 Poster: A snowHead
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Yeah, they sound like hell on earth 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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After many winter trips to the alps I decided it was time to go in the summer a couple of years ago. We have a campervan and went to Interlaken, we took bikes and a paddle board, it was brilliant. There was loads to do and the weather was great, we would go up the mountains on cog railways and cable cars in the morning and hike amongst alpine meadows and then return to the valley in the afternoon and paddle on Thunersee to cool of, it was amazing. We didn’t move the van once we arrived just cycled or got trains everywhere. The trains are great and if you have kids a week pass was only 30 Swiss francs. Visited Lauterbrunen which has some stunning scenery and went to Grindelwald. The only downside was that we didn’t make it up the Jungfrau. There was so much to do we couldn’t fit it all in, we will be going back.
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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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Couldn't agree more with avoid purpose builtin summer.
Go for valleys, real places, not Coventry at 2000 M
Austria, Switzerland are awesome. Though very busy.
The Dolomites offer tbe best scenery but, again, sooo busy.
Pyrenees is a better bet in the summer imho
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
Couldn't agree more with avoid purpose builtin summer.
Go for valleys, real places, not Coventry at 2000 M
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I should point out that is you decide to stay in the valley you will spend almost every day going up the mountain because that is where the activities are. Much as I love Bourg st.Maurice I would get fed up queing for the funicular every morning or driving. Some lazy days we would just leave our apartment in Arc 1600 and walk round past Courbaton to Rochefleur for an afternoon or evening's sport climbing. There is an alternative in Bourg st Maurice, Rocher du Châtelard but it is just too hot in the summer, doesn't have such views and because it is near a road is noisy and dusty.
A few years ago we stayed for a few days in Wolkenstein in the Dolomites in a hotel opposite a major bus stop. People would be joining the que for a bus as soon as the last one had left to make sure they got on the next bus. The busses were always packed. They were heading up to either the Grödner Joch or the Sellajoch for a day's walking, or via ferrata.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Ideally I would stay in resort, right next to where the action is, just as I would when skiing.
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@CH1975,
Sounds fantastic, that was my plan last year, we were driving down to visit my daughter in Zurich.
But ended up taking them and a van load of camping kit for them to Locarno, we could not even afford to stay at the packed camp site and just went down the Italian end of the lake till it was time to pick them up and take them back.
Perhaps one day?
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| Quote: |
Couldn't agree more with avoid purpose built in summer.
Go for valleys, real places, not Coventry at 2000m |
I also couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, we bought a place in Tignes in summer 2007 
As a result, we've been going to Coventry ever summer since 2008... 
Here's a few snaps for anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of Lady Godiva's favourite city 
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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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PS: From the resort, it's about 7 minutes on the funicular to reach the glacier skiing at 3100m 
Surely the most easily accessed summer skiing in the Alps? Ideal for the 07.30 opening for our usual July visits.
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| Bergmeister wrote: |
| Langerzug wrote: |
| @greengriff, In summer you’d better avoid the purposebuilt resorts.... |
Yes - best avoid places like Tignes, with its glacier skiing, stunning hiking, including hikes in the the Vanoise National Park, via ferrata down the road in Val D'Isere, great mountain biking (lift assisted if you want it) and a lake offering watersports. 
Or the 3 Valleys with deserted mountain trails for hiking and biking, with a liftpass that costs €60 per week... |
Yes yes Avoid avoid - but if you do have to come then keep it quiet...
On a different topic, I can’t remember where we were in July 2020 but we hiked, biked, motored, skied, arabesqued and remote worked: we were very happy
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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The other thing about being up in the resort is that it's a nice temperature! Warm enough to sunbathe if you're in a sheltered spot but not ridiculously hot. Down in the valley it can get pretty stifling in high summer
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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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I love the alps in summer, and we go a few times each summer.
However, in the interests of balance, I'd observe that it's similar to how it can be in winter, i.e. a lot depends on the weather, so you need to take into account:
1) The risk of a few days of properly bad weather and not much being open (i.e. I'd look for somewhere with easy access to a nice valley with better weather)
2) The dust. Slightly surprised nobody has mentioned it - ski resorts, particularly the high ones, can be dry dusty places. It permeates everything.
3) The lakes look beautiful, but above 2000m they are COLD.
4) The devastation that the ski industry causes to pristine landscapes (all accusations of hypocrisy are entirely justified).
As for summer skiing... I've summer skied Tignes, Les Deux Alpes and Zermatt, June through August. It's worth doing for the experience, but it's a limited selection of runs, the snow starts icy, has a nice hour, and then gets horribly slushy. Despite no skiing this winter, I'd only bother to do 1-2days of skiing this summer if we're allowed into France. The other stuff (hiking, biking, climbing etc.) is world-class in summer. The skiing isn't even county-level 
Personally, summer skiing access wouldn't feature for me in choice of resort for a summer break, you risk choosing somewhere with (1-4) above, and attenuating the things that makes the Alps truly great in summer.
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You know it makes sense.
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good points @snowdave,
The bad weather thing is just something you have to accept. In the Dolomites we have had climbing trips where we have had heavy thunderstorms every afternoon which has had kept us off the big mountains every day on some holidays. In Les Arcs we had always had the option of the cheese factory in Bourg, but usually just put on waterproofs and go for a walk. Last year we did try the cheese factory only to discover that it had closed and was now just a shop
I haven't really noticed the dust except when mountain biking. The tracks do get dusty.
Having heard government pronouncements in the last few days about not allowing ordinary people to leave the country for holidays this summer I'm wondering if we can actually get to the alps this summer. Our big household discussion at the moment is whether to let out our apartment for the summer (we don't normally as the rates are low) or use the "Stanley Johnson" loophole to go out for a month and do a bit of decorating.
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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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@johnE, we'd noticed that Stanley Johnson loophole too. While we don't let out our apartment commercially it is available to family or friends on the basis they cover expenses - given we have bits of work to complete are we able to legitimately travel?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Yup. Ditto
'People will be allowed to leave the UK to prepare a second home for sale or rent, according to new coronavirus regulations coming into force later this month. The latest restrictions, which will apply from 29 March, will include a list of specific “reasonable excuses to travel” outside the country, including what Labour branded as “the Stanley Johnson clause”. Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, last summer apparently breached Covid guidelines by travelling to his Greek villa to make it “Covid-proof”. The exemption allows people to travel abroad “in connection with the purchase, sale, letting or rental of a residential property”. Those activities include visiting an estate agent, developer sales office or show home, viewing residential properties to rent or buy, and preparing a property for moving in. ' The Guardian 23.3.21
The next question will be what rules will apply to anyone travelling to, transiting through, or returning from, France. And in our case, the rules for entry to Switzerland from France and vice-versa. Worst case for us might be that we can fly to GVA, but not drive through France.
Presumably, the Gov.UK travel pages for France and Switzerland will get updated, along with the UK Declaration Form for International Travel when the changes come into effect.
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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 wrote: |
The next question will be what rules will apply to anyone travelling to, transiting through, or returning from, France. And in our case, the rules for entry to Switzerland from France and vice-versa. Worst case for us might be that we can fly to GVA, but not drive through France.
Presumably, the Gov.UK travel pages for France and Switzerland will get updated, along with the UK Declaration Form for International Travel when the changes come into effect. |
If the same rules as in summer 2020 apply you could transit France (even if it were red zone) so long as you don't get out and mix or let anyone into your vehicle.
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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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We bought our place in Les Carroz after a summer visit only, had no clue what the skiing was like  . Plenty to do, hike, bike, swim etc + easy access to Annecy for fun on the lake. So much effort put into summer seasons now compared to 15 years ago. The Stanley Johnson rule looks so very tempting. We do need to move the ski gear down to the cave, so we can rent our again. Will just have to hold my nerve and see.
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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: |
Last year we did try the cheese factory only to discover that it had closed and was now just a shop
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An interesting drive over the Cormet de Roseland to the one in Beaufort.
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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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@Cheesie168, same here. Our idea of buying somewhere was initially focussed on Morzine which we knew from the winter but if we were going to do that we wanted to be sure it was the right place for us and I spent some time on Google checking out a whole list of places within about an hour of Geneva. St Gervais was identified as a promising possibility, and when we visited in the summer we decided that was the place and offered on our apartment.
Our knowledge of the skiing was based entirely on the piste map and anything we could find in blogs etc (including several in Snowheads). Having lost this winter, our focus is now on the hope of summer activities again (mostly hiking in our case).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@LaForet, thanks for posting that, it is a very lose excuse for us but it is a reason, so if the worse comes true then we will pull that card out.
Going back to the OP, summer in the Alps is fantastic, there has been many good points made & if I missed it I apologies but I would recommend you have access to some sort of swimming, pool/lake, the option to take a plunge after a hike is great.
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Try Saas Fee for summer skiing as well. Lower profile than Zermatt, but decent ski area at good altitude and lovely village.
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we always go for summer holidays in Austria.
I recommend Zillertal : you can combine skiing (hintertux glacier) , biking (overall) and some other activities...rafting, canyoning etc
However they said tha the best Austrian resort for biking is Saalbach....i have never been there in summer so, i cannot say if it really so or not
Once we were alos in Tignes...but only for three days, however i founded really interesting....many things to do also
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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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@turms2, with you on that one. Done a road trip a few years ago. Couple of days in Lehrmoos as a base to go to https://area47.at/ which was excellent. Then off to Mayrhofen for a week (spent a few holidays years ago there and loved it) and did the canyoning and loads of cycling/walking etc and busy at night. Then off to Zell am See for a week there. Overall best summer holiday we've had
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