 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| RKIre28 wrote: |
Many thanks everyone for all the info...I had pretty much settled on BSM/Les Arcs after much deliberation but after fixx's message on chamonix (thanks for so much info  ) I'm doubting myself again, not least because I can see the funicular from BSM to Les Arcs being severely restricted due to Covid! |
No one can tell you what the situation will be in a week's time let alone this winter so you are better off just deciding whether to go or not. There won't be major difference about how things are run between ski areas and at present there are no plans to restrict number on ski lifts anywhere in France.
There almost certainly won't be a lockdown like in spring (that is, 2 months where all but key workers were not allowed to leave home) but further restrictions are both possible and likely.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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That’s awesome! I am doing a season in Morzine with my Fiancé, we are both 31. We picked morzine for similar reasons to @fixx talked about chamonix. It’s a proper town with lots of people loving there, great ski area, close to Geneva. We have our own online business so will Be working, anD hoping to use one of the Co working spaces in morzine.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@tagsman, If you come out now, it's due to dump it down in Avoriaz this weekend, so there could be some rando to be had.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
It’s a proper town with lots of people loving there
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Sounds great!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
It’s a proper town with lots of people loving there
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Sounds great! |
Didn't notice any large fruit bowls with keys in them when I was there the last two January's but maybe I didn't go to the right places?
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Well, there you have. Why not mix two hobbies at the same time! 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| tagsman wrote: |
| That’s awesome! I am doing a season in Morzine with my Fiancé, we are both 31. We picked morzine for similar reasons to @fixx talked about chamonix. It’s a proper town with lots of people loving there, great ski area, close to Geneva. We have our own online business so will Be working, anD hoping to use one of the Co working spaces in morzine. |
I'm curious of the thought process going into it.
Assuming there will be a vaccine some time in the winter (not terribly likely but possibly), having a town with lots of people would appeal as you can mingle with them.
But if the opposite happens, a winter wave of outbreak would limit much gathering and socializing (though assuming skiing isn't prohibited). Then the benefit of living "in town" would be largely lost. You're saddled with the slow access to the mountain.
Co-working space will only be useful if things are "back to normal", i.e. low to no Covid risk.
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| abc wrote: |
| Co-working space will only be useful if things are "back to normal", i.e. low to no Covid risk. |
That's not the current situation with co-working space in major cities - Wework, Regus etc. are generally open, albeit with some restrictions.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| snowdave wrote: |
| abc wrote: |
| Co-working space will only be useful if things are "back to normal", i.e. low to no Covid risk. |
That's not the current situation with co-working space in major cities - Wework, Regus etc. are generally open, albeit with some restrictions. |
They're open. But are they well utilized?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Why would use use a co-working space which costs 300 p/m ?
Assuming that you're doing a season rent on an apartment, just get one with a small extra bedroom, and use that as your office.
This mitigates the risk of catching Covid at the shared facility, and if you happen to catch Covid with mild symptoms, you can still work without the risk of infecting others.
Chuck in the convenience of not having to get dressed, and a 10 second commute which does not involve going outside in a blizzard, and it ought to be a no-brainer.
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@tagsman I'd always suggest one of your search criteria should be somewhere with wired broadband and cable TV (obvs with UK channels on it).
I'd recommend taking a printer along with you so that you're independent of any other facilities you may be sharing. And be sceptical of claims of good Mbps rates - make it clear you'll come along and be checking the throughput with a speed test in the apartment before you sign anything. Being stuck somewhere where the internet is slow/intermittent is going to spoil things.
And as mentioned by @WindOfChange I don't really understand why you want a shared workspace, especially if it's charged for.
Re the TV, I know you plan to Live The Dream, but all other things being equal, sooner or later there's always something you want to watch on TV. And yes, I know you can usually get channels over a VPN but even in the UK, the TV is usually more reliable than the broadband.
@RKIre28 if I was mostly tied-down to working 9-5 with no opportunity to work at (busier) Weekends to release Weekdays to ski, then I'd also take a look outside just resort locations. And if I wanted some night life and other things to do, then I would give some consideration to living in a town/city near to the slopes, rather than a resort on them. All the better if it's on a train line from the nearest airport, so that you don't have to use the car. One thing I found when I visited people out in Geneva on secondment there was that they tended to get more picky about going skiing the longer they were there: i.e. they'd only take time out to ski if the weather was at least reasonable and the destinations weren't swamped by visitors.
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You know it makes sense.
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| LaForet wrote: |
| ... I'd recommend taking a printer along with you so that you're independent of any other facilities you may be sharing. And be sceptical of claims of good Mbps rates - make it clear you'll come along and be checking the throughput with a speed test in the apartment before you sign anything. Being stuck somewhere where the internet is slow/intermittent is going to spoil things. ... |
I can see where you're coming from. My own approach is a little different: I don't use paper. My key assumptions are (a) that the networks are unreliable; and (b) theft is highly likely. I'm not ever looking for an office away from the office, to me the whole point is I can work anywhere, anytime.
Poor networks are easy to work-around with a decent laptop set up to be self-contained. I'll run database servers plus whatever IDE I need, and I'll have local repositories so I'm completely independent of any network connexion. It's not really a cost issue, it's about resilience. And being able to work on the plane of course 
Security is more of a challenge really. Broadly the repositoriies plus anything else which needs to be secure against theft live in a VeraCrypt partition (inside a BitLocker built-in drive) so I don't need to worry should it be stolen[1]. I also ensure that FIDO2 protected stuff isn't cached when I close the machine etc, so even if I get mugged without notice I can reasonably ensure it's secure once stolen. I try not to use FIDO2 keys when being observed and don't keep them visible or in obvious places.
I have a very secure VPN back to my UK location for backup purposes[2]. Other cloud connexions to repositories are secured with FIDO2/ Veracrypt as above. These don't require reliable or even quick connexions.
Everywhere I'll stay has a room safe, although they're not always secure. The machine lives there when I can't look after it personally, but the FIDO2 keys don't go there and I always power the machine fully down (so the BitLocker stuff provides additional security) when leaving it.
The biggest nasty thing for me is stuff which you'd think maybe actually requires bandwidth, such as updating a live system from the beach. Azure Deployment Slots get around that problem pretty well, and there are similar approaches for other hosters which work well.
The trick, IMHO, is to engineer things so the need for speed goes away. Obviously that doesn't help if you want to play World of Tanks.
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[1] Some details are omitted as this is the open internet. Of course most thieves don't care about the password to someone's database back-end, but you can't rely on that and have to assume the worst all the time. I do have a security plan, and despite all the above I'd still change every password should anything containing even encrypted versions of them be stolen. That's how you get to be never knowingly hacked.
[2] "Very secure" in terms of how you authenticate it; what it can and can't do; what it can and can't see; and how it can be closed in case of compromise.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| LaForet wrote: |
Re the TV, I know you plan to Live The Dream, but all other things being equal, sooner or later there's always something you want to watch on TV. And yes, I know you can usually get channels over a VPN but even in the UK, the TV is usually more reliable than the broadband. |
TV is a very individual thing. I for one don't watch much. No live sports. So I can easily live without TV. I know others who don't even have a TV at their home, never mind living abroad just for one season.
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| @RKIre28 if I was mostly tied-down to working 9-5 with no opportunity to work at (busier) Weekends to release Weekdays to ski |
For those who can only ski on weekends, but a full day on weekends, access to skiing is actually less of an issue. Living in town or down in the valley location would be cheaper and more convenient.
But if you plan to get in a couple hours of skiing in the morning then back to work the rest of the day, it maybe worth living in resort and minimize any travel time and maximize ski time.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Although a printer is unlikely to be essential, the trouble is when you need one, you need one. I would have said a printer wasn't necessary until the last trip out when the Govt decided to introduce the Covid Declaration form. Supposedly you could get the form and Qcode sent via email to show at Immigration. Except that the system didn't actually generate anything. Cue repeated emails with no attachment and we were travelling the next day. I got it sorted in the end, but only at the last minute. Printing onto paper is prehistoric, yes, but just occasionally the only option. If you've got one then all I'm saying is that it may be worth taking it with you even if it's left in the box 99.9% of the time.
It depends a lot on the nature of your work whether you can work-around a poor network. This may be very hard if you're a contractor and your client insists on an always-active link (or that's their basic model), or regular big uploads/downloads. Or insists on your accessing them only via a thin client. It may be out of your hands. And in the personal space, some subscription services are better than others at using transparent offline caches. In my experience, a lot of apartment owners/agencies gloss-over having terrible (no) bandwidth so all other things being equal, I'd go for somewhere with wired guaranteed Mbps against somewhere that just says 'WiFi included' and won't provide any more detail.
And if you can get UK TV channels, then why not? Yeah, I know there's a certain satisfaction in declaring you never do anything as mundane as actually watching terrestrial TV but again, I'm thinking there may just be a few occasions when it's useful/convenient to do so. In the same period at home, would you never turn on the TV, if only to catch an important Covid briefing, or whatever?
Re cybersecurity: at a high level it's perhaps worth thinking about separate machine for work (built to be as secure as possible) versus your personal platform. I know it's a bit old-fashioned, but even just in terms of your liability cover, not 'polluting' the work platform with personal stuff (or vice-versa) is reassuring. I know a guy who got fired because confidential ND material got mixed-up with his personal cloud and 'escaped' onto a forum.
Oh, and winter tyres for your car (just couldn't resist ....)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@LaForet, France has TV. the OP wrote that they wanted to improve their French, watching the evening news each night has helped improve mine.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| rjs wrote: |
| @LaForet, France has TV. the OP wrote that they wanted to improve their French, watching the evening news each night has helped improve mine. |
Good point. And I've seen some French TV channels with subtitles as well, which I certainly found really useful in following what was said, given my terrible French.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
I'm thinking there may just be a few occasions when it's useful/convenient to do so. In the same period at home, would you never turn on the TV, if only to catch an important Covid briefing, or whatever?
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I have TV at home, and it's stays on. I watch a lot of documentary and other make-for-tv programs for entertainment.
But for the last few years, I've spend up to 6 weeks in a cabin without a TV, which just happened to include March of this year, in the middle of the Covid drama! I found I can get news online just as efficiently. Like it or not, I get lots of news from FB and other social media as well. TV really isn't the important news outlet of the past any more.
Reality being, I was skiing half day, working around 6 hrs. That left not much time free to watch TV at all. I just crash after such a long day. Enough time to get some food, shower, then sleep. Repeat the next day.
Incidentally, I used a much less intense version of @philwig's approach. I have a pretty decent laptop. So I installed all the necessary software so I can work offline as much as possible. Upload my work when I feel is appropriate. Granted, I'm old. I'm familiar with this mode of working (offline work --> online) from back in the days of abysmal network connectivity.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Wed 23-09-20 23:27; edited 2 times in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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As was said above, you don't want to be stuck down in some polluted valley but as close to the skiing as you can afford, especially this winter where there could be issues moving around even if a full blown lockdown is unlikely.
I expect the BSM funi to run but you are not going to be nipping out for a ski at lunchtime.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| abc wrote: |
| tagsman wrote: |
| That’s awesome! I am doing a season in Morzine with my Fiancé, we are both 31. We picked morzine for similar reasons to @fixx talked about chamonix. It’s a proper town with lots of people loving there, great ski area, close to Geneva. We have our own online business so will Be working, anD hoping to use one of the Co working spaces in morzine. |
I'm curious of the thought process going into it.
Assuming there will be a vaccine some time in the winter (not terribly likely but possibly), having a town with lots of people would appeal as you can mingle with them.
But if the opposite happens, a winter wave of outbreak would limit much gathering and socializing (though assuming skiing isn't prohibited). Then the benefit of living "in town" would be largely lost. You're saddled with the slow access to the mountain.
Co-working space will only be useful if things are "back to normal", i.e. low to no Covid risk. |
I like PDS ski area, I think Morzine is a great town, and they have co-working space. For my business, and the way I like to work, I find co-working spaces can be a great help, but everyone is different. I wanted to do a season on Morzine way before this year, and this might be my last chance for ages so going to give it a go.
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| WindOfChange wrote: |
Why would use use a co-working space which costs 300 p/m ?
Assuming that you're doing a season rent on an apartment, just get one with a small extra bedroom, and use that as your office.
This mitigates the risk of catching Covid at the shared facility, and if you happen to catch Covid with mild symptoms, you can still work without the risk of infecting others.
Chuck in the convenience of not having to get dressed, and a 10 second commute which does not involve going outside in a blizzard, and it ought to be a no-brainer. |
I find them really useful places to work for my business, you can meet similar people, learn from them, have good access to internet, be part of a community - loads of reasons. It might not be for everyone, but I think they are great. Getting dressed and getting out the flat is a good start to the day!
I really just came onto this thread to discuss doing a season remotely with some people doing the same thing, not discuss the pros and cons of coworking.
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| RKIre28 wrote: |
Hi all
I have the opportunity to work remotely for another year, so considering a winter in the Alps - mainly driven by a desire to somewhat improve my French and a lack of any German or Italian!
Two questions:
1) If anyone else is considering something similar and would be interested in a buddy up to find larger accommodation (for me a studio is not ideal to work to live and in), let me know. I'm female in my mid-30's and enjoy a evening out at the weekend but pretty chilled most of the time, plus early mornings will be needed to make the most of the snow.
2) Any advice on resort options would be great - I am struggling to decide whether to live in resort (and this should ideally have the lift in walking distance) or in a larger town nearby. I will have a car, but my mid-week skiing will probably be limited as I work relatively standard UK hrs, but might be able to sneak out on a Friday afternoon or the odd morning. I'm conscious that in a resort there may not be much to do in the evening for a long-term resident or opportunities to meet others in the same position. Ski wise I'd be looking to improve my off-piste and do some more touring, so really need to meet up with others to do this safely. Other criteria are to be relatively close to an airport or TGV station, in case of need to travel and am currently looking at Saint Gervais - Chamonix Mont Blanc; Portes du Soleil; BSM - Les Arcs or EK.
There's a lot of great info on the forum which I've been reading but any advice on this specific situation would be great! Thanks |
If you are thinking of the PDS, there is a really good community on Facebook called Morzine Crew. Everyone is really helpful on there and it looks like there are a lot of expats living there full time, not just in the winter.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| tagsman wrote: |
I find them really useful places to work for my business, you can meet similar people, learn from them, have good access to internet, be part of a community - loads of reasons. It might not be for everyone, but I think they are great. Getting dressed and getting out the flat is a good start to the day!
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I guess thats great if you work in a world where you never have sensitive information on the screen that could be shoulder-surfed, or you never need to make phone calls where you discuss anything confidential, or you never need to talk loudly so that people watching your presentations in noisy environments can still her you, or your not worried about reducing Covid transmission attack surface - then like you say it works for you.
If your'e gonna come out here and do the season (or longer) then Vallee Expats is another useful resource.
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Like @WindIfChange, for sort of contract work I do, using an open shared space would be counterproductive and at times impractical. I wouldn't get any business from networking with people in the same space and would actively not be able to discuss any aspect of my work with them. But I can see that for some people with a different client base, it could be a better model.
I still think that you would be best to organise accommodation with enough space and broadband so that you could work from home if you wanted to, with the option of going to a shared space if that suits you better. You can always get shared space whenever you want it, but you can't conjure up another room if it turns out you need one after all, or install good broadband when there's none available.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| tagsman wrote: |
| abc wrote: |
| tagsman wrote: |
| That’s awesome! I am doing a season in Morzine with my Fiancé, we are both 31. We picked morzine for similar reasons to @fixx talked about chamonix. It’s a proper town with lots of people loving there, great ski area, close to Geneva. We have our own online business so will Be working, anD hoping to use one of the Co working spaces in morzine. |
I'm curious of the thought process going into it.
Assuming there will be a vaccine some time in the winter (not terribly likely but possibly), having a town with lots of people would appeal as you can mingle with them.
But if the opposite happens, a winter wave of outbreak would limit much gathering and socializing (though assuming skiing isn't prohibited). Then the benefit of living "in town" would be largely lost. You're saddled with the slow access to the mountain.
Co-working space will only be useful if things are "back to normal", i.e. low to no Covid risk. |
I like PDS ski area, I think Morzine is a great town, and they have co-working space. For my business, and the way I like to work, I find co-working spaces can be a great help, but everyone is different. I wanted to do a season on Morzine way before this year, and this might be my last chance for ages so going to give it a go. |
Morzine WAS a great town pre-Covid. Will it be the same town come winter of 2021? That was my question.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@fenguin, having done the same in 2014/5 - rent for you not for family and friends. For the increased cost we could have rented apartments for them and have plenty left over
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@abc, what would change that wouldn’t also change for any other ski town?
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You know it makes sense.
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@Nadenoodlee, it will change all ski towns to some degree. I was asking the OP has he factored the "change" that's surely going to be this winter, in his consideration.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@abc thanks I hadn't thought about the virus until you mentioned it.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| tagsman wrote: |
| @abc thanks I hadn't thought about the virus until you mentioned it. |
Lol
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@tagsman I appreciate that other people telling you they wouldn't use a co-working space isn't of itself very useful. But I think the take-away from the co-working comments is to make being able to work effectively from your apartment the priority, even if you think you'll end up using a shared facility, and to set your accommodation criteria correspondingly. If, as a consequence, the cost of using a workspace is then beyond your budget, then the feedback is that you need to think carefully about the decision. Particularly given that Covid may completely change the leisure landscape as well, forcing you to spend more non-work time in your apartment than has been the case for others in previous years.
And to think laterally, if you have a nice apartment with plenty of space and good broadband, then you may find that people want to come to you to work. It will at least give you the option of offering this to others with mutually beneficial skillsets with whom you might want to collaborate. And certainly to socialise. Which might be nice.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Well, at least we'll be spared from the OP coming back at the end of the season moaning the "lively" town was as dead as a doorknob due to Covid related restrictions. Or he's got sole use of the co-working space as nobody else were there. Or the funicular has long queues due to reduced capacity limit...
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Fri 25-09-20 16:54; edited 2 times in total
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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If the weather is bad (good) then it could be annoying to have to go somewhere else to work.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| abc wrote: |
| Well, at least we'll be spared from the OP coming back at the end of the season moaning the "lively" town was as dead as a doorknob due to Covid related restrictions. Or he's got sole use of the co-working space as nobody else were there. Or the funicular has long queues due to reduced capacity limit... |
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Nadenoodlee wrote: |
| @fenguin, having done the same in 2014/5 - rent for you not for family and friends. For the increased cost we could have rented apartments for them and have plenty left over |
That's good to know @Nadenoodle, thanks. And probably more true this year when there's a high probability of people's plans to come out being cancelled due to covid/quarantine etc.
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@fenguin I'd agree about only looking for what you alone need. If other people want to piggy-back on your season rental then ask them to fund the additional space - which I doubt they will. From personal experience, once some people think a place is 'free' it's impossible to tie them down to specific dates: you suddenly get a call to say they've booked flights and are arriving on Friday and can you pick them up from the airport at 10.30pm. Or they never get 'round to organizing the trip. But (I know I'm repeating myself) I'd still say that for the coming season especially, you should spec' your accommodation with enough space and reliable broadband so you can both work effectively from it if shared space isn't available/useful, and is also big enough to use as a social space as well, if the outside social venues turn out to be limited. And don't forget the printer 
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Hi,
Serre Chevalier has a lot going for it, great piste/offpiste/skitouring as well as being short drive to La Grave, Montgenevre, Alpes Duez and Les2Alpes.
Spent a full season there last year, met some great people who shared their knowledge of the area and shared plenty of fun times, Weathercam and KenX and their partners 
Airports: 2hrs drive to Turin, or us the well connected coach service from multiple places along the Valley. Also Grenoble is a similar driving time.
Plenty to do in the evenings, and the cost of the season pass includes days at other local area ski resorts and a couple of days free at the brilliant Grand Bains - hot springs, in Le Monetier Les Bains.
As it's a normal working town and not purpose built ski resort the cost of normal day to day living is cheaper, also normal priced food shopping at Lidl and Aldi and on the mountain, once you have shown your face a few times you will notice the price of your food and drink goes down as a seasonaire
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Markhandford, for all the reasons you list Serre Che would definitely seem a good season destination and there seems a lot of what would be suitable S/C accommodation. Did you find it easy to locate a property as its not a location that crops up often on the uk season type websites.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Mon 28-09-20 19:58; edited 1 time in total
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@fixx, what sort of internet speed can be expected in Cham? And would you recommend a fixed connection/wifi all the time or would a mobile 4G tether be doable if apartment is in the main village?
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FAQ
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