The Fantasticable was a kid favorite! Flying high in the French Alps, above the hamlet of Plaine-Dranse, to Châtel. The kids soared at almost 100 km/h (60 mph) and 240 meters above ground (790 feet). Are we nuts for letting our kids do this?
Flashback 2016:
We heard about the Fantasticable experience from Mark at Alpine Sports. I was telling him that I didn’t want to do the downhill mountain biking, because I don’t like heights. He then said that he thought I would really dislike the Fantasticable. I immediately Googled it on my phone and watched a video. I couldn’t even finish watching the video and my knees were weak from just watching!
Please, Please, Please!
We told the kids about the Fantasticable and they were begging to go. It is very rare that they really want to do something so badly, and this was one of those times. I guess they really wanted to do it, even after watching videos! What kind of parents are we to let the kids do this? Oh, why not. They have done so much in their short lives, why not add another adventure notch to their already packed belts.
We researched where to go and what to do and found all kinds of conflicting information and nothing really came out and provided directions. Thus, this post is born. Now I was on a mission to gather information to write a post. That would keep me distracted from the fact that our kids were going to be dangling from a wire high above the Alps.
Details about getting there:
From Morzine, you go on the road which passes Lake Montriond. Continue on the road and look for signs leading you to Les Lindarets. You will pass a little village, Les Lindarets, which is overrun with goats and tourists. You may feel like you want to park and that you have reached the destination, but you haven’t! It is about a 25 minute drive from Morzine.
Either get out and play with the goats or patiently wade your way through them and continue another 4 minutes up the road to chair lifts. Here is a link showing many of the Morzine lifts in the area.
When you eventually make it to the chair lifts in Les Lindarets, you will see a dirt parking lot on the left, a few restaurants, and a few chair lifts. Go ahead and park the car. You can walk away from the main road, to the Chaux Fleurie lift.
This is where my special journey begins
It is a dangle your leg kind of chair lift. I intentionally didn’t do the Pleney Luge earlier that morning because it had this type of chair lift. I don’t like to dangle in the sky. I have done my share of canyoning, ziplining and more to break this fear, but nothing works. There was no way in the world I was going to wait at the bottom and not see exactly what the kids were going to be doing. Of course I felt I had the right to give a final “No way, you aren’t doing that!”, but I had to see it first.
So up the chair lift I went. Alan and our daughter hopped on first and then our son and I took the next chair. Our son pulled the bar down and I closed my eyes and trembled with fear. He was providing me commentary on how beautiful it was way down there, but I asked that he not speak. You see I wasn’t really on a chair lift. In my mind I was just riding an airport monorail and it was just smooth gliding on the ground. I wanted nothing to change that vision I had in my head.
A Great Role Model
I asked our son to tell me when we were approaching the end, so I could see when we needed to quickly hop off. He gave me the warning sign, so I opened my eyes. We were still about 50 feet from the end and still dangling in the air. I informed him I only need to know right when we are about to get off. He wanted to raise the bar and there was no way in the world that was going to happen. Anyway, we finally made it to the end and I practically ran off the lift and was trembling and whimpering.
What a great role model I was for the kids. I wanted to show them, I can do this even though I didn’t want to or like it. Of course I ended a babbling mess. That was short-lived and on to the mission at hand, the Fantasticable for the kids.
The Wait
Once you are at the top of the Chaux Fleurie Lift, up and over to the right is a small wooden shack. Here you will find the booth to purchase your tickets and obtain the gear needed. The line was about 20 people deep, but took about 75 minutes to get through.
They are open from 10am-4pm and the first 2 hours are reserved for groups only. We arrived at 1pm and apparently it wasn’t early enough. I would recommend getting there right before 12 noon, just to be sure you have a spot for the day.
The Other Wait
Once suited up and paid for, there was yet another line to wait in. The line for the launching was about 1 hour. There are actually two zipline rides included with the purchase.
- 1st Line – Length: 1 200 m (4000 feet), Start elevation: 1 930 m (6332 feet), Arrival elevation: 1 820 m (5971 feet), Max height: 140 m (460 feet)
- There is a short walk (100 feet) to the launching point for the 2nd zipline
- 2nd Line – Length: 1 323 m (4340 feet), Start: 1 828 m (6000 feet), Arrival: 1 712 m (5616 feet), Max height: 240 m (790 feet)
After completing the Fantasticable, you return the gear and then walked about 15 minutes down to the bottom of the hill. From there you take the Rochassons chair lift back up to the launching area. If you parked in the Les Lindarets parking lot, you just head back via the Chaux Fleurie lift.
Sorry, I can’t share any photos with you that will do it justice. You have to watch the video!
Fantasticable Video by our son
Mom would rather walk with the cows
There was no way I was getting back on that chair lift to go down, so I opted for the hike down. Alan and the kids stopped for lunch at one of the little villages before taking the chair lift down and I began my journey. The hike was very beautiful and took about an hour.
I will say you are sharing the gravel path with some fast-moving downhill mountain bikes, but the it is fairly wide most of the way. It took me exactly one hour to reach the bottom, which consisted of zig-zagging down the mountain. I had a few interesting moments, with no one else around, I had to wade through a herd of cows. Just on my last 300 feet, I heard Alan and the kids yelling at me from the chair lift above.
So what do you think? Would you ride the Fantasticable?
Remember you will receive a 10% discount, if you have the Morzine Multipass and the chair lifts would be included too. These are the things we do, when we have a free place to stay housesitting! We spend our money on FUN! Check here for prices.