Segways arrive in the Alps

Segway in La ClusazWho knew that Segways were for mountain-loving thrill seekers? According to this brochure advertising their arrival to La Clusaz, a Segway can help you “attack the mountain”. I think I might have to agree with that: the weight of the Segway is surely going to do some damage to it at the very least, and possibly to the riders as they attempt to go “off-piste” for higher thrills. They will inevitably pop over the handlebars when they accidentally hit a rock in one of those cow fields they decided to shortcut through (if the able-bodied are lazy enough to get on a Segway, why would they go around a field?), safe in the knowledge that any poo would remain on the Segway instead of on themselves. Would it be wrong to imagine a couple of cows then coming up and attacking the toppled idiot and Segway with their horns?

Anyway, as the photo of our three cool dudes (complete with new gnarly finger-thumb coolness symbol) shows, this is for radical people who want to take their nature walks to the extremes they’ve only ever imagined! Here’s an idea: walk. Experience all those walks by actually moving your legs and feeling your muscles at the end of the day. I’m now imagining a Segway on the stupid walk I did last week, but I don’t see how it would get past the first road strewn with rocks, let alone the loose rocks at the top or the deep mud on the way back down. Let’s hope they make it to those cow fields extra fast.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, a 60-minute “walk” will cost €45, but it does guarantee an “intense pleasure”. I can think of better ways…

About

I'm a technical author, journalist and writer from Australia who has been living in Europe since 2000 and exploring the world from there. My passions are writing, snow sports and travel.

6 Comments on “Segways arrive in the Alps

  1. LOL! Brilliant, I’m with you real walking seems a much better and far more practical idea. But if you happen to chance upon an upside down Segwayer (with or without the cows) do post a pic for us!

  2. Hah! I will indeed Jacqui. Photos first, “Are you okay?” questions later. 🙂

  3. Ah Segways, I cant think of a better way to look like a complete idiot! There is a hire company in Annecy too, just in case walking near the Lake is too much for people…

  4. Actually, if someone has MS or other such conditions, the Segways have been quite liberating for them. In my community there are two women, both with MS, who are using Segways to get through the area. They have both been thrilled with the freedom it gives them. I don’t have infirmities, yet I have a Segway because my sister-in-law has such an advanced case of MS, she gave hers to me. I admit I don’t use it much, I am using my bicycle to commute to work, but the Segway is fun. I have used it to allow others to try it, including several neighbors with mobility issues who are now considering getting one of their own.

    I totally agree that the Segway is not necessary for the able-bodied as depicted in that brochure. However, were the pictures to show people who could benefit from the freedom a Segway gives them, I would encourage their availability elsewhere.

  5. Tara, that’s the first compelling reason I’ve heard for a Segway in the mountains. If only the brocher *did* have less able-bodied people in it! A friend with MS bought an adult tricycle and she loves having the freedom to ride a bike once more. Maybe a Segway is the way forward for her too – I hadn’t thought about that.

  6. LOL too! Great piece Wendy. I agree…Segways in the mountains? Haha! Maybe they are targeting those lovely smooth ‘green/blue’ ski slopes for the white-flabby-more-money-than-sense oiks and not the usual mountain-outdorsey types who tackle mountain trails that some of us have attempted in the past much to our misery. But the sense of achievement tempored with the sense of complete exhaustion and muscle ache are the true mountain experience (in my opinion..) Call me biased, or an old sceptique and not exactly out there each weekend tramping the trails such as the ‘Tournette’ one but I’d rather suffer and walk rather than have an insurance claim for ‘tw&t falling off a segway down a mountain’…