For the 20% of French people who visit our ski resorts each year (source: Domaines skiables de France), there is a strong desire to hit the slopes, especially after a white winter.
Yes, but at what price ?
This 2021-2022 season, the average cost of the day pass will increase by a further 2% to € 28.20.
However, as with air travel, stations are converting en masse to variable price sale.
By choosing the right time and the right way, we can hope to make significant savings on our sesame towards the ski lifts.
Here are five tips for paying less than your chairlift neighbor.
Read also Ski touring: the guide to get started
Buy your ski pass in advance
The French package would be the cheapest in the world: it sells on average 11% cheaper than the Austrian and 17% less than the Swiss. However, its purchase represents a significant part of a stay in the mountains: out of € 100 spent in the resort, 15 on average go towards the purchase of the ski pass. To lower this share, several stations have been offering dynamic pricing since 2019-2020. The principle is simple: the earlier the pass is purchased, the more attractive its price; conversely, the closer the opening of the domain, the more the price matches that usually asked at the counter. In Avoriaz (Haute-Savoie), you can save up to 60% of the price of the 5-day and season pass by purchasing it online, but until November 15. La Clusaz, Val Cenis, Les Portes du Mont Blanc,Aussois and Pralognan, located in Savoie and Haute-Savoie, are following suit and offering discounts of 20 to 80% to early online buyers.
Opt for a card offering discounts
Instead of buying your ski pass via the classic routes, from your favorite resort, you can opt for a card offering discounts on a multitude of areas.
The Dahu offer from the Passe Montagne company is therefore aimed at all those who occasionally ski in different resorts during the winter.
The idea?
"
Facilitate access to the mountain with reduced prices, a new intuitive site and an interactive map to choose your resort
», Explains Julie Branchard, marketing and sales manager at Passe Montagne. The principle is simple: membership in Passe Montagne (€ 10 for 5-30 year olds, € 15 for over 31s) which entitles the holder to a card serving as a lift pass and rechargeable online. The member skier then enjoys substantial reductions on daily rates in more than fifty ski areas, from the Pyrenees to the Alps.
For those who benefit from the advantages of a works council, the offers are even more numerous: Ski Open card (from -5 to -40% in more than 35 resorts), Cezam Ski, Ski Power Carte Loisir Ancav-SC, Yeti offer at Passe Montagne… Several cards are also specialized in a valley or a mountain range, such as Ski Atout Prix which covers Courchevel and Méribel, Skiogrande which offers discounts on Maurienne and Tarentaise resorts or even Carte Blanche La Belle Montagne which allows reductions at ten stations between Maurienne and Aravis.
Watch out for discounts for the youngest
The small resort of Karellis (Savoie) offers free ski passes for children under six years old and Avoriaz (Haute-Savoie) pushes the child rate up to 15 years old.
Kirill Gorlov / stock.adobe.com
While most stations offer free admission to children under five and a reduced rate for under 13s, some are even more generous. The small resort of Karellis (Savoie) thus offers free ski passes for children under six years old and Avoriaz (Haute-Savoie) is pushing the child rate up to 15 years old. In the Pyrénées-Orientales, the Altiservices offer (Font-Romeu, Saint-Lary, Cambre d'Aze) has even reworked its price list for the benefit of new generations: on the menu, a single package for young people (children and adolescents from 5 to 17 years old) and an extended student rate from 18 to 29 years old.
In Chamonix (Haute-Savoie), the guest card given by the host acts as a key to the slopes, for children and adults alike.
From January 7 to February 4 and from March 7 to April 1, 2022 (i.e. outside the winter holidays), the resort offers group ski lessons to anyone (child, adult, beginner or expert) staying at least three nights.
Try new technologies
After the old hole card present until the 1990s, most French stations are now converted to rechargeable magnetic cards. But the future is already here: Avoriaz (Haute-Savoie) is offering the Shred Experience offer this winter, a package at only € 19, which can be purchased and used via the smartphone and the Avoriaz Up & Down app. In case of low battery, it can be transferred to another smartphone. If this experiment only concerns three ski lifts for the moment, it is particularly suitable for beginners or for people who only want to ski for one or two hours.
The Grand Tourmalet-Barèges-La Mongie domain (Hautes-Pyrénées) had the idea of creating the Flex card, whose operation is similar to electronic toll payment: you pay a season ticket, and each day of skiing is then billed. automatically to his bank account.
The advantage: no need to redeem a ski pass each time you come to the resort, and you benefit from free days, offers for the family and special events.
Promote greener transport
While road transport is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in stations, many of them choose to limit their impact by favoring alternatives.
In Saint François Longchamp (Savoie), we grant from -5 to -10% on ski passes for those coming by carpooling with Blablacar.
System similar to Saisies (Savoie), where the price of passes is reduced if you come by train to Albertville.
In Les Gets (Haute-Savoie), drivers and passengers of a 100% electric car benefit from a 20% discount on their day pass, i.e. € 35 instead of € 44.