 Poster: A snowHead
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@Dave of the Marmottes, 
It's every one else's fault anyway so it doesn't matter - he was busy earlier in the year, it's hard work being awol.....pretending to be ill during CV-19 before his miracle second-coming on Easter Sunday after 3 days in ICU, now he's worried he might have to do something once all the kiddies are back at school, he's going to have a massive unemployment issue after his next door neighbour's furlough scheme runs out, wonder how he's going to manage going forwards with no holidays, no fake CV-19 illness opps, and no more paternity leave - god forbid, may have to do some work, he definitely doesn't want the Irish to get in the way and have to enter into discussion with.....borders, no borders, red lines, tariffs, no tariffs.....oh dear that could get spaffingly complicated.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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A polite plea to keep the thread on subject. Boris is indeed an incompetent ..... but plenty of other threads for that discussion 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Markymark29 wrote: |
| I for one will certainly be going nowhere near Scotland for skiing. |
all the more fresh tracks for the rest of us then 
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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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@munich_irish, agreed
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Sorry folks for thread creep.....I'm planning a mid December pre Christmas trip to Arlberg, firmly of the opinion that Austria will sort itself quickly and will be open for business 4th December onwards, and can then quarantine over Xmas/ NY if required back here in UK.
@kitenski, I love Scotland and have many friends there, going to the Outer Hebrides next Friday for a week mountain-biking, but not for skiing, worked in Scotland for 5 years in the 90's and soon came to the opinion if your local and can go at short notice it works, but otherwise its a chew to get there and unpredictable weather and snow cover, certainly not my idea of fun.
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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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@Dave of the Marmottes, I sympathise. I too have some concerns about my early season skiing trips and how many restrictions there will be on day trips but that is not really relevant to the current travel situation.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Scarlet, there's a reason we got a flat without a spare room 
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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 arrived in Alpbach, no check at Austrian border. Zero questions from hotel. Only question was at Munich airport, “where have you stayed for last 14 days”
Seems we missed the best of the weather:(
Happy to quarantine on return home if necessary, but as flight will be Munich to Edinburgh it may not be needed. Though we still plan to be more careful than we have been for the past few months.
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You know it makes sense.
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@ribblevalleyred, when you return you need to complete the UK return to home form no more than 48hrs before your return date, you will need to complete the country you are returning from , Austria, then dates you where there.
UK border force will ask if you have complete the form and randomly access then to check.
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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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Well decided to head out of Austria early. Headed to Munich and finally decided our whilst our hearts was still in Austria we would fly out to avoid the quarantine issues for kids.
I really feel for the locals. They are very fearful for the winter season. Local hotelier says almost no winter bookings. Would be almost full for the season except early Dec Jan by now. Very sad.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Drove through Austria this evening on the way back from Tuscany. A few Austrian police at the Brenner on the look out for anyone on the way back from Croatia, unsurprisingly German registered vehicles were ignored. The test station at Kiefersfelden was in fact around 15km further into Bavaria in a layby, there were various signs encouraging folk who were returning from "high risk" areas to get a test but it was all voluntary no checks at all.
Stopped at one of the petrol stations on the Brenner to buy a vignette and was somewhat surprised by the lack of folk wearing masks, in Italy (as in Germany) everyone wears them.
The roadworks on the Brenner were odd, somewhat like a slalom course to test driving skills, not helped by driving in the pouring rain. Far worse than anything we came across on the Italian autostrada.
@Bennyboy1, similar situation in Tuscany, many of the restaurants are closed and those that are open have had a good July & August but are very concerned about the future when they can no longer have tables outside. This is despite far more local (Italian) visitors than usual in the summer holiday period.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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On Thursday we drove from Alleghe to Saarbrucken, not an easy drive but easier than from the channel tunnel home. We pulled into the first service station in Austria to buy our vignette. There was a fair police presence, but I had a feeling that they were looking for something else other than covid 19 checks. When in the service station buying my vignette I was suprised to see quite a few people not wearing masks. Is the Brenner motorway ever free of roadworks?
The satnav took us over the Fern pass, which was very slow (must remember never to use that route again) and on entering Germany we were funneled past a police patrol. Once again it looked routine and had nothing to do with Covid 19.
In the Dolomites most restaurants and mountain huts were open and the whole area was very busy, very busy. We tried to get a hotel in Wolkenstein for a few nights but they had limited availability and were charging a lot for bed and breakfast (over 100 euro per person per night). Our regular hotel, the Ciclamino in Sala charged 75 euro per person per night for bed, breakfast and a wonderful evening meal.
Apart from our party we saw no UK registered cars in Italy and not many from other countries but lots of German registered motorcycles. In Saarbrucken mask wearing was less universal than Italy. There were a couple UK registered cars at the hotel in Saarbrucken overnight; no doubt like us preparing for a non-stop dash across France.
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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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@johnE,just missed you , we did the dash from Saarbrücken, likewise few GB cars
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@radar, @ribblevalleyred, I didn't fill in the return form on line when I flew from Munich to Edinburgh. It was a bit of a pita on my small screen phone. I thought what is the worst that could happen, get asked to fill it in at Edinburgh.
On arrival at Edinburgh there were no checks, we were funneled into the passport reader machines.
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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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10 hour delays at borders in Carinthia, presumably police checking incoming holiday makers returning from Balkan’s. Good for them!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Markymark29 wrote: |
| 10 hour delays at borders in Carinthia, presumably police checking incoming holiday makers returning from Balkan’s. Good for them! |
I think they've relaxed it a bit now, just to get the queue down. A ten hour wait on the autobahn when it's 35C+, with no access to water or facilities is a much higher risk to health than a few people not submitting their test results at the border.
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@Scarlet, it appears that they are now only carrying out random tests as the situation was completely crazy and the checks were causing more problems than the solved. However it is clear that much of the problem in Austria and Germany is being caused by younger folk returning from Croatia. https://www.tt.com/artikel/17258196/gros-der-infizierten-ist-unter-30-jahre-alt-auch-viele-reiserueckkehrer . My business partner's son and 10 of his friends from the village, all early twenties, are on their way back from a week in Croatia where they had hired a villa. They were not in a "high risk" area but even so it is a concern as if any of them have picked it up they are likely to be asymptomatic and can easily pass it on to their families etc on their return.
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@munich_irish, It was a stupid idea, recording the details of every vehicle coming through. I get your point, but tbf they are Germany's problem and should be quickly sent on their way until they reach the German border, where it is up to the Germans whatever their policy is. Heavy handed approaches are not helpful – just look at Peru.
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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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@Scarlet, my concern for people on their way from the Balkans in the middle of a pandemic having had 2 weeks in the sun and being subject to a wait 10 hours in sweltering heat doesn’t even get on my emotioniometer scale. Imv they should have been held back until their traceability was secured.
As for 10 young guys taking a villa and then going back home potentially to pass the virus onto others, therein lies the root of the problem, ime many young people do not care and are blasé. (Chooses words carefully). Anyone remember the Norwegians who allegedly imported the virus from Italy into Ischgl? People have short memories.....
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It's probably not as bad as it looks. I liked this explanation (translated):
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| Besides the annoyance about the quarantine, there is now the annoyance about false positive or false negative tests. The lower the number of cases, the less accurate the tests. With an infection rate of one percent, the reported number of infected persons would be almost 12 percent too high. If the infection rate is two percent, international studies show that eight percent of the infected persons would still be tested false positive. In Tyrol the infection rate is currently 0.03898 percent. That is 308 infected ones with 755.000 inhabitants. About two thirds of the 308 infected persons are not ill. |
https://www.tt.com/artikel/17270503/der-corona-test-ist-negativ-doch-die-quarantaene-bleibt
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Stubai Glacier recently published their modus operandi for the coming season (re corona): https://www.stubaier-gletscher.com/stubai-live/news/detail/coronavirus-information
In short, mostly as you'd expect: wear face masks in closed rooms (in restaurants = when walking to your table/toilet/etc, but obv not while sitting) and lifts, wash your hands lots, be careful when you sneeze not to spray other people.
More interesting points:
1. Ski lifts are subject to the same rules as other public transport, and with the use of face masks they can be used to full capacity (ie 6 people in 6er gondola); however when capacity is low enough to allow they will reduce the number of people in each lift
2. Apres ski bar - won't be like apres ski. Sitting at tables, only background music, only table service.
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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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@clarky999, does public transport in Innsbruck blank out 50% of the seats to facilitate social distancing ?
Surely 6 seater gondolas should have a capacity of 2 or maybe 4 people ? maybe based upon how long the ride is perhaps.
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@rayscoops, nope, though face masks are mandatory, public transport in Austria can be used to full capacity atm (ski lifts fall under the same regulations and are administered by the same department).
However everything I've seen from other resorts includes limiting capacity, so I would expect it to end up being "we don't have to, but we will [limit capacity]".
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You know it makes sense.
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@rayscoops, trains and buses have normal occupancy levels but with compulsory masks or visors. So far there hasn't been any substantial evidence of widespread transmission inside public transport. There are posters in the trains about wearing masks and asking people to talk quietly. I have seen some on the spot fines for non-compliance (€40).
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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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@clarky999, Forgive my poor translation if I'm wrong on this, but apart from on the lifts/in lift buildings which are covered by federal law as discussed above, it actually says “wir empfehlen” (we recommend) so it looks like a list of recommendations rather than rules. I'm not sure how enforceable they will be in reality, given that things like masks in restaurants are not required in the rest of the country, and social distancing is something that happens in other countries!
I expect that lift capacity will be cut at quieter times, although people tend to spread themselves out anyway when it's not busy if they can have a gondola to themselves etc.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Scarlet, sure, but I think they will take the recommendations pretty seriously and enforce them. They are talking about their own restaurants on the glacier, not everything in the valley, so AFAIA they're free to do that if they want (for example Patagonia shop in IBK still doing the same). Probably also working on the assumption of such restrictions being applied locally at some point over the season (same happened last time I was in OÖ, had to wear masks everywhere when here in Tirol things were much looser).
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I expect that lift capacity will be cut at quieter times, although people tend to spread themselves out anyway when it's not busy if they can have a gondola to themselves etc.
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Yep, will be interesting to see what the usual vocal complainers of waiting a chair/letting one go un-filled to sit with a mate think about it this season
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Scarlet, @clarky999, apparently the new 'traffic light' system goes live next Friday, so rules about masks/social distancing, events with more than a certain number of people, etc. will be dependent on the traffic light rating for your Bezirk. The rules about masks in buildings and public transport (including ski lifts) will remain in place regardless of the traffic light rating.
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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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| clarky999 wrote: |
Stubai Glacier recently published their modus operandi for the coming season (re corona): https://www.stubaier-gletscher.com/stubai-live/news/detail/coronavirus-information
In short, mostly as you'd expect: wear face masks in closed rooms (in restaurants = when walking to your table/toilet/etc, but obv not while sitting) and lifts, wash your hands lots, be careful when you sneeze not to spray other people.
More interesting points:
1. Ski lifts are subject to the same rules as other public transport, and with the use of face masks they can be used to full capacity (ie 6 people in 6er gondola); however when capacity is low enough to allow they will reduce the number of people in each lift
2. Apres ski bar - won't be like apres ski. Sitting at tables, only background music, only table service. |
Guess it's not a surprise having read the Ischgl "rules". I'd be highly surprised if these things haven't been agreed at an industry level and the reference to the regulations is to identifiy that that will be the main mechanism by which rules are tightened or loosened.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| queenie pretty please wrote: |
| apparently the new 'traffic light' system goes live next Friday, so rules about masks/social distancing, events with more than a certain number of people, etc. will be dependent on the traffic light rating for your Bezirk. |
Great. I thought that might be the case. I look forward to a series of heavy-handed rules, despite the fact that the local problem appears to have been contained 
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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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@queenie pretty please, link when it's published please
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@clarky999, oh ok, buses I have been on here in Wales have every other seat blanked off so the bus is only 50% capacity, plus you need a face mask. I still am not keen on that with someone coughing and spluttering on the seat behind.
Personally I am not sure I want to spend 30 minutes squeezed into a gondola ‘jowl to jowl’ with strangers, and not sure a basic face mask will make much difference at all in such circumstances if one of the other users have Covid.
Doesn’t seem to be in line with WHO recommendations at all.
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@rayscoops, It has been established that no lift in Austria takes longer than 15 min. They are working on the principal that if the time is less than 15 min, you are unlikely to get infected.
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@Scarlet, do they never get stuck or slow down in high winds etc any more ? I recall being stuck in one at Stubai for 3 hours
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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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If you don't like the rules don't take the lift(s) seems fairly simple....or just wee wee and whine about a country you have no intention of visiting anyway...
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@rayscoops, here in Bavaria (and I believe Austria is the same) there have been no capacity restrictions on public transport whether train or buses. The only "restriction" is the requirement to wear a mask (introduced a long time before the UK). I would guess ski buses will run as usual but with a requirement to wear masks, the same as any other public transport. Far more people on them than on most ski lifts. Life is somewhat different here than in the UK.
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FAQ
