Snow Chains & Winter Tyres colour code

A snowHead

I thought I'd have a bash at drafting definitive PRACTICAL snow chains/winter tyres guidelines:

BLACK:
~~~~~
* You are likely to have to negotiate steep or treacherous lanes or tracks, e.g. to an out-of-resort chalet near a ravine/cliff, etc.
* You are likely to need maximum possible traction, e.g. towing.
* You are unlikely to encounter tarmac throughout many journeys, e.g. off-road shortcut from chalet to ski-lift.
* You have the use of another vehicle for down-valley journeys.
* Snow chains are often going to be more help than hindrance.
* You want the most effective means of transport to and from the mountain, and as capable as possible in all conditions.

Appropriate vehicle: Off-road type 4x4 with winter tyres (+ matching spare), and set of 4 chains, e.g. Land Rover, Land Cruiser, Shogun/Pajero, etc.

RED:
~~~
* You will be making journeys to several ski stations per season.
* You will be commuting between ski accommodation and ski lift.
* You are likely to need to make visits to airport, supermarket, etc.
* You will be keeping to tarmac roads, but need to cope with severe to extreme winter conditions, with roads heavily covered in ice/snow.
* You want the most effective means of transport to and from the mountain.

Appropriate vehicle: Off-road type 4x4 with winter tyres (+ matching spare), e.g. Land Rover, Land Cruiser, Shogun/Pajero, etc. No snow chains required.

BLUE:
~~~~
* You will be making one or two journeys to a ski resort per season.
* You are unlikely to use the car during your stay.
* You will be keeping to tarmac roads, but need to cope with moderate to severe winter conditions, with roads covered in ice/snow.
* You want the most economic means of transport to and from the mountain.

Appropriate vehicle: Any car with winter tyres (+ matching spare) and equipped with snow chains (2 or 4 as per manufacturer's guidelines).

GREEN:
~~~~~
* You will be making one journey to a low lying ski resort (Bourg St Maurice), or at the end of season (April).
* You are unlikely to use the car during your stay.
* You will be keeping to tarmac roads, but will have a small risk of winter conditions.
* You want to avoid as much up-front expenditure as possible, accepting the risk of potentially expensive and/or hazardous consequences.

Appropriate vehicle: Any car with road worthy tyres. Snow chains are highly recommended, but if not equipped in advance, there is a small risk of having to abandon the journey until an unexpectedly snow covered road is cleared, or snow chains can be purchased.

A snowHead

I think this is a bit France-biased. I'm definitely in the RED category, I live in an Austrian ski town, I travel to many other Austrian ski areas, I shop, commute and use my car daily. I have never and would never need 4x4, nor have I ever used snow chains. And that's including the current snowmageddon period.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

My winter travel in the Alps equated to your "Red" category - over 15 years of 2 - 3 months each season, driving there and back twice a season, sometimes on my own, lots of airport trips, several journeys through one of the tunnels to Italy. I disagree entirely that a 4 x 4 is needed. My Alpine winters were in very ordinary FWD cars - Fiat Multipla and Vauxhall Zafira with winter tyres and chains at the ready. The chains were not frequently needed but they were indispensable and I could put them on in the twinkling of an eye.

You won't always get away without chains on a 4 x 4 even with winter tyres, especially if it's one of those big top heavy boogers, heavily laden, on downhill bends. And the flics will sometimes want to see them.

This thread will run and run..... we are all opiniated when it comes to travel in the mountains - and one of my opinions, which also holds good round such rugged mountain territory as Emsworth and Chichester, is that practically all the 4 x 4s on the road are a major waste of space and fuel. wink

Not all. But most.

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My usage is "red", normal FWD car with fairly cheap winter tyres works fine. The extra requirement is that I often set off early to get to a different resort which can be before the roads have been cleared.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@queenie pretty please, I have definitely needed 4 wheel drive on my road though, and it was a bit slidey last night in heavy new snow. Any two wheel drive has needed chains. Then again, it is pretty steep, above 900m and has three hairpin corners.

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On a ploughed, surfaced road, I see no situation where a 4*4 with good snow tyres needs chains. Nor would benefit from them. Chains have remarkably limited applications, substituting for snow tyres on poorly equipped vehicles really should not be one.

That said, I lost traction a little, briefly, going up my hill on Sunday, first time I think in 12 years.

I agree you see lots of machinery presumably with 4*4 and chains around the place, but they are usually doing tasks where it is warranted.

After all it is free

@under a new name, wet snow on top of ploughed ice left many locals red faced in their 4x4's last week.

Chains or spikes were needed to get up the hill. Yes it's been a unique scenario but its not that much different to last year. If you need chains and haven't got them on a single track road then what is going to happen?
Round here the farmer will likely dump your car in a field behind the plough debris!

I have an estate car with Haldex AWD, it comes on when it is needed, and the fuel economy is still 54mpg on longer runs. To be honest so far it has proved almost or just as good as the permanent AWD on my old Subaru Forester. Given that last year Kooky needed chains on her 2WD car 20 times, and this year she had had them on for the last 15 days (definitely required) she is looking to make her next car a small 4WD.

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@Chris_n, then, I submt they haven’t learned to drive in the conditions, don’t know how their 4*4 system works or believe M+S is as good as 3MSF.

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Ps. My hill is really very steep in places.

Averages 20% gradient with some flattish spots... I guess steepest bits are 30%. Sunday we had ploughed fresh snow on whatever the snow had fallen on.

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@Scarpa, your road is a special case. The road up to the motorway from Werfen station can be a bit slidey when it's covered in snow but I have never needed to use chains. It's nowhere near as steep and bendy as your road.

Fetches popcorn......

Personally for Blue - I'd say any car with any tyres providing you have chains at ready. Like thousands of Dutch, Northern France and UK drivers do

Yes Winter better but majority of people just don't bother - have a stroll around Eurotunnel at Feb Half Term and see what percentage is on standard summer tyres

You know it makes sense.

@Boris, I entirely agree. Having spent many winter months in the French Alps I've noticed that French drivers tend to chain up readily when it's needed. Brits seen to make a big song and dance about it. Of course it only takes one numpty to cause chaos but outside the big weekend transfer days there's rarely a significant problem. On snowy days in Saisies a good 60- 70% of cars will have chains, and a smattering of snow socks.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Think my use case is somewhere between blue and red - call it purple. We drive to Chatel a few times during the season and located up a 800m 10pct incline in the town with a couple of hairpins. The last 200m is a private road which is meant to be cleared but in reality dodgy. Sometimes may choose to drive to the lifts a few Kim’s away but have the option to walk / bus to the Super Chatel lift which is closer.

After much consideration and consultation of snowHead

have chosen CrossClimates+ on my AWD e-class Estate. I drive to conditions and carry easyfit chains just in case needed for the last section.

A snowHead

The problem is that chains are only useful if there is a reasonable covering of snow on the road. A cold, icy, tarmac'ed road is just going to destroy your chains over any distance and give limited traction and destroy the road surface.

A snowHead

We have spent many years taking cars away on ski trips, and now spending our third full season in the alps. Cars have varied, and included an Audi A6 Allroad with winter tyres. However the usefulness of 4wd tends to be overstated, they get more motive traction, but no better stopping, and many 4x4s are far too heavy and cumbersome. We now use a Fiat Qubo, fwd, lightweight, low power, with Kleber Quadraxer all season tyres it's absolutely amazing on snow and ice. This week it repeatedly negotiates a steep hairpin on sheet ice to get out of the village - to be honest I don't know how it does it, as the road is too slippery to stand up on!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

And all of this ignores those of us who drive 3 times to resort a year in a hire car. I didn't take chains to Mayrhofen at New Year and briefly worried that I might need them when on leaving day road down from hotel hadn't been ploughed. But it was by the time I had eaten breakfast. I would hire chains if it weren't for the ridiculous cost involved.

I noticed that this year a lot of Italian hire from Milan/Turin includes chains, if only the car desks at Munich and Innsbruck would start doing this too Sad

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Snow Chains & Winter Tyres colour code

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