Four Valleys - terminated by Verbier

News just in, to be filed in the "didn't see that coming" drawer...

Reported by Le Matin (article in French) :-

Le Matin wrote:By June 30 of this year, no agreement will govern the relationship between the resorts of Nendaz, Thyon, Veysonnaz and Verbier, reveals Nouvelliste Monday. ??Verbier has released its new price list, without the Four Valleys product.

An agreement between the 4-Valleys (Verbier, Nendaz, Veysonnaz and Thyon) was in place from 2006, but ended by Téléveysonnaz in December 2012 with effect from 30 June 2014. The dispute relates to the distribution of funds.

New branding - Grand Ski

"Discussions have been held for months in an attempt to break the impasse created by the termination and establish a new basis for the 4-Valleys (...). They have unfortunately yielded no result so far because of the intransigence of Téléveysonnaz "said Téléverbier Monday in a statement.

Pressed by the approach of the winter season, Téléverbier will go it alone and create the domain "Grand Ski". It has established a new tariff covering only its own domain.

"It goes without saying that efforts to restore supply to integrate the 4 Valleys will be prosecuted. If successful, as Téléverbier hope, holders of passes for Verbier ski Grand will be offered access to the 4 Valleys," the statement concluded.

Blimey. :shock:

The comments below the article are, as you might expect, pretty damning.

So, would it affect your decision to ski in Verbier, if you couldn't connect to the other valleys? Are Nendaz, Thyon and Veysonnaz likely to be impacted more?

Yes, if I was planning on going there in 2015, I'd put it off for a season. I wouldn't want to risk not having access to the whole area.
I think there is a good chance of a resolution before 30th June, the other resorts have too much to lose and will have to back down and accept Verbier's terms.

I wonder what approach the TO's will take?
The size of the four valleys ski domain must be a big selling point.

They won't be happy, several have invested in property in other parts of 4 Valleys, particularly Nandez.

OldAndy wrote:I wonder what approach the TO's will take?

...never mind the TOs, we might have to change some pages on J2Ski! :shock:

Just when the Sun's out too! Pah.

C'mon, Admin. you know you like to feel wanted!

Conseil d'Etat offered to serve as a mediator so there is hope it will get resolved. I understood that initial squabble was between Televeysonnaz and Telethyon, where Veysonnaz wanted bigger share of the revenues (Nendaz belongs to the same company). On balance, I won't miss too much the 4 vallées side,even though I like the backside of Greppon Blanc and some nice tree skiing in Siviez. But Verbier side is still the best. Most of my skiing ends at the bottom of Tortin gondola and I can spend all day on Mont Gele and won't get bored, but many skiers were attracted by the offered mileage on the same pass and as result of this split will be skiing elsewhere. Maybe business and common sense will prevail in the end.

As for the impact I suspect the rift between the resorts while not particularly good for anyone might affect the 4 vallées side more. Generally speaking, Verbier side is famous for off-piste, pistes skiing is boring there, but some good pistes are on the other side (though if you are staying in Verbier it's a long trek with a few drag lifts for the opportunity to ski down the Piste de l'Ours couple times). Verbier is higher and snow lasts there a few weeks longer after Nendaz becomes unskiable. Quite a few people choose to stay on Nendaz side as it's cheaper while benefiting from freeride opportunities provided by Verbier. They are likely to go to other places now or stay in Verbier and pay Verbier prices, or in La Tzoumaz which is cheap but so quiet it's like a grave yard. Basically a split between Thyon and Veysonnaz means that 4 vallées now offer almost no freeride options bar couple descents off Plan du Fou which turn cr@p very quickly as low or directy facing the sun. Even if Combatseline falls under Nendaz/Veysonnaz management the backside of Greppon blanc will be off limits since to get back skiers need to get a few lifts that are on Thyon side. A big mess, unless they want to focus now solely on families skiing strictly piste. I suspect queues at the bottom of Tortin to go up to Gentianes and Mt Fort will be shorter even at peak times which is not such a bad thing and most people for whom Verbier is the resort of choice will come back regardless. The price hike is not substantial and not many ever venture beyond Tortin anyway to feel that they are being ripped off or to miss anything. But it's just stupid that linked areas should require different ski passes.