 Poster: A snowHead
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@bezthespaniard, on Radio Mont Blanc as well. Good news, too late perchance.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Just back after a week in Les Arcs. Asked for Pass Sanitaire several times usually at bottom lift and in cafe. Used the NHS Scotland app which worked sometimes but at other times said "expired"- not sure why but might have been something to do with lack of internet access. Took printed form with vaccination status which worked as back-up. Friends used the French TousAntiCovid app which seemed to work. For return flight, getting booked for lateral flow (antigen test) in one of the two pharmacies in Bourg St Maurice was impossible due to lack of appointments but they were getting geared to offer walk-in PCR or antigen testing for large numbers in the Cabinet Medical in Arcs 2000 and from 18 Dec offering testing in Les Arcs 1950. Mask wearing patchy in lift queues and gondolas. Return trip via Turin, both the security & airline staff wanted to see -ve antigen test and UK Passenger Locator Form.
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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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I’ve had my PS checked once in 4 days on a compulsory basis for a lift (main grands montets gondola) and 3 other times when I’ve volunteered it to the lifty at the start of the day.
My 15 yr old has never been checked. Pity, as I’d like to feel there’s some benefit to the daily E25 going to the pharmacist’s pension fund. They’ll be very disappointed if testing is no longer sufficient for a PS, seems to be a major source of income for them at present.
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@snowdave, hope the change doesn’t merde up your skiing.
Have been in 4 establishments we don’t frequent very often, no checks, none on snow either.
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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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And mask wearing very patchy and on mountain ordinary buffs seem quite fine.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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spent a week in Meribel from 4/12 and at least twice a day I was checked before boarding a gondola. Checked every time going into a cafe/restaurant. Instructor also checked the Pass Sanitaire.
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| under a new name wrote: |
| @bezthespaniard, on Radio Mont Blanc as well. Good news, too late perchance. |
Terrible news. My Irish mate has a booster but can’t prove it as ireland doesn’t give certificate. Tests were his only option
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i am in les menuires at the moment, i have only been asked for my pass sanitaire once in 3 days, and that was in a brit run bar, not required in any shops etc.
have not seen it been asked for once on any lift either, in either LM/VT/st martin or meribel, or when buying my lift pass which was via the 24hr self service machine outside the lift office!!!
mask, or buff wearing is asked for quite a lot (via signage), but i have only seen one liftie enforce it so far!
what does this mean with regards to the change in pass sanitaire/testing requirements that has been announced, is this good or bad news for teenagers?
my teenage daughter is due to be tested on a daily basis in les menuires in feb, if i cannot get her 2nd jabbed and some form of recognition of it by then, though if the checks in resort are similar to what is going on at the moment i am not going to worry about it too much 
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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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Three days skiing so far in Val D/Tignes. Not asked for PS even once on lifts. Every bar/restaurant is checking PS though
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@bezthespaniard, sorry for your mate, but in general if it's encouraging more jags, it's a good thing.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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First day skiing in Le Grand Bornand today. Haven’t been asked for PS on any lifts but saw one person randomly checking along the line at Floria.
No PS requested at the lunch stop on the mountain but they were madly busy serving anyway.
Most people are complying with the mask requests on the lifts. Any old face covering seems to be fine though.
Mostly French customers here as usual with only a handful of Brits
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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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Just got back from a week in Tignes, didn't get asked for PS at all on lifts, although my partner did once over in Val D. Virtually every bar/restaurant/cafe wanted to see it, even when sitting outdoors. The only exceptions to this were for lunch stops up the mountain which were hit and miss.
As for masks*, at the start of the week when the Brit:French ratio was more skewed to Brit (tons of students) very few people were wearing them while queuing for/using lifts (near 100% inside though). This changed along with the travel rules and French holidays starting, plus very few Brits turning up, and I would guess 70-80% of people were wearing them on our last day.
*When I say mask, there doesn't appear to be any standard adhered to. A lot of people were just pulling up their neck warmer over their nose.
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Here's what I have seen over the last 4 days in Les Men/VT/Mottaret
Almost no one getting away without a mask after the lift barrier - lifties all enforcing strictly. Once on the lift, compliance about 80%, maybe higher - on a par with the long train journey I took across England and Wales last week.
Variety of different types of mask, including quite a lot of the standard blue disposable type. I have seen buffs, but mainly the soft shell version with officially signed off barrier properties. I have bought one of these for each of our party from the official 3 valleys online shop for about 15 euros, picked them up from tourist office when we arrived (thanks to whichever snowhead it was that flagged these) have found them to be excellent, much more comfortable to wear than a standard buff as they don't get all soggy.
All restaurants have asked for pass sanitaire, UK NHS one is fine. Have only seen one check of this at a lift - centre of les men yesterday afternoon
In our hotel, mask wearing, tick, but not a scooby about covid precautions in the dining room - keeping my fingers crossed and hoping 3 doses does the trick
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You know it makes sense.
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Been skiing around the Portes du Soleil resorts the last few days. Only got asked for my COVID pass when buying my lift ticket, and to enter 1 mountain restaurant. No checks at lifts or the other restaurants, shops etc. Mask wearing seems to be mostly enforced on the enclosed lifts, but not the chairlifts (seems pointless on a chairlift anyway!). Buffs are fine as a mask
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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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| musehead wrote: |
| Been skiing around the Portes du Soleil resorts the last few days. Only got asked for my COVID pass when buying my lift ticket, and to enter 1 mountain restaurant. No checks at lifts or the other restaurants, shops etc. Mask wearing seems to be mostly enforced on the enclosed lifts, but not the chairlifts (seems pointless on a chairlift anyway!). Buffs are fine as a mask |
That saved me writing the exact same thing.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Seems to me that snoods (or "tours de cou" in France), whether of the Buff brand or not, are only accepted because you cant easily check whether they are Covid certified or just the normal type.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PS being requested every morning now in Ste Foy since Saturday when it got a little busier. But the liftie gives us the nod if we go down to the bottom lift again. They are all asking for masks, buffs etc to be in evidence.
They seem to have got it down to a fine art of someone has the mask round their chin, just upward gesture of the fingers to get the message across.
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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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3V have been very impressive. Lift check 1st thing, lifties insistent on masks at each lift. Not especially busy and people being sensible about spreading out. All lunch / drinks stops doing Pass Sanitaire checks. Safer than Sainsbury’s back in the UK.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Just finished a trip to Megeve/Combloux. Passes checked most of the time at most of the bottom lifts, but not other than that when skiing. Restaurants/snack bars all checking.
PS checks less irritating as the days went on than trying to sort a mask out under the ear flaps of helmet - either an FFP2 or a covid-rated buff, both a bit of a faff - but obviously worth it.
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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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| al.p wrote: |
| Just back after a week in Les Arcs. Asked for Pass Sanitaire several times usually at bottom lift and in cafe. |
That’s interesting, I didn’t have PS checked at all in Les Arcs last week. I spent less time inside the mountain restaurants than I normally would, mainly because the weather was lovely, and didn’t head out much in the evenings other than grocery shopping, so that might have reduced the opportunity to be checked. But despite this slight change in behaviour, I wasn’t checked once in eight days of skiing.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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What’s it like on the ground?
Do you know there’s a check as you approach or do you just get asked randomly?
Do they come at you with a scanner?
Is there a way to avoid them?
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[quote="bezthespaniard"[/quote]
]What’s it like on the ground? ADH Not yet, been here a week. LDA were on Saturday at main acccess lift
Do you know there’s a check as you approach or do you just get asked randomly? Guy walking back and forth with scanner / smartphone in front of turnstiles. Did not see anyone barred.
Do they come at you with a scanner? As above
Is there a way to avoid them? Possibly by getting outlying small access lift ? Skinning up and staying up.
If you are doing any of the above because you tested positive and want to carry on skiing regardless then I think that's bad. (unless you skin up and ski down alone on a dserted piste perhaps ?)
If you are the victim of some bureaucratic nightmare then I sympathise but probably best to sort that out if you can. I suspect, rightly or wrongly, it's only going to get stricter.
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bro in law checked yesterday, returned invalid, ignored ... 
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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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@under a new name, I had my third jab last Friday here in France and went to a bar Sunday night and I too had an invalid and was told that there is an issue with 3rd jabs!!
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@Weathercam, use your old one maybe? We had issues in August when we got 2nd jabs just to avoid uk confinement and the had a valid inf+1 but invalid for a week 2nd.
Some bar staff are none too smart 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@under a new name, not a problem as it's my local and they'd already checked me two or three times before, it was actually me that asked them to check it as I was curious as to whether the new one would work, or not
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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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| bezthespaniard wrote: |
What’s it like on the ground?
Do you know there’s a check as you approach or do you just get asked randomly?
Do they come at you with a scanner?
Is there a way to avoid them? |
At ADH/Oz for the last week or so. Only been scanned once at Signal lift. There was lady randomly scanning your vaccination pass as you entered the lift queue. You could easily avoid the lady doing it or just go to another lift. Looked like a half hearted effort so that they can say they are doing something. If they really wanted to enforce rigidly I would have thought the place to do it is when you purchase your lift pass.
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| skitow wrote: |
| [quote="bezthespaniard" |
]What’s it like on the ground? ADH Not yet, been here a week. LDA were on Saturday at main acccess lift
Do you know there’s a check as you approach or do you just get asked randomly? Guy walking back and forth with scanner / smartphone in front of turnstiles. Did not see anyone barred.
Do they come at you with a scanner? As above
Is there a way to avoid them? Possibly by getting outlying small access lift ? Skinning up and staying up.
If you are doing any of the above because you tested positive and want to carry on skiing regardless then I think that's bad. (unless you skin up and ski down alone on a dserted piste perhaps ?)
If you are the victim of some bureaucratic nightmare then I sympathise but probably best to sort that out if you can. I suspect, rightly or wrongly, it's only going to get stricter.[/quote]
Yeah it's bureaucratic issue. Mate is Irish and can't prove he had a booster.
Going to be tough in resort explaining to every lift about that!
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You know it makes sense.
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| Idris wrote: |
| New update this morning on French radio. Pass sanitiaire will only be for the vaccinated and recovered. No longer for the daily tested. They said for adults. |
Do you have a link for this?
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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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@rzer, Not seen that on any of the other lifts. Maybe it's coming.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| skitow wrote: |
| @rzer, Not seen that on any of the other lifts. Maybe it's coming. |
Dunno. But I'd be surprised as they seem pretty relaxed about it all. The odd liftie will ask folks to put their face mask on, but that's it.
The benefits of checking vaccination certs while out skiiing have got to be marginal at best, so I'd say it is just a token gesture to check at all.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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In Le Grand Bornand as well- only asked for one ps when checking into campsite- no other checks at all- conditions lovely- quite quiet as well!@MazDave,
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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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| rzer wrote: |
If they really wanted to enforce rigidly I would have thought the place to do it is when you purchase your lift pass. |
Yep. If they were really serious it would be linked to the lift pass with periodic activation. (I.e. once a day validate pass sanitaire to activate/enable the lift pass; has to be daily because pass can be from testing not vaccination)
Could even be automated - RFID + qr code scanner beside key lifts... One liftie watching half a dozen check-in points...
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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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| qwerty360 wrote: |
| rzer wrote: |
If they really wanted to enforce rigidly I would have thought the place to do it is when you purchase your lift pass. |
Yep. If they were really serious it would be linked to the lift pass with periodic activation. (I.e. once a day validate pass sanitaire to activate/enable the lift pass; has to be daily because pass can be from testing not vaccination)
Could even be automated - RFID + qr code scanner beside key lifts... One liftie watching half a dozen check-in points... |
That's what's happening in the Sella Ronda isn't it?
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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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we actually got checked at base station yesterday. Masks in increasingly short supply it seems, as well..
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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5 days of skiing in La plagne haven't been asked for QR code once on lifts. Masks required in Gondolas and lift queues (no proper queues yet) enforced by signage. The one exception in Bellecote where I heard a liftie tell someone to pull up there mask - bit late by then really.
BUT have had to have QR code checked in every bar restaurant and outside terrace without exception - so glad we followed a suggestion on here to print the QR and get it laminated makes life much easier than faffing with phone. I printed NHS codes 2 and 3 - both work.
Boosters in France are novel, a 50 something local says his turn for a booster will come in May! and then said the Government hasn't got enough vaccine.
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@boredsurfin, how does the signage do the enforcing?
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@under a new name, I guess it serves to remind people of the legal requirement. You know, much like a stop sign at a road junction or a speed limit sign.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Wed 22-12-21 9:49; edited 1 time in total
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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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Soldeu checked my NHS pass on the first lift I went up but not checked it on any lift since, it's not linked to my pass so they probably realised how impossible that would be to do
However every restaurant and bar has checked my status, on the mountain it's before you can go inside or sit on a terrace. Down in the town it's when you order (didn't help me)
The lift operators do all you to pull up your mask or bid and I have seen restaurants make people wear a 'proper' mask to gain entry. They have some on hand to give out of you only have a buff.
The chair lifts are at full capacity but Gondola is 75%
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| boredsurfin wrote: |
Boosters in France are novel, a 50 something local says his turn for a booster will come in May! and then said the Government hasn't got enough vaccine. |
That's not the case here:
You can just go onto DrLib get one so long as its > 5.5 months from second jab ( one bloke just walked in sans appointment and got one while we were getting ours).
It's not age related either: one of our our kids 22 has had his, and the others, 21 & 19 have them booked over the next 2 weeks.
The only age-related factor seemed to be that those over 35 were given Moderna booster, those under 35 had Pfizer. (That might be a function of Pfizer supply, as there are fewer people in that demographic who have hit the 5.5month eligibility threshold).
But definitely available here & now.
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FAQ
