 Poster: A snowHead
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@LiveLife Chalets, With advertising like that you should go far.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@esaw1, Sorry if that came across as advertising! You can't blame us for wanting to understand how people are thinking about this winter though. To be honest we have pretty low expectations for visitor numbers from the UK this winter. Its a shame but the double whammy of Brexit and Covid does not make for favourable market conditions! We're doing all we can to attract Swiss domestic visitors and reaching out to the German and Dutch inbound markets. We have a lovely place here in an area that's not well known to UK visitors and we'd really love to be able to introduce more people to a great area.
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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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@boarder2020, Canadian Government is incredibly cautious at present time. Current closure of borders to tourists is scheduled to be reviewed 30 September and will almost certainly be extended. I do wonder though if they will cut off the tourist moula for the entire ski season as it has a small population (39 million) which I guess means they can ill-afford to remain closed for a year. Possible that Provinces such as BC and Alberta will be pressing hard to get some sort of a season. Quite accept all of this is wishful conjecture as have flight booked to Vancouver 16 January - flying back via Chicago 
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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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@LiveLife Chalets, is there a weblink?
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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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@Snowsartre, of course. It is www.livelifechalets.com
I wasn’t sure if it was permitted to post links on here so I hope I will be forgiven if I’ve broken the rules!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Snowsarte, some of our group for our midterm trip where flying to Seattle then up to whistler but have changed there flights to Vancouver last week so direct to Canada from the UK with BA. I dont know if this will make any difference but who knows!
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Well the company we were to work for this season, with 6 chalets have shut up shop completely. There are going to be a lot of boarded up chalets this winter.
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 @RobinS,
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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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@LiveLife Chalets, I will take the rap - I requested it!
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@WASHOUT, that's interesting, perhaps the US border will be the last to open to tourists....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Snowsartre wrote: |
| @WASHOUT, that's interesting, perhaps the US border will be the last to open to tourists.... |
I would doubt that.
US is much bigger market, so probably not worth the hassle of opening up for the rest of the world without US
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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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| Snowsartre wrote: |
| @boarder2020, Canadian Government is incredibly cautious at present time. Current closure of borders to tourists is scheduled to be reviewed 30 September and will almost certainly be extended. I do wonder though if they will cut off the tourist moula for the entire ski season as it has a small population (39 million) which I guess means they can ill-afford to remain closed for a year. Possible that Provinces such as BC and Alberta will be pressing hard to get some sort of a season. Quite accept all of this is wishful conjecture as have flight booked to Vancouver 16 January - flying back via Chicago |
This might give you an idea how hard BC is pressing (or not):
https://www.destinationbc.ca/content/uploads/2020/09/Rep_IW_DestinationBC_Omni_09Sept2020_WAVE9.pdf
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@RobinS, sorry to hear that. I hope you’ll be able to find something else. Do you speak German? If so it may be worth trying the hotels and restaurants in some of the smaller less well known areas of Switzerland. There is a big drive for domestic tourism and some of the smaller places have very loyal domestic customers. Might be less than full time hours (a friend of ours is currently on 60% at a bar/restaurant in Lenk) but the pay is good enough to make ends meet and fund a season pass. Feel free to drop me an email richard@livelifechalets.com if I can help.
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You know it makes sense.
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@LiveLife Chalets, Should you not be Super/Mega? 
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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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@stuarth, interesting read albeit minuscule sample - not a lot of love for the east coasters! Moving the right way though 
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
@stuarth, interesting read albeit minuscule sample - not a lot of love for the east coasters! Moving the right way though
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It's probably more politics and people disliking quebecois, as number of covid cases seem similar to BC. Surprised Alberta is not higher for similar reasons!
@snowsarte There is some suggestion that Canada won't open for anyone until the US border is safe to open. Its as much politics as safety. Barring a vaccine I don't expect Canada to open this winter, but im guessing somewhat. If I was planning a North American trip would head to USA as it seems like a much more sure option.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| boarder2020 wrote: |
| Quote: |
@stuarth, interesting read albeit minuscule sample - not a lot of love for the east coasters! Moving the right way though
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It's probably more politics and people disliking quebecois, as number of covid cases seem similar to BC. Surprised Alberta is not higher for similar reasons!
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I think it was due to Quebec getting hit fairly badly early on; a large percentage of cases and deaths in Canada were there. So possibly seen as more of a COVID epicentre, though think things have evened out since.
This has been attributed to a bit of bad luck/timing (Quebec spring break was earlier so BC/Alberta had chance to shut things down before loads of people went travelling), more European travel, and possibly a few unfortunate decisions
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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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Now Sweden is on the UK quarantine exempt list, it’s a safe bet to know you won’t be quarantined on arrival at least. I’m very interested to see how busy it will be as I expect a lot of Swedes, especially families will probably stay in Sweden to ski this season. But if you avoid half term (Sportlov) weeks 7-10, especially week 9, and Easter week 14, it should be good.
Probably more Swedes will travel abroad than people from other countries as there’s less fear here and no quarantine/flip-flop nonsense. I’ll be skiing in Sweden and the Alps if at all possible.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Tue 15-09-20 7:41; edited 1 time 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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@Themasterpiece, wondering same, my daughters reaction when I was telling her our Christmas week is looking less and less likely, she said, can we go to Sweden instead. I will look without a doubt if we can switch if advice to Austria doesn’t change
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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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@NickyJ, for potentially busy periods I’m going to make the effort to go a bit further north. I’d expect Sälen, Orsa etc to be busy with people from the south and west coast. Had a nice long-weekend in Vemdalen last year, and Kittelfjäll has been on my list for a long time but it’s a long drive from Stockholm, or flight with Amapola.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@LiveLife Chalets, Thanks for the offer, unfortunately while I speak just about enough german to get by, JanetS is pretty much restricted to "Zwei Bier bitte" (due to her dyslexia she never did any foreign language at school, and still struggles now). It has always been the advantage working in French resorts for UK companies that limited French has never been a problem.
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There was a good Podcast on Radio4 that included one of the leading statisticians specialising in medical and epidemic analysis, and he was quoting a variety of studies about the risks involved in different activities. Even now, a lot of these studies are a bit limited, but for example, he mentioned studies that have been done in China and Germany by train companies which have failed to find any infections arising from train journeys of under 4 hours/day in total. Is there a single source anyone's aware of for risk of infection in terms of the various ski holiday alternatives?
A lot of decisions are being made on the basis of subjective feeling at the moment, which is notoriously prone to error.
So for example, it could be that flying is relatively as safe as driving, as long as you don't share a transfer bus with miscellaneous other people and transfer using a hire car. Or it could be that self-drive is the safest as long as you don't enter a large motorway service station and amble 'round the shop. I can imagine someone feeling that using an airport terminal for the typical 3-4 hours 'must' be risky, but is it? Statistically? Without risk numbers it's hard to make an informed decision.
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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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seems a number of austrian hotels in ski areas served from salzburg (saalbach)are offering booking with free cancellation 21 days before arrival .Ive had a couple of emails from one we have used offering this.looks like the conditions are similar to what theve had ongoing this summer
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The decisions on cancellation policies are likely to be quite fluid and dependent on how easily rooms can be re-let within 21 days (or more) of a cancellation. The summer tourism season has been better than expected, although most bookings have been fairly late. If that continues into the winter season, then accommodation providers might be in a position to be more generous with cancellations.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Whether they offer 21,14 or even 7 day cancellation policies... I doubt that would be enough. For all the countries that have been flip-flopping on/off the quarantine list, I don't recall having the luxury of 7 days notice for any of them.
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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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@dode, but for Austrian accommodation providers the majority of guests will be German or Austrian. There's unlikely to be any restrictions for these guests. They have made up the vast majority of summer tourism. Normally German and Austrian guests account for around 70% of tourism in Austria, but I'd wager that the proportion has been much higher this summer. Official figures are of course yet to be released. British guests account for only 2.6% of tourism in Austria.
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@queenie pretty please, I get that. All I'm saying is, for me as a UK based skier, I wouldn't be looking at a 21 day cancellation policy as any sort of insurance given the length of notice given by the UK gov. of previous changes to quarantine restrictions.
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You know it makes sense.
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It seems reasonable to me as if and when uk remove austria from the no travel list a booking ( for travel) could be made as the insurance will be valid whatever happens, in the meantime a room can be reserved knowing you can cancel if restrictions are unlikely to allow travel nearer the time and as more than likely to self drive ,think it could at least give hope
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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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We had our annual worldwide travel insurance policy through in June and it was so full of get out clauses re COVID it wasn't worth it (not that we could travel anyway!)
Will happily take risk re travel costs when booking travel for our skiing holidays and I expect COVID exclusions but so long as covered for skiing accidents then I would be fine.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| thefatcontroller wrote: |
We had our annual worldwide travel insurance policy through in June and it was so full of get out clauses re COVID it wasn't worth it (not that we could travel anyway!)
Will happily take risk re travel costs when booking travel for our skiing holidays and I expect COVID exclusions but so long as covered for skiing accidents then I would be fine. |
My feelings too, all I'm concerned about is cover for skiing, will take our chances with covid issues as with being sensible it should be easy enough to avoid too much contact with people.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Timberwolf, good idea thanks, I'll give them an ask. Skied a day with B their first year out there, it'd be interesting to see how they've settled. Certainly the Austrian B&B's in Sandbach seem to be sticking to there normal cancellation conditions so far.
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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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@ski for fun, interesting about the hotels. Maybe its because I'm looking at the cheaper, small guesthouses and I imagine a cancellation will be potentially more damaging to their income than say to a larger hotel, hence their reluctance to be more generous with cancellation conditions.
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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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British folks will not be going anywhere after January 1st unless they can afford to Quarantine for 10-14 days or get tested but Tests for Holidays are NOT Essential.
New EU Wide Travel Rules...
EU to make British tourists quarantine when they arrive in resorts – and ban them altogether UK cases rise under new bloc-wide travel rules planned for the New Year
British tourists will face quarantine or Covid-19 tests on arrival in EU countries
EU will lock UK out of the continent from January if infections continue rise.
EU Commission to standardise infection thresholds and approaches to lockdown
UK will not be part of any system of shared rules upon leaving on December 31
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/britons-could-be-stuck-in-holiday-purgatory-without-airport-test/
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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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I fear StAnton is correct - as long as the cases numbers in UK do not start to fall (which is likely).
It was only a matter of time before the EU27 came around to having joined up quarantine policy. And the numbers, as they are now, mean British residents will be affected.
A mixture of being outside of the EU from January and Covid travel restrictions will do for the ski season for British residents.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Android2000, yes, no, maybe! People from outside the EU currently ski in the EU and there is no reason why this can't continue after Jan 1st.
Tests on arrival in EU - why not, small price to pay to ski particularly as it would mean no quarantine.
Nigel is predictably having a pop at the UK while conveniently ignoring France is having far more cases at the moment than here
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I have a German friend and she tells me the states can't and won't agree a cohesive COVID policy. I can't see them signing up to an EU policy.
Interesting speculation.
And why won't cases reduce in the UK? I think we can all agree more stringent measures are just around the corner even is there is growing feeling against them, if we can't go out cases will fall.
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I also fear Stanton might be right....I can’t see any other likely scenario unless there’s a vaccine produced and rolled out in the meantime. No plans here for now....can’t see a winter season being a realistic option based on where we are now.
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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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Anyone got a Euro article on that? Nothing in the local press here. These things are often lost in translation in the British media, so I'd find a source closer to the source before reading too much into it.
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Mr happy strikes again, some folk will always find a problem for every solution. why would the EU have one policy on covid, different areas will have different rates of infections and different ways of dealing with it. Ski areas will be putting enormous pressure on to enable skiing.
They simply cant afford an empty season
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FAQ
