In the very early days of skiing, checking whether skiers had valid ski passes was hit and miss. However, today, with modern technology it has become easy. According to a report by SRF, the ski resort of Verbier catches an average of three to four people a day passing through the turnstiles with a ‘borrowed’ ski pass. Every year the resort catches around 500 cheats and issues fines of more than CHF 100,000.
The resort has cameras next to the turnstiles. These cameras allow real time photos to be compared to ones stored in a database associated with each pass. Ski passes are personal and non-transferable. When the system finds a photo mismatch an inspector intervenes and pulls the culprit aside. François Micheli, one of the inspectors at Verbier says he sees the same reactions when people are caught. Some start crying, some apologise, others threaten us, he said.
Fines range from CHF 100 to CHF 400. As a private company, Verbier’s lift operator is not required to press criminal charges and rarely does. However, when criminal charges are pursued the consequences can be serious. If a case ends up in criminal court, anyone 18 or over risks a fine and criminal record, which can last for two years, in some cases as long as 15 years. A criminal record can prevent individuals working in a number of fields can and stand in the way of naturalisation.
Trying to get a free day of skiing in Switzerland can turn out to be very costly.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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