recharging P@S

Some (many?) resorts in France use the P@S passes. Which if you keep hold of it you can recharge them the next time you go (i.e. on-line before leaving), but do you know, will a different resort recognise a card if it was first issued by another?

In my specific case an Alpe d'Huez card from 2010 being in reloaded for 3-Valleys for this season. (BTW The card number is being accepted through the on-line booking process, suggesting it might be Ok)

Thanks

I don't know whether it would work or not. You could e-mail them and ask. But I definitely wouldn't re-charge it without finding out first - imagine if you wasted £200 or so on a ski pass for the wrong area :shock:

You wouldn't know about it until you tried to go through the first lift turnstile.

I always buy a new P@S pass for the different ski areas, they only cost a couple of euros or so. And as far as I know they're run by different lift companies.

Ally

You're right of course I couldn't bring myself to click 'buy', as you say in case it's £200+ wasted.

It would just be nice though to keep just one card and recharge it before leaving the UK, one less thing to do before hitting the slope in resort.

Hi Smartski,
I'm sure someone else knows the answer to this. You've raised a very valid point I reckon. It would be much better if we could use the one card all over France.

I've just been re-charging ours. And I had a bit of a problem. I have a card myself but I also have two daughters and one daughter had 2 suitable cards - one for the 3 valleys and one for Val Thorens which is in the same ski area (because she likes collecting them as souvenirs), whilst the other hasn't got a card at all. And I did think to use the 'spare' card for the daughter without one, but then I thought it might cause a problem with i.d. because I suppose it is registered in my other daughter's name.

So, in the end I bought another card. I just hope it gets here by the 30th December. Although I suppose if I keep the paperwork I could pick up another one in the lift office there, kind of like I'd lost it.

Ally

What would be better still would be a system like the Dart Tag, ie you carry a chipped card around, register with a card, and at the end of each month they take a payment from the card for the usage you have had.
Problem with that is, of course, people who do seasons, but maybe they should be able to purchase alternative cards, and leave the chip system to weekly/daily skiers.
Just an idea?

Tony,
I think they are carrying out your idea in the 3 Valleys with their new pay as you go 'liberty' card - which is on another thread. It's meant for people who ski at least 8 days per year and it charges your use directly to your registered bank card - so you only pay for the days you actually ski. And it gives you discounts - like the 9th day of ski-ing is free and they give you 20% off the 3 Valleys pass on Saturday. But you do have to pay 30 euros for it.

And, of course, it doesn't work in the rest of France :cry:

Ally

It is certainly worth an email to the lift company

Well I emailed and the reply is:-
"Yes you can there is no problem."

So keep one card and you can buy your lift pass on-line. No queueing.

NOTE:
I was specifically asking 3V about recharging a P@S card (01-1614-...) from 2009/10 Alpe d'huez (or vice-versa) (so don't blame me if it doesn't work in other combinations).