Chamonix season tickets

**chippersmullet** · 10-02-2006, 07:28 AM

Hi there,

Does anyone have any idea how much Chamonix season tickets are this year? I can only find prices for 04/05.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

**greg** · 10-02-2006, 07:41 AM

It's quite likely they haven't decided on the price or simply haven't published it yet.

engelberg's prices came out just a couple of days ago.

edit: http://www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/e...aits_hiver.htm

**Ripzalot** · 10-03-2006, 03:46 AM

fyi ...no more grand montets surcharge!

Chamonix lift pass to include Grands Montets

One weapon in the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc’s recovery following a poor 2006 season is a new lift pass. The Forfait Mont Blanc Unlimited will cost 46€ per day (or 220 € for a six day pass) and includes unlimited use of the 3,300 meter Grands Montets cable car. The new pass brings les Houches back into the Mont-Blanc fold and also includes access to Courmayeur in Italy and the trains of Montenvers-Mer de glace and the Tramway du Mont Blanc (TMB) as well as the Aiguille du Midi to ski the Vallée Blanche.

We don’t like the extra “Grands Montets” tax. The argument is that it keeps the less serious skiers off the cable car and that the altitude of Grands merits this special pricing. Other resorts including Tignes, la Plagne, Val Thorens and l’Alpe d’Huez have summits to rival Grands and include the trip to the top of the ski area as part of the lift pass. Given the queues of freeriders waiting for the Grands Montets car in season the additional cost does not appear to deter skiers.

So how does this new pass stack up against rivals? Pretty favourably. Despite a somewhat creaky bus service and unlinked ski areas Chamonix quite rightly considers itself as part of a world elite of mountain resorts that includes Whistler and Zermatt. A six day Zermatt International Pass will cost 398 Swiss Francs. 31 Euros more than the Chamonix Unlimited at today’s exchange rates. At 223 € the Paradiski ski pass is slightly more expensive but gives access to a massive 425km ski area including the Bellecote glacier… oh and you have a view of Mont-Blanc. For 215 € you can spend six days exploring the Trois Vallées, the world’s largest ski area with the top lift at 3230 meters. In comparison chic Val d’Isère is a mere 197.50 € for the Espace Killy. Whistler, North America’s finest is $322 or 235 €.

There is also a five day Unlimited pass, called the Pack 5, for 230 €. You can use the 5 days anytime during the year. That still works out at 46 € per day so apart from not queuing up the advantage was not completely obvious. Then we realized two key points. The pass is completely transferable. Give it to your mate who wants to ski Grands, your Granny who wants to experience the Aiguille du Midi and you can spend a long weekend skiing in Cham as well. More significantly if you buy it before the 15th of November 2006 both the Unlimited and the standard Chamonix lift passes are 30% off. If you are thinking of spending some time in Cham this could be very interesting. If you weren’t maybe you should?

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/commen...rands-montets/

**ulty_guy** · 10-03-2006, 04:39 AM

non-consecutive pass is up and it's actually a pretty good deal. 300 euros for 10 days w/out midi or top of montent. 420 with the goodies.
http://montagne.chamonix.com/ForHivSej.php?ling=En#pack

**greg** · 10-03-2006, 04:57 AM

hm that's 42 euros instead of 46 for a daypass for chamonix unlimited.

what i don't get is this:

De fin septembre au 15 novembre 2006 :
-30% sur les forfaits saison hiver 2006-2007 Chamonix Le Pass et Mont Blanc Unlimited

Informations et réservations bientôt en ligne.

so what they are telling me is, if i order my seasonpass from end of september untill mid november i get a 30% reduction, but they won't let me take advantage of that offer? that's some fucked up logic..

**chippersmullet** · 10-04-2006, 02:25 AM

Originally Posted by greg

hm that's 42 euros instead of 46 for a daypass for chamonix unlimited.

what i don't get is this:

so what they are telling me is, if i order my seasonpass from end of september untill mid november i get a 30% reduction, but they won't let me take advantage of that offer? that's some fucked up logic..

Thanks for the link Greg, 30% off would be awesome. Why won't they let you take advantage of that offer though? Sorry for the JONG question!

**greg** · 10-04-2006, 02:40 AM

because they don't tell you the prices and how to by the tickets, although the offer is valid from end of september and it is october already. so you get 30% off of tickets they don't sell (yet). I found that a bit ironic but it is probably just bad management.

from a jong to another, sorry for my cryptic expression.

**Arno** · 10-04-2006, 02:41 AM

If you are going to spend any time in Chamonix you need to get used to this sort of thing from the Compagnie Mont Blanc

**chippersmullet** · 10-04-2006, 02:43 AM

Originally Posted by greg

because they don't tell you the prices and how to by the tickets, although the offer is valid from end of september and it is october already. so you get 30% off of tickets they don't sell (yet). I found that a bit ironic but it is probably just bad management.

from a jong to another, sorry for my cryptic expression.

OK, yep, I thought that was what you meant but just wanted to make sure!! It does seem particularly piss poor management but as Arno says perhaps it's nothing new!!

I'm hopefully going to be out there from around the 12th November so fingers crossed they are actually on sale then!!

**greg** · 10-04-2006, 06:41 AM

Originally Posted by Arno

If you are going to spend any time in Chamonix you need to get used to this sort of thing from the Compagnie Mont Blanc

hm, I didn't have any complaints so far but I could imagine you are right..

actually I had only very positive experiences with the guys from the aguille du midi tram. they gave us free rides as a friend had forgotten his crampons, as we had to get some food as we were staying in the plan d'aiguille bivouac and once when we had changed our plans and were ending up skiing cosmique instead of grand envers and found the ticket from plan d'aiguille was just a bit too expensive.

(if you buy an allee simple you pay 33.- allee retour is 36.-. just heading down from plan d'aiguille is 15.-. in other words we would habe payed 48.- instead of 36.- since we had changed our mind on which route to take. we found that a bit expensive and stupid - they did so too and just let us go down for free) and all that without any bro bra talking or acting all "hey my friend"-style. considering that chamonix isn't some tiny station with maybe 24 visitors on good days and they don't have exactly too few passengers and thus have to act all extra nice, i found that exceptionally kind.

so even if their management sucks, they, in my eyes seem to be doing an extremely good job and haven't forgotten what mountaineering is all about albeit they shove thousands of gapers and japanese (which are not necessarily the same) up there all day.

btw. if you ever consider doing the mallorey or eugster (up or down) don't forget to tell them. they will suspend any works on the trail along the ridge untill they see you're out of the route.. even if it takes all day and all the tourists are tumbling down their way to the glacier and rolling all over the place.

**Arno** · 10-04-2006, 06:49 AM

i was probably being a bit harsh there - especially in the light of those comments. i just harbour a grudge for all the years when going to the top of the Montets was charged extra

edit: my balls will need to grow out of all proportion before i think about taking on the Egustier or the Mallory!

**greg** · 10-04-2006, 07:18 AM

i wasn't directly referring to you, just wanted to give props to the adm staff in general since they were really helpful.

that said i didn't make any comparable experiences with any of the other stations. (neither did i make any bad.) and you are definitely right with what you said about grands montets: it was a rip off. on the other hand, can you imagine the crowds that will be at that station from now on? i don't even want to think about it.