Lift lines are way worse in Europe than in the US/Canada, and France and
Italy are particularly bad.

Next time, try heading to Austria. Things are much more organised there
(although still not as much as in the US), and it really is a different vibe
with people that aren't so rude and crazy.

"Ron - N.Y" wrote in message
...
Thought I would share some of my observations skiing in the Alps ,I
usually ski in the Northeast , mainly Vermont . I went skiing for 6 days
and went to Courmeier , La Tuile , Cervinia & Chamonix . Courmeier was 1st
and the 1st obvious thing that hits you is the size of these freakin
mountains . The big Gondola is HUGE . They use a magnetic lift ticket
which I wasn't too crazy about . The lift lines are terribly unorganized
and how I made it back to the U.S without getting into a fistfight was
amazing . The snow was fluffier and lighter than the mostly man-made I'm
used to . The trials are very wide . It was hard at 1st to concentrate on
the trail in front of me as my eyes kept wandering to take in the amazing
view .
La Tuile ( sp?) was 2nd and I found it to be the easiest . Again the views
were intense . They were blowing off dynamite in a few places for
avalanches which scared the **** out of me .
Cervenia and Zermatt (sp?) were 3rd and you come real close to heaven when
you go the platform at the top and take in the 360 degree view . Oxygen
deprivation made it even more of a trip . My girlfriend who grew up in
Italy had fun taking pictures of me with a blue face . At almost 13,000
feet I hate to admit I felt sick like I was going to pass out .Didn't have
that problem at any of the other places . It took over an hour to ski
down from the top , very strange feeling when your used to going up & down
in 10 minutes in Vermont .Weird having to bring your passport skiing to
get to the Swiss side at Zermatt . The swiss were also well behaved on the
lift lines and there seemed to be some tension between them and the
Italians .
Chamonix was last and I might as well mention the views . I didn't get to
take the train so I can;t comment on that . We were able to to ski all 3
sections without taking it , I think you only take that for a particular
area which was closed .
The weather was great all 6 days and we got about a foot of fresh before
the 1st day out , great timing , thanx mother nature . A family friend
commented that it was a shame that it was so cold , I thought he was nuts
as it felt like spring skiing to me compared to the Northeast . None of
the places really had skiing on/off like we have here so I guess we
Americans are spoiled and or lazy in that respect . The food was very
different . They seem more concerned with the way they look than just
about anything else .The women looked like they were going to a ball the
way they were dressed in full make-up and jewelry etc . In the N.E you can
barely tell a man from a women. They should consider organizing there lift
lines better , I found that extremely stressful. Overall it was an
experience of a lifetime that I will never forget and hope to go back
again next year . But I also don't feel like I'm being deprived skiing in
the N.E . I sort of missed the jumps in the terrain parks and we have much
better mogul fields . My snobby girlfriend claims that they don't consider
that 'real' skiing , I just call it plain old fun .