Childrens lift pass ages - Free lifts

First post; looks a friendly bunch!!

When recently in Saas Fee the lift passes were free for those born from 2001 onwards. However, I happened across this information and can't find any consistency between other resorts (Switzerland or elsewhere).

My son is an absolute beginner, and some lift passes (in France for instance) are steep and don't reflect this!

We're looking at going away again; does anyone know of a list identifying the 'free pass thresholds' for different resorts (some are 2001, some 2002,..2003 etc.)

Alternatively, if anyone knows of other resorts that offer passes for children born in 2001, we'd love to know.

- or advice on a resort with free beginners lifts or any recommendations for good, cheap, small resorts would be great.

Thanks

Hi,
I don't know of any passes that are free to kids all season, but I do know that Samoens (Grand Massif) offers free accommodation, lessons, passes and hotel stays (in selected hotels) for children under 12 at Easter & possibly Christmas.
We benefited from this and it was a great saving.

As to it's suitability for beginners - I'd say not bad. You do have to catch a gondola from the village, but it only takes 8 mins.
It's not very cheap, but you can keep costs down by taking lunch to the slopes. It's a lovely village.

Certainly lift passes are free for under 7's in Finland on provision that they wear a helmet.

Generally in France passes are free if the child is 5 or under.
That said, some resorts do special kids weeks at quiet times of the year.

RoseR wrote:Certainly lift passes are free for under 7's in Finland on provision that they wear a helmet.

Lift passes are free for under 5's in La Rosiere, and there are 3 free lifts - Clarines 1, Manessier, and Dahu (in the Les Eucherts area). The free lifts are only short drag lifts but they'd keep a total beginner busy for a bit.

We're going to Courchevel 1550, and I noticed that the short drag lift here is free as well as a few others in the different areas of Courchevel. One can also get cheaper beginner ski passes ('mini pass') in Courchevel, with limited lift access to certain gondolas etc. costing 16 euros per day.

Ally

Obergurgl has a free lift pass for children under 9 [my youngest missed out on this by 3 weeks at new year :evil:].
Alpe D'Huez has four free (long) beginner lifts, a very good call I think.

edit: sorry, just saw that you're looking for small and cheap. Obergurgl is the former but not the latter (maybe you could get a deal). Alpe D'huez is not small but I don't recall it being that expensive.

It's a good point that the 'village' drag lifts are often free. If yr kids are totally new to it then they may well not need a pass for a few days. When my kids started in Courchevel 1850 they used the two magic carpets which were free, however to get there you had to get a drop-off on the nearby road or go on a lift which needed a pass. Look at Italy - eg in Val Gardena juniors get 30% off and it's free for kids baorn after 28.11.01 - but other resorts are even more generous..

Just seen Caron-A's edit about 'small and cheap' - sorry. Just come back from Ste Foy, lift passes are cheap, the resort is less extortionate than Val up the road, it's small but with a lot of skiing, and my seven year old paid (from memory) 120e for the week. Under 6s free.