 Poster: A snowHead
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First of all a big thanks for snowhouse for mentioning this website on another thread.
I looked at France initially as that is where I usually ski. According to www.skipasscompare.com the lift pass cost for 6 days high season per km of piste is as follows:
The 5 worst:
Pralognan la Vanoise € 4.80
Vaujany € 3.45
La Toussuire € 3.12
Chamonix € 2.89
Montgenevre € 2.48
The 5 best:
Le Grand Massif € 0.78
Paradiski € 0.59
Les Sybelles-Le Corbier € 0.59
Les Trois Vallees € 0.39
Les Portes du Soleil € 0.33
Now clearly this isn't the only criteria to base a ski trip on but it's an interesting one nonetheless.
I then had a look at Austria. Bejeesus. The top 5 ranged from £6.67 to an astronomical £13.44 at Imst-Gurgltal. Top of the tree in the 6 countries they cover is Snow World Züschen in Germany at £21.50. Nothing can beat the top French areas based on this, admittedly limited, criteria.
Still at least you know. For a full list see the website.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Never knew PdS had more km of piste than the 3V.
Learn something new everyday I guess.
I think the Chamonix price is largely misleading due to it's vast off piste. Imagine what result the La Grave lift pass would throw back at you  .
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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: |
| Never knew PdS had more km of piste than the 3V |
It doesn't, 3V is 600 and PdS is 425 according to this particular website. And the lift pass is cheaper in 3V, hence the figures above which purely show the cost of a lift pass per km of piste.
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| I think the Chamonix price is largely misleading due to it's vast off piste. |
Yep, if you are skiing a lot of piste then clearly this isn't going to be a big criteria for you. Personally I've never skied in the Les Portes du Soleil for example. But certainly for those who ski a lot on piste it's an interesting comparison. Hence why I posted it.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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According to your website PdS has 650 km of piste? I were there in February and although it is vast, wouldn't have thought it was larger than 3V.
And by the way... By PdS I was referring to Les Portes du Soleil. The ski area for Morzine, Avoriaz, Les Gets and various other villages.
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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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Leeds_Skier,
Sorry for some reason (could be age, could be stupidity, could be both) I thought PdS referred to Paradiski. Probably cos that's where I am going in April and it's stuck in my brain. Anyway yes it is seems PdS is the bigger and if you are after value for money, by this criteria, it's No. 1.
Apologies for my mistake.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Layne,
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Nothing can beat the top French areas based on this, admittedly limited, criteria.
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Well the Dolomiti superski can very easily - high season lift pass €233, for 1200km, comes out at less €0.20 per km
Also Ski Amade in Austria - 860km for €203 is les than €0.24 per km.
These are both much cheaper than the best you quote from France.
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Hemel is £56 for 4 hours. Two of those for 1 day = £112 per day. For 6 days that would be £672.
€790 or thereabouts.
It is 160m long.
That's the best part of €5000 per km for 6 days.
So on the basis of this statistic, skiing at Hemel is one of the most extravagent and opulent things you can do, equivalent to using a fistful of white truffles to wipe your arse with.
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Mr Technique, 
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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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Layne, Not sure that I agree with your measure of value, for myself and many others its not just about how many km per € - its more about speed of lifts/ access to offpiste areas, quality of runs/ snowmaking facilities/ quality of bars & lunchstops/ piste bashing vs moguls etc etc. Most French large resorts have a long way to go IMO to beat the Austrians and Swiss on the above criteria, and think it needs to be looked at differently from the way you suggest. Arlberg, 4 Vallees are the ones for me, and at c.0.8€ per km (using your measure) are still good value IMO.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Layne, Thanks for the post. I think it's an interesting stat, and as you point out, not the only stat to base your choice of resort on, but an interesting one nonetheless.
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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 5 best:
Le Grand Massif € 0.78
Paradiski € 0.59
Les Sybelles-Le Corbier € 0.59
Les Trois Vallees € 0.39
Les Portes du Soleil € 0.33
It's certainly an interesting to see, esp if km/€ was the only thing we based our decisions on. But how many of those km are skiable in 6 days? Is it possible for most people to ski say all 425km of paradiski? For my below average ability I reckon 2-250km is about par, and this assumes that a fair number of km will be repeated each day (getting to and from accommodation), and it's easy to get to all parts of the ski area. Am I right in thinking that although PdS is 600+ km it's not all linked by lift and involves the shuttle bus?
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I think Snow sureness is the most important quality at the moment. It's all well and good having a huge selection of slopes, but if there is no snow to ski on them then what good are they.
PdS as mentioned above has 650 km of piste, but it is nervously low down for a French resort and I found myself skiing in less than ideal conditions in February last year (albeit the majority of the slopes were open).
I noticed someone has recently put some pictures up showing their recent (and first) trip to Morzine. If you didn't know any better, you would think the shot of the town was taken in July not January.
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You know it makes sense.
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Markymark29, it's only one measure of value. And it's certainly not my main one. Nevertheless, there are some figures there that I found very interesting.
It wasn't particularly meant to be a France v Austria thing. I just listed the French top and bottom 5 because that is where I ski mostly and to illustrate the variances. You could do the same for Austria or Switzerland, or the two combined. The website allows you to select any combination of countries.
Lift passes are a significant portion of my holiday cost. When a went before xmas it was something like 40% of the cost of the holiday. And because I have kids a lot of that is on piste. So I'm interested in what the relative cost.
In general it can be seen the bigger the resort the cheaper it is but there are exceptions and discrepancies. Clearly these maybe explained by other factors. But it may indicate somewhere worth looking at from a value for money perspective.
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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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Actually I can answer my own question, as I've just checked I log my skiing with a Garmin on some training software (saddo cyclist and runner). 250km ski and lift total in L2A at Christmas although I know we had short days some days due to visibility and it getting dark earlier, also involved a lot of repetition. 320km ski and lift total last Easter in Andorra (Granvallira) which were 9-5 days every day with pretty short lunches and an 8yo in tow (who was in lessons most of our time in L2A) - a lot of repetition too.
I'm not a fast skier so I'm sure lots of people do ski a lot further.
Thinking about it, the boy isn't in tow most of the time he's in front! 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Am I right in thinking that although PdS is 600+ km it's not all linked by lift and involves the shuttle bus?
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I think 1 village has a few non-linked runs (assuming it still operates?). If a 5min walk from the Pleney side of Morzine to SuperMorzine is classed as "linked" then the entire PdS is to all intents and purposes linked. The bus between Chatel and Linga helps a lot though on the PdS loop.
Interesting stats. though.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A better measure would be £ per km per skier. I willingly pay more for empty pistes - it's why we go to NA more often than Europe - but it's incredibly hard to find statistics on uphill capacity and typical skier numbers.
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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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Why is Espace Killy (Tignes / Val) not 5th on the list?
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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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Some of their prices/kilometres are not really valid.
For instance their Zillertal coverage shows as three separate resorts, with 171, 166 and 245 Km. But you can't get 6 day passes for the individual areas, so the 6 day rate (€199) covers all those areas, plus more, totalling 600Km (€0.33 per Km).
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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The €179.50 Evasion Mont Blanc pass is for 445km, not 204km as they've listed on that site.
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Probably all good feedback for www.skipasscompare.com, perhaps we should go with the suggestions. The other thing that would be useful would be the breakdown for different 6 day lift passes (granted it becomes difficult when you are trying to compare a 6 day Les Arcs pass which allows a day over on the La Plagne side). Interesting that they have Paradiski on the list as an area as a whole, then split out between La Plagne and Les Arcs, but haven't done it with other areas.
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Jonny Jones,
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| it's incredibly hard to find statistics on uphill capacity and typical skier numbers. |
Good comment. At certain times of the season it's not an issue but at busy times you wonder if they have a limit. Sometimes they quote figures for how many people certain lifts can accommodate per hour but that is as much as I've seen.
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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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daehwons,
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| Why is Espace Killy (Tignes / Val) not 5th on the list? |
They seem to have ommited it from their list and just put Tignes and Val D separate. I'll flag it up to them.
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alex_heney, good spot. I will flag that up aswell.
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