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Ground floor & recent large dumps

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I have always wondered how ground floor apartments in the higher resorts fair with these large dumps of snow. Are the windows obscured & do the feel buried?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Jonny996, During the winter of 1963 we had quite high snow fall in Durham where I lived. My village (Burnhope) was cut off for 5 days before we cleared the road. I never thought much about wakiing along paths at window sill level for what seemed months. It was only years later that my uncle showed me a picture of his house. It was completely covered in snow except for a corridor to the front door to allow access. All the windows were completely covered.

And yes it was burried
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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?
I read the title, and expected to be reading about another type of evacuation Embarassed
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@Jonny996, depends on the house surely? Our ground floor is about 1m off the ground due basement windows. ANd there are wide-ish eaves all around. So when we had ~1m20 in the garden, there was nothing beside the house (obviously, if windy at same time we could get drifting).

Late Father in law told of tunnels between the houses above Champoluc, they used to build the houses close together.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
When i lived in Val our door opened out the way, I regularly had to exit via my dormer window, headfirst down the roof then dig us out !
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You have to dig out (and maintain) a snow tunnel and make sure it does not collapse in on you.

Places that get much more snow than the Alps, like Japan or the US, do it every Winter.

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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
My French apartment is on the ground floor, and as the block is set into the mountainside you enter at the top floor and walk down two storeys.

No problem with snow outside as the eaves protect us, and then the ground drops away sharply. However, we did have a bit of a flood with the recent rain running off the snow pack in the car park and down the stairs. To cope with this sort of event (I guess) the ground floor corridors have drains that are connected to our sewage / waste water, and these have at times become blocked with sewage and have also overflowed.

Anybody else seen a set up like that? Seems complicated and prone to problems, whereas a couple of extra drainage pipes could have routed any internal flood water out to the pipes carrying the drainage off the roof.


Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Wed 10-01-18 13:39; edited 1 time in total
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Quote:

When i lived in Val our door opened out the way, I regularly had to exit via my dormer window, headfirst down the roof then dig us out !


A lot of doors in the Alps (and Europe generally) open outwards. I think its because they seat better and fail closed, particularly if fitted with a door return piston. They keep the snow and the rain out much more effectively than an inward opening door because they seal around the threshold rather than just the top and sides. They are also more secure and save space by not opening into the room.

I'm surprised they are not specified more often in the UK ? Perhaps because of 'tradition' or because they require an effective porch to protect the top of the door from rain ?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@Peter S, ...indeed all Nordic doors open outwards...interestingly, stops people barging in, and it derives from when houses were quite isolated and you didn't know who was wandering about. Bit like UK castles' spiral stairs going clockwise, which advantages R-handed defenders.

Anyway....s+d the problem of the ground floor flat. We have 63 steps and had to move 100 cubic metres of snow to get into the chalet. Nightmare.
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@Strax, me too Toofy Grin
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Digging out can definitely be a good idea.

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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.
achilles wrote:
Digging out can definitely be a good idea.



Brilliant pic. Was that snowmageddon in Alleghe?
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@GlasgowCyclops, yup. Top of the first lift up, IIRC.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
johnE wrote:
@Jonny996, During the winter of 1963 we had quite high snow fall in Durham where I lived. My village (Bumhole) was cut off for 5 days before we cleared the road. I never thought much about wakiing along paths at window sill level for what seemed months. It was only years later that my uncle showed me a picture of his house. It was completely covered in snow except for a corridor to the front door to allow access. All the windows were completely covered.


and you tell kids that today and they don't believe you
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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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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
davidof wrote:
johnE wrote:
@Jonny996, During the winter of 1963 we had quite high snow fall in Durham where I lived. My village (Bumhole) was cut off for 5 days before we cleared the road. I never thought much about wakiing along paths at window sill level for what seemed months. It was only years later that my uncle showed me a picture of his house. It was completely covered in snow except for a corridor to the front door to allow access. All the windows were completely covered.


and you tell kids that today and they don't believe you


Probably remember the name of the village though. Very Happy
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
A lot of buildings are designed with most doors opening outwards but one opening inwards as an inwards opening door cannot be blocked by snow, rather important if you have a house fire or a roof collapse due to heavy snow, traditional alpine structures have wide eaves which reduce the amount of snow against a building but obviously cannot stop windblown snow building against a wall, a bigger issue can be the weight of snow on a roof which is why many buildings have to have their roofs cleared after heavy snow (typically around 1.5M 5 feet of snow sitting on a roof is bad news as this works out to 150-200 kg per square meter)
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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?
Once stayed in a 2 storey apartment on the way into Val called La or Val Pierre or similar. It’s now a trendy posh chalet but at that time in early 90’s it was a pretty shabby private let. We had the ground floor apartment.

The snow was so high outside that you had to climb over a roof height bund of snow and down snow steps into the front door that was locally hollowed out so the door was accessible. All the ground floor windows were covered and it was really dark inside. The people on the floor above could walk off their balcony onto the snow pile outside.

Got photos somewhere but it was pre-digital so can’t post.
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Sestriere a couple of days ago.........

23962
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@johnE, burnhope!!!! Surely you mean Wrightsville
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