa at home when the film camera does the tracking shop over the top off the mountain, bridge, building etc.. 1st ski trip, I had to look forward and just up a little, not looking at the ground and always with good mates on the lift. Now lots and lots of trips later, I'm quite comfortable 'looking anywhere' on a chair lift or any other form of contraption. I just don't like bubbles or cables when they stop for long periods..
If they enjoy the sliding, the uplift will become easier...
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You can get to some lovely runs from the funicular in Val D'isere and a single chair from there would get you to the grand motte funicular too, but pretty much everything else is a chair, that said they are very nice sturdy feeling chairs, if your friends issue is anything like mine then a nice solid feeling chair might help? There are also a couple of huge cable cars there where they may be able to ignore the height - you can get well away from the windows in them...good luck!
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| Bergmeister wrote: |
| Quote: |
a bit too high off the ground and we had to stop him getting out!
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Isn't that a bit of a contradiction? |
No, hence the question.
(He's usually mild mannered and intelligent - honest! It's a very real phobia)
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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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The_Deviant, totaly uinderstand him wanting to get out, been there! its got better for me, I don't mind chairs most of the time and what can freek me out is small bubbles, such as old ones in Meribel over to Courchevel, am better on the newer ones such as the ones over to Les Meniures. What I do is make sure I face the mountain and not talk to anyone, a few drops of Bach Rescue remedy, seems to work. I also get the urge to jump when on a tall building. So can understand how your mate feels
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I have a similar problem with my partner. He hates chairlifts. He's got better, but I'm not sure how he'll cope when we go to Japan, where it appears that the chairlifts don't have safety bars!
I have a couple of ideas:
St Luc (switzerland). Basically one funicular and lots of drags. I've actually been here. It's WONDERFUL if you like empty slopes with spectacular views. No nightlife though. It's part of the Val D'Annivers (sp?) which is a great area, although St Luc is the one resort where you don't have to leave the ground.
Oppdal (Norway). Lots of drags, which provide access to all pistes.
Scandinavia seems to have a higher proportion of drags in general, from what I can gather.
Is your friend equally averse to all kinds of lifts other than drag? Some people feel more secure in Gondola/cable car than chair lift. If he can be persuaded to try gondolas then I can make some more suggestions.
Best of luck! Liam
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The_Deviant, Are - Sweden. Great resort for many reasons, and has tons of drag lifts which take you around the area - i.e. you're not just restricted up and down one face. I can't think of a resort in the alps where you can travel an area to the same extent without leaving terra firma.
Sympathetic to your mate. I suffered from chairlift phobia for a few years after a freak nasty chairlift experience. If he's not minded to tackle the phobia head on, would have a great time in Are without much compromise, basing skiing from Rodkullen, the Tott lift, or Are Bjornen.
To be honest though I'd recommend exposure. After learning the fear, I avoided chairs as much as possible - gondola laps linked by drags as much as resorts allowed. I only cracked it when visiting a chairlift-only resort - 6 days of 20 rides per day sorted it.
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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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I'd second Wengen
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