La Clusaz

It it true that the lift stations at la croix fry are no longer part of the avaris ski area and that you will have to pay extra to use them this year? This is my third year going there and we always park and start skiing from there. Doesn't seem much sense for them as hardly anyone is going to use their stations now as they are only covering a few slopes. Is anyone here in the know? Do you think they will change their mind before the season starts?

I'm afraid to say that the rumours are true as it stands at the moment (but seems unlikely to change before the start of the season) :x

The Croix-Fry is a privately-owned area of the Aravis ski area and what we've heard is that they believed they could make more money from going it alone than they would get as being part of a larger area. I can't see how they figure it out, but it all comes down to how they share the money out?

What this means to anybody visiting the area is that if they intend to base themselves there or use any of the 2 chairs and 3 drags in that area then they will indeed need a separate pass form the La Clusaz or Aravis passes. Stupid huh?

This means that there will no longer be a direct way to get to the Croix-Fry from Beauregard without paying for the extra pass. I certainly wouldn't like to be manning that chair lift that season unless I was being paid danger money to compensate for all the hassle from disgruntled tourists!

There are however a couple of brighter things I should point out. The Etale area has been completely updated with 2 new lifts, 50-odd snow cannons and 4 new pistes, including better access across to the Merdassier area. You will be able to access the Croix-Fry area via the Merdassier lifts and ski down to the Croix-Fry car park from there. So long as you don't use the Croix-Fry lifts to return to Merdassier you'll be OK on the La Clusaz pass. So you can still park at Croix-Fry, but start your day by crossing the road and skiing down towards La Clusaz, then enjoy all the other challenges the main resort has to offer before making your way back via Etale/Merdassier at the end of the day - just don't miss that last Merdassier lift!

More good news is that the snows of last week has the resort in fantastic early season shape and there are rumours that the lifts will be open this weekend to take advantage of it!

I'll try and keep you updated if the lift pass situation changes before the start of the season. :wink:

Thanks for very much for that.

Its a shame. but i won't let it bother me. We can just park at balme instead. We parked there last year as that was the only place with half decent snow. That'll be a far better last run of the day from the top of balme than la croix fry anyway!

Its my third time going to La clusaz. The first time was my first ever time skiing so I didn't much ground in. The second time was last year and there was limited runs open. To say i'm looking forward to getting a good run round the place is a bit of an understatement. La clusaz is a great resort.