Some parents buy a 6 day lift pass, and then each of them uses it 3 days, skiing with the kids alternately.

At least one resort in Austria (Bad Gastein), - so perhaps coming to Switzerland soon, if not already there - as you go through a barrier, takes a photo, linking a face (or rather ski helmet and jacket*) to the card. The next day, they check that the face matches the person coming through the barrier. Then they give the ringer a €50 fine, require the purchase of a day card, confiscate the card and ban the owner from the facilities (not sure how they enforce that).

Be warned. Unless the T&C's (which can be quite hard to find the details of) specifically permit swapping between parents, don't share.

Though the parents have been caught bang to rights, so no complaint there, it does seem a bit off to me that there's no indication that you're under surveillance. Perhaps they'd rather catch people than stop the practice.

* I knew I should have bought matching his n' hers jackets and helmets

wow! I haven't ever done it myself, but the thought has crossed my mind before...

Can't imagine that this brings them that much less revenue (the sharing of cards) ...rather, it seems like it would turn me off to ever visiting that resort again! I do realize this is against the rules, and I agree, you get caught, you pay the penalty. Perhaps they can offer a more expensive 6 day ticket that is transferable...

In this case it lost them revenue, since we... er.... they aren't skiing on Friday now, so that's one adult ticket, one student, one youth and one child day ticket they've lost out on. And of course they won't be back - though they weren't planning to anyway. The pistes aren't well prepared, there's far too many people, and it's a long way to drive.

I'd stick with smaller Swiss and German resorts.

Some resorts sell a points card that is transferable and usable for more than one day.

Useful when you've got very young kids and you've no idea how much skiing you'll actually get done.

Cant you argue that you have more than one jacket and helmet?

We just talked about that. She's 5'1" and I'm 5'11" and about twice her weight...

the photo check also happens here for multi day passes

Where have you guys been? This has always been the rule, forever, everywhere! That is why your photo is on your lift pass... Even before electronic passes you had a passport photo stuck on! You can't share lift passes!

I have a season pass... I can't lend it to someone... If I do & I'm caught... Bye bye lift pass!!

These are multi-day passes without your photo on them.

Also, multi-day tickets are a bit different from season tickets in that you never expect to use all days of a season ticket, but you do expect to use all days of an, e.g. 5 day ticket.

I make this post not to justify the practice of sharing multiday tickets, but to warn those of us who have sometimes done it for not entirely unreasonable reasons, particularly when not using the same ticket by different people on the same day,

I understand that fully well that a season ski pass can not be shared. I also understand that it usually is pretty clearly stated that day passes can't be shared (I have seen the points cards that can be shared, we have that by us at Atzmännig). A situation where one would want to share a card is when a family is off to a ski resort for 6 days - parents share the adult ticket as they can't both ski at the same time, so 1 day daddy takes the kids skiing, the other day mommy does - which obviously is against the rules but not like both of them using the ticket at the same time, the day ticket is only used by 1 person each day it is used, in the end 6 x 1 adult. Now, what they want you to do is buy 6 individual day tickets, depending on who is skiing. The other option is those 5 in 7 days, which saves a little money, but not a lot.

But big brother watching on the ski slopes, now that is a first!

Did they not take your photo when u bought the pass? Most places for a pass longer than a day pass they take your pic at the desk when you buy it. As you go through the electronic barrier the pic of you when you bought the pass flashes up and the lift operator compares it to the person coming through the gate. It's standard practice.

wow, I have never seen this before, last year we went to Kaprun and we shared our 6 day pass with my husband...

this year we went to Nendaz and there were no pictures either, didn't share the passes this year but I never saw anybody checking at the entry, NO-ONE.. and in the drag-lifts in the mountains, I saw plenty of people taking their ski's off to pass the barrier! quite annoying when you have your passes.. or when they just jump the queue in front of you , and then they don't even have a proper working pass and have to take their skiis off to go through!! what a liberty!

Wow.

So, if you were a family of four. Wife, husband, son, and baby. So, three skiers as baby is, well, a baby.

On the basis someone has to look after the baby, you make a family decision that you will buy two 5 day passes. Mum will ski with son for 2 days whilst dad looks after baby, then dad will ski with son for 3 days whilst mum looks after baby.

Are you saying this is not allowed? And that mum should buy 2 day pass, dad 3 day pass, and son 5 day pass.

That is the most bizarre thing I ever heard.

What are they trying to achieve in preventing this? Or what can someone gain from the ski resort by doing this? No one is getting a free pass. Me confused

exactly, that is not allowed...


Take an example where we ski, in Serfaus.

1 x adult 6 day pass = 205€
1 x 1 day pass = 45€ so if you buy 6 individual tickets (as you don't know who would ski each day) it would cost you 270€
or 1 x 3 day ticket = 116€ for a total of 232€ for 2 of them. I guess if thousands of people do this, it makes a difference to them

In small print it says the ski pass is not transferable...

No, they didn't. The photo was taken (without my knowledge) at one of the barriers before a ski lift well away from the main entrance.

No they don't. Perhaps most of the places you've visited. I've never seen it on any of the resorts I've been to in Austria, Switzerland, Germany or France.

It would. On the other hand if they offered family friendly pricing policies, they'd attract more families, and make more money.

This rule has existed in austria for a number of years and they CLEARLY tell you in terms and conditions that it applies specifically to adult passess.

Cant understand your thinking this is underhand as it has been in place for years

I agree 100%, NotAllThere. I can see them nabbing someone who doesn't have any pass at all, or 2 people sharing 1 ticket (which wouldn't work as you can't double swipe the card to let someone else in - my daughter did this the first day we went as my younger daughter didn't get close enough for her pass to register, so the one behind scanned hers. Then she couldn't get through on hers as it had already been scanned).

This year my 3 year old had to have a ticket, even though it was free, and go through the turnstile at the base lift to take him up to where the ski school was. I guess just each kid now needs a ticket, maybe they ask for ID at the ticket window to prove age of the child? We get our passes through our hotel so they know how old the kids are and just gave us ours for the little one while trying to explain the new policy!

I have also never seen photos needed for multi day passes. Apparently back in the day when my husband went on trips this was the case, but that was 25-30 years ago. I have also never seen people take off skis to go through the barriers - seems like that would be easy to get caught doing!

Where have you been I have never seen anything different especially for adults, maybe not for kids as they dont force photos of kids but adults I have always had to on multi day passes

Read the conditions on this site for Austria

http://www.montafon.at/skipass

Kirchberg/Kitzbühel, St. Anton, Serfaus, Seefeld, Lake Tahoe, Pitztal, Stubaital...there may be a few others that I can't remember...I have never had to have a picture taken for a ski pass!

where have you been where you need a photo for a multi day (not season) pass? I will check your link now that you provided...

edit: Perhaps this is the wave of the future, need to ask hubby, he went to Montafon last year and didn't mention the picture thing. I didn't realize so many people cheated the system that they need to enforce this way. Guess these are the same people who ride public transport without a ticket Me, I am a rule follower, or I should say I don't knowingly break the rules!

I don't think it is underhand. Did you miss the bit where I said "the parents have been caught bang to rights, so no complaint there," The taking of photos of people without their consent is a bit off though.

Yes, they often do. E.g. at Engelberg, all five of us have to queue to get the tickets, as we have two adults, one student, one youth and a child - all requiring verification, and must be present at time of purchase.

Specifically, I've been at Ski Amadé (Austria). They do not require a photograph for day passes less than 9 days. In the ten different resorts I've stayed at over the last ten years in four different countries, I've never had a photocard for a 4/5/6 day card. I discussed this on a skiing forum, and most people there were surprised at the requirement.

What's really stupid, and probably why they don't mention that they photograph you through the barriers, is that if you want to cheat the system, it's really simple. The two of you just need to be of similar build and wear similar clothes/helmets/scarves.