. world ski news : Single Swiss ski pass for Valais area - 09 September 2013 - 09:49
Switzerland gets new super ski pass
It makes it one of the largest ski areas in the world with 2,400km of slopes. The Valais includes Verbier, Zermatt, Saas-Fee, Crans-Montana and many others.
The season-long pass is aimed mainly at locals rather than holiday skiers and snowboarders and is set to cost 1,850 Swiss francs.
The price includes a 15% discount for people who live in the region.
Of course if you ski for many weeks in the area across the season then it might prove economical, even at the higher price.
It has been discussed in the past but here at PlanetSKI we understand the main lift companies of the big resorts have now agreed to it.
There is a cheaper pass that allows a limited number of visits to the larger resorts.
The principle of a single season pass has now been agreed by all the ski areas including the largest ones of Zermatt and the 4 Valleys, that includes Verbier, said the President of the Association of the Valais Lifts (RMV), Clivaz Arthur.
We will bring you further details when we receive them but it should be in place for the coming winter season and on sale in November.
Some claim it is now the largest un-linked ski area in the world.
But then of course it depends how you define un-linked. Recently the Epic Pass, sold by Vail Resorts in the USA, announced a deal with Les Trois Vallees in France; we reported on it here. www.planetski.eu/news/5270
The pass already covers Verbier in Switzerland and the Arlberg ski area in Austria.
So those resorts, combined with the 8 majorUS resorts it owns and a couple of other smaller ones provides quite a few kms of slope. 26 ski resorts in 4 countries and across 2 continents.
Anyone got a calculator?
PlanetSki.eu
Tuesday September 3, 2013