{"id":1925,"date":"2020-02-19T21:54:31","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T20:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/contrib.city\/?p=1925"},"modified":"2020-04-01T22:13:24","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T20:13:24","slug":"the-two-faces-of-verbier-ski-resort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/contrib.city\/index.php\/en\/2020\/02\/19\/the-two-faces-of-verbier-ski-resort\/","title":{"rendered":"The two Faces Of Verbier Ski Resort (Switzerland)"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I am arriving, by car, at Le Ch\u00e2ble (altitude: 850 m), the village giving access to the ski resort (located at 1500 m), the first things I am seing are many cars parked in a rather wild way with a clear message: dear motorist, park as soon as you can before you find yourself at the other end of the valley! Pain lost, no space available, unless you hang your vehicle on a climbing piton. So, by force of circumstances, I am continuing my journey and once the village is passed, I am wondering with anxiety if I will not be forced to continue up to the Mauvoisin dam, at the end of the road, before I can do a U turn. Two or three kilometers further, a relief: a huge sign, in front of the Ch\u00e2bles chairlift building, indicates that there are parking lots where one can leave one’s car. But why doesn’t the Ski Resort put a sign at the beginning of the Dranse de Bagnes River Valley, just after Sembrancher, to inform drivers that they will be able to peacefully park a little further?<\/p>\n

Once there, the ski equipment rental services are efficient but the waiting time to buy a ski pass, on this Monday, December 30th, 2019, tests the customer’s patience. In short, an hour and a half later, here I am on the Mont-Gel\u00e9 where the sun and the snow offer me a nice ballet of lights: beauty and happiness.<\/p>\n

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In the cable car that goes up from Ch\u00e2ble to Verbier. As I am arriving in the middle of the day, the waiting time is acceptable. The landscapes of the Valais region, meanwhile, already invite me to dream. Photo: BdF, December 30th, 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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High mountain landscape in Verbier. One can see, in the middle and bottom of the photo, a chairlift managed by the ski lift company T\u00e9l\u00e9verbier, whose shareholding is 75% private. Photo: BdF, December 30th, 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a day in paradise, begins the return. First, a passage in a place I call “the Freezer”, at the bottom of a valley, with direct sunshine, at the time of the winter solstice, of four hours maximum per day. Whichever side you choose, count thirty minutes in the queue, unless you choose the mountain “restaurant”: but there, both your (French) wallet and your palate will suffer. Count twenty-five Swiss francs (24 euros) for a hamburger\/fries, both very fatty, and a candy bar. Once weighed down, if you hope that the queue has decreased, you will, once again, be at your expense since at around 3:00 p.m. it is not the queue that has declined, but the temperature! On the positive side, you immediately start burning calories to compensate for all the fats and sugars you have just absorbed.<\/p>\n

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“The Freezer”, probably at the bottom of the chairlifts of Lac des Vaux 1 and 2, at a place where the valley is very steep, leaving little room and time for direct sunlight. Result: a long queue where the cold air comes and concentrate, because of its density.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The setting sun iridesces the ridges of the resort. Photo: BdF, December 30th, 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once you have contemplated, for the last time, the Valais landscape from Attelas or La Chaux, you have to leave Eden, especially since Lord Sun is starting to bow out. So I am starting the descent towards the plain, not to say towards “hell”! If the M\u00e9dran cable cars provide transport to Verbier fairly correctly, it is the one that descends to Le Ch\u00e2ble village that represents a real obstacle course! First, you have to take an elevator and therefore take a queue, then agree to be compressed as it is forbidden to do for farm animals, then participate in a real rugby scrum to reach, after half an hour of compression, a cabin going to Le Ch\u00e2ble.<\/p>\n

Finally, once you are arrived, at night, you will notice that your marks taken during the day have been slightly modified after dark, and you will no longer find your car. But, at least, the next time, if there is one, you will remember the half hour you spent on finding your vehicle and remember to write down where your dear automobile is located. Unless, of course, you are going up to the station with your own car. In this case, you will not be compressed but this option may bring you into big traffic-jams and will do little to limit pollution and CO2 emissions in the valley.<\/p>\n

The explanation for this hustle and bustle, apart from the fact that it is a school holiday period, probably lies in the fact that the Verbier ski lifts belong to a predominantly private company, T\u00e9l\u00e9verbier, yet the most important ski lift company in Romande Switzerland<\/em>, according to the president of its Board of Directors, Jean-Albert Ferrez [1]<\/sup><\/a>T\u00e9l\u00e9verbier, Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 leader du domaines des 4 Vall\u00e9es<\/em> (T\u00e9l\u00e9verbier, Leading Company in The 4 Vall\u00e9es Area, 2020, [seen on February 19, 2020]. Available at: http:\/\/www.televerbier.ch\/en\/T\u00e9l\u00e9verbier\/entreprise.html<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>