Ski Lifts in Champery

The Portes du Soleil pass is expensive but covers a huge area. Beginners and people planning to spend very little time on the slopes might prefer a ‘Swiss-side-only’ pass covering Champery, Les Crosets, Champoussin and Morgins, which they can buy on a day or part-day basis.

Champery Lift System

At the start and end of the day it’s necessary to ride either the main Champery-Croix de Culet cable car (often referred to simply as ‘The Telepherique’) or the fast chair at Grand Paradis, which is reached from the village via the free ski bus service. The Telepherique is an emblem of the whole resort but it’s getting quite elderly. It departs every 30 minutes or so (more departures at peak periods, fewer in the middle of the day) and carries 120 people. If it’s more than five minutes’ walk away from your accommodation, you’re probably better off taking the chair lift instead. Queues around the Swiss side are rare but you might encounter more people around Avoriaz, especially if snow cover in the other Portes du Soleil resort is poor, in which case people crowd into Avoriaz which often has the best snow.

Champery & Portes du Soleil Lift Passes

Currently there are discounts for families, children, youths/students and seniors but no discounted lift passes for novices. This is one of the reason why Champery is not a great resort for first-time skiers who want to spend most of their time on nursery slopes. The Champery-Les Crosets local area pass has been replaced by one that extends to Champoussin and Morgins as well, about 35 lifts in total. This is commonly known as the Swiss-only Portes du Soleil pass, depite it not covering Torgon. It’s mostly sold on a day or part-day basis and costs about 20% less than the corresponding pass covering the French and Swiss areas. Given that it only covers about a fifth of the total area, it really only appeals to beginners and people planning to spend very little time on the slopes. Full up to date information on prices, specail offers, discounts and conditions is available at https://www.skipass-pds-ch.ch/en/