SKI PASSES

There is a local ski pass, JACO, covering the lifts in Combloux, Jaillet and Christomet. This is the area near our apartments. You can either walk to the nearby free drag lift or drive the short distance to park up at la Cry (families sometimes prefer to do this), or further still to "Cuchet" where you can ski down to the main lifts. The pass covers 90kms of pistes and a 6-day pass (2006 season) costs 110€ for adults or 86.5€ for under 16s - and 10% discount for a family of 4 or more.

For more adventurous or more experienced skiers, the "Evasion" pass includes all of the Megeve and les Contamines pistes as well as the JACO area - over 450 kms of pistes. This 6-day pass (2006 season) costs 159€ for adults or 127€ for under 16s.

The lift gates in this area are hands-free (they detect a pass inside your pocket) and for day-passes you pay a 3 euros returnable deposit for the smart pass card. Forfaits need a photo, but they can scan a copy of your photo from a passport, driving licence etc.

You can buy passes at the tourist office or at any main ski lift, or you can buy passes online through the Combloux website. For example, there is a caisse in the ground floor of the creche building beside the La Cry car park and another in a wooden hut near the four-man chair. From our apartments you can take the free drag lift up to La Cry and ski down to either.

All desks sell day-passes ("journées") or forfaits for several days. If you intend to ski mainly in the JACO area get the cheap forfait and buy day passes for Megève or les Contamines. However, if you ski more than one day per week on the Megève or les Contamines pistes it is cheaper to get the Evasion pass. Get day passes if you intend to spend half of your days at more distant resorts like Argentiere, Avoriaz and Flaine.

The table below gives distance by road, pistes information and day-pass prices (2005 season) for several resorts all of which can be reached in under one hour by car. Click on the resorts to link to official web sites.