Which is why (1) the lift tickets have always been upon the pricey side of 40 euros plus, and (2) you have always had big, big waits and lines at the Grande Montet lift or the Midi lift--1.5 hours not being out of the unusual at all. Perhaps due to the large change in clientele of Chamonix, with Northern Europeans vastly outnumbering French (a nice way of saying British people), management has given in to a rather obvious way to reduce the waiting.
Now serving number 35...if you do not have a reservation...sorry!
Yes, a reservation system. Online even at www.chamonix.com. That is not to say just buying the lift ticket, but reserving a specific slot, at a specific time, to go up.
So what if you are not exactly sure of where you want to go, at what time, etc? Or you want to be more flexible in your ski schedule?
Easy. Throw money at the problem! A ski monitor or ski guide, available through the ESF (Ecole de Ski Francaise) gets to bring clients in tow and more or less jump into line, up to a reserved number of seats blocked for ESF on each cabin lift. On this last Saturday while I watched the hoi poloi wrangle with the new internet reservation system and bide their time waiting at the Grand Montet for their lift slot, we were whisked on board with the guide with maximum waits of 5 minutes, each of our 4 ascents upon the Grand Montet, except for the last one of the day where we simply didn't arrive when the cabin was there and opted to take our spot in 30 minutes...so we did adjacent runs for exactly 30 minutes, skiied into the departure area. Voila. Again, no waiting at all.
In addition to no waiting, a monitor can take you everywhere you might want to go in the ski domain areas and is an invaluable resource. If you are feeling more brave, a guide can take you all over the off piste areas...glaciers and all...and still have you back to a cabin lift with no waiting.
So in case you were wondering, yes, the daily prices for a monitor or guide are in the 250 Euro plus range. But if you are only in Chamonix for a long weekend....and coming from far away...well worth the splurge.
