Stolen skis

Just come back from Les Gets where my skis and poles were stolen from
outside a restaurant near the top of a mountain while I was having lunch. I
waited around for 2 hrs to see if they had been taken by accident but they
didn't re-appear. (My poles were fairly unique carbon composite ones so not
easy to take by mistake.) Two points:

How do they do it? I mean, how did the thief get up there (crappy old skis
maybe) and why bother? Wouldn't it be easier to steal them lower down or in
the resort?

The lift operators wouldn't let me hitch a lift down; I had to walk and that
was a real pain. Took me 4 hrs in total to get back.

Anyway, now I have to buy those new skis I was thinking about!