non-skiers using chairlift to come DOWN the mountain

Hi Mike

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience. I am somewhat surprised at the attitude of the lift operator. In my experience, they are generally very sympathetic to people with problems and I have often seen people being let go down on the chairs. It seems obvious that they should and would normally accommodate people who have a minor injury but do not need to be brought down on the sleds or where they have lost a ski. I have also seen pedestrians routinely accommodated in some resorts - I particularly recall a lot of wealthy looking Italians in Courmeyour riding up and down the chairs to sunbathe on the terraces of the various mountain restaurants - I have even seen a few in fur coats with only a bikini underneath :roll: . I suspect you were just unlucky with the particular operator or else hit them when they were very busy.

You don't say whether you were in a ski class when you went up on the chair. If not, it might be worth trying to persuade her to have another go with an instructor (either in a class or private lesson) - your wife is much more likely to trust an instructor than you.

Hope it works out for you and don't pay any attention to those who poke fun at your good wife.

Wanderer wrote:I am somewhat surprised at the attitude of the lift operator. In my experience, they are generally very sympathetic to people with problems and I have often seen people being let go down on the chairs. It seems obvious that they should and would normally accommodate people who have a minor injury but do not need to be brought down on the sleds or where they have lost a ski.

This does seem logical but, to be fair to the operators, skiers can be a rather pushy and arrogant bunch :lol:

Let one or two down and you'll soon have a lot more demanding the same treatment leading to all sorts of tantrums. And, although not all, most chairs are going to make disembarking difficult. At £200 for the lift pass I want the queues moving as smoothly as possible.

I'm surprised by this being a problem. Here in Switzerland I'm struggling to think of places where you can't ride up and down on some sort of lift. Every station here in the valley you can. It's just so normal here, alpine skiers are just one group who use the mountain and about the only ones who want to go down :D I quite often ride the lift down myself after running/walking/skinning/snow-shoeing up in all kinds of places.

Possibly not a good solution though, as a downhill skier this is something to be faced up to or it's going to be awkward. There's other stuff to do in the winter in the mountains though, X-country, snow shoeing or ski touring although you'd make of lifts from time to time there maybe.

I have just returned from Bardonecchia and they are perfectly set up for non-skiers using the chairs. Many people can be seen going up and coming back down again. I think maybe your lift op was just being 'French'! I sympathise with you - I have skiid lots but my wife hasn't for 20m yrs and she froze at the top of a gree. Tears, uncontrollable shaking and refusal to come down. It made for a humerous but uncomfortable time for me and a blow to her confidence. For the next 4 days she stayed on the nursery slope (better than nothing i guess)while i hit the slopes.

Well, what if someone was ill? Surely, they'd have to let them on the chair? I have had a friend of mind get a very bad allergic reaction up high in the 4 Valleys, and was rapidly getting cold to boot, and I had to get him back down ASAP. Everyone was very accomodating. Perhaps the lesson is to say that they're unwell, rather than 'freezing-up' - although to my mind if anyone (novice or expert) feels they can't cope, then the last thing you want to do is to bully them into a nightmare trek back down the slopes. Going back down on a chair is the sensible thing to do in such circumstances.

Hi

Im not a particularly expereinced skier however I can think of quite a few resorts which have bubble cars/gondolas which access the top of mountains in which you can descend.

Morzine has a bubble car up to the main ski areas where there are a couple of bars.

Valmorel has a bubble the Pierrafort up to 2000 metres where the kids ski school is sited. There is also a quite long route for walkers to which I believe a new skilift has been added to give access to a new village - again with walkers in mind.

We went to Valfrejus on the Italian border a few years back and there is a bubble up to the main green training slope (where there was excellent tuniotn for adults) and then a another bubble up to the very top of the ontain with a restaurant.

I believe La Plagne has a gondola up to the glacier at the top and the piste map shows that lower villages are full of blue runs suitable for families.

Do try to get your wife to try agsin. I have found private lessons far more productive than group lessons and I am more than happy to go up and down easy blues with my 7 year old.

hi
with regards to coming down on the chairs with out skis, when i was in banff at the sunshine valley slopes in canada i hurt my knee on my third training day and got a ski-doo ride down, but my instructor who was still with students said i should go up on one of the chairs to the top of one of the runs so that i could see the views and take some pics. the ski lift operators stopped the lift to let me get on with out the skis and they also stopped it when i wanted to come down. i think she was just a bit unlucky with the operator


jan

firstly, I'm really sorry to hear of your experience, not a good one.

Having read the posts here, it seems hit and miss with regards to chairlifts. However, gondolas are a different story.

Having been forced to travel down the mountain in a lift more than I ever would've wanted to, I can tell you that being up there is priceless. Just to get up there, have some lunch, breathe in the air, take in the views, is soooo worth it [even for someone who was desperate to ski down but just had to wave from the gondola :cry:]

I've done this in Les Arcs on the transarc, Tignes on the aeroski and the funicular up to the grande motte and the gondelbahn in N and each time was well, well worth it.

Look for gondolas, obviously the more the better for your wife.

good luck :thumbup: