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Travel - UK to Zinal

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Long-time Snowheads lurker. First time poster.

My bro and I are off to Zinal on a guided backcountry week with Mint Snowboarding (Dave Gladwin) in January.......Covid permitting.

Not been to Zinal before and have tended to get group transfers from Geneva or Grenoble airports to major resorts in the past, but from what I can tell, the best way of getting to Zinal from Geneva is a train to Sierre and then a bus or taxi up the valley to Zinal. Group/private transfers from the airport either dont exist or are shockingly expensive....we were quoted £800 for a round-trip from the airport on a private basis.

We've actually got flights booked, but still balancing this against just driving ourselves from South England (Berkshire), which I think is about 700 miles. The only car we've got available to us though is a rear-wheel drive BMW 1-Series which might be a bit of a pain on the valley roads if it's snowing/snowy. I had a bad experience once in a 5-series touring trying to get up to Val Thorens and the 1-series struggles to get up a wet multi-storey car park ramp without sliding around. Then there are tolls, French/Swiss road regs, another border to get through and possibly the need for snow chains. No getting Covid or lugging our board bags on public transport though - and we get to blast our tunes all the way!

Pros and cons to both. Wondered if anyone had any experience of either and some advice to offer?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I've been to Grimentz which is next door. Train to Sierre and bus from there is a good option. Note that the road up from the Rhone valley is IMHO a bit on the scary side - lots of bends, quite narrow and sheer drops. I would probably not want to drive along that in snowy conditions in a car that I had any doubts about
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And welcome to Snowheads!
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Thanks very much for the advice (and welcome) - I'd read elsewhere that the road from the Rhone Valley was a bit on the "dodgy" side, so maybe it'd be best to just go with public transport then. I dont mind driving up mountain roads in the right vehicle, but an M135 is probably not the right vehicle for the job.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@benjamin84, I should say that I have made this comment before to someone enquiring about the road and others on here disagreed. Maybe it was the driver of the bus I was on! I can't think of a resort whose access road was more scary.
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@DCG, I agree with your assessment. I‘ve driven to both Val Thorens and to Zinal, and the road up to VT is practically a motorway in comparison with the road up to Zinal. I‘m ok driving both but I‘m in an 4WD I‘m fairly comfortable with neverthless I‘d probably be pretty slow on the Zinal road if it was snowing. We have done it once in heavy snow (down) but my partner was driving.

Zinal is awesome though and I can confirm that the public transport works very well.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I have driven that road more times than I can count, with no problems and never found it scary. But that is the point! I live in the highlands, spend a lot of time on estate roads/offroad, and also on lots of small roads. Those less used to those kind of roads may have a bit more trepidation.

That said I would not attempt it in winter without proper winter tyres unless I was absolutely sure there will be no ice or snow on the road (which there will not be 98% of the time). And even then, it is not the best to run on summer tyres in cold weather. If you are tempted to drive then get winter tyres or hire a car from Geneva - those from the Swiss side will all have winter tyres as standard.

Otherwise I second others opinion that the journey is quite simple and pleasant on public transport.

Zinal is a great base for off-piste adventure. I hope you get good conditions and have a great time.
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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!
Train to Sierre from GVA...easy. Taxi will cost about 130 -150 swissies up the valley. Val d’Anniviers taxi will do it. But the bus is very easy and convenient.
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I recommend driving. Should be a lot of fun in a RWD Beemer on Summer tyres in Jan! Make sure to take a video, ideally as you pass this bit
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Goliard wrote:
Train to Sierre from GVA...easy. Taxi will cost about 130 -150 swissies up the valley. Val d’Anniviers taxi will do it. But the bus is very easy and convenient.


If thats the price of a cab one way then that plus the train might be not far off the cost of renting a car?
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Cabs aren’t cheap! Buses are frequent and cheap. Change at Vissioe but the busses are always scheduled to be there, so no wait...it’s Switzerland! The road is kept clean as well. So getting up and down shouldn’t be a problem with snow tyres or chains if it’s snowing. First time going up is an ‘adventure’ but is OK really. There are few crosses and flowers/wreaths always laid at the side of the road by the sheer drops. Don’t know what they are there for... Eh oh! Eh oh!
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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.
BobinCH wrote:
I recommend driving. Should be a lot of fun in a RWD Beemer on Summer tyres in Jan! Make sure to take a video, ideally as you pass this bit

Great photo.
That’s exactly what I meant by it being a bit scary
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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
Goliard wrote:
Cabs aren’t cheap! Buses are frequent and cheap. Change at Vissioe but the busses are always scheduled to be there, so no wait...it’s Switzerland! The road is kept clean as well. So getting up and down shouldn’t be a problem with snow tyres or chains if it’s snowing. First time going up is an ‘adventure’ but is OK really. There are few crosses and flowers/wreaths always laid at the side of the road by the sheer drops. Don’t know what they are there for... Eh oh! Eh oh!


Nothing is cheap in Switzerland.

Those crosses and floral arrangements will show where the best views from the road are, the best way to see these is to drive your car as close to the edge as possible and hang out if your window, saves you time stopping and getting too cold.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
That bit of road is OK. At least there is a small wall about foot high to stop you from going over the edge. The steep drips with no crash barriers are a bit more scary. Don’t forget the tunnel when a bus is coming the other way!!!!!
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Oh...and The Bridge of Death...don’t know why it is called that either?
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
We drove up this road last night at about 19.00. Like @zikomo, I have driven many many times up to Grimentz and Zinal, in all conditions and in all manner of car and van. Never really had any great dramas but last night there was freezing fog as far as Niouc, so all of the first set of hairpins were taken very slowly as visibility was very poor. The road across the cliff is fine at night as you can see car headlights approaching and pull over into a passing place. We saw the bus early on so I was confident there wouldn’t be another.
In 2017 there was a big dump of snow early December and we were caught out when an avalanche shut the road for an hour or so. Still got back to London by midnight.
I have been told that the road will be closed next year for considerable upgrades, presumably the aforementioned bridge of death will be strengthened. Access to the whole valley will be via Vercorin and Pinsec. I guess that they will wait until the after the stage of the Tour de Romandie that finishes in Zinal on the 30th of April.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Came up this morning...no problems, all the road works are clear, so no traffic lights. It will be fun next year having to go around Vercorin but at least it will be after the season.
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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?
www.taxianniviers.ch is who we use. Michel is the boss and he is v reliable (but it isn’t cheap). Prices on the website.

Don’t forget that driving via France is looking tricky/unpredictable ie less risk in flying into Switzerland.
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That section of the road in the photos will be the least of your worries (although exciting with the exposure and miniature crash barriers!). It's the hairpin ascent of the first section up from the valley which I think you would find pretty spicy in your beemer. It gains a lot of altitude over quite a short distance, and the buses coming down take no prisoners Laughing Laughing

I had been mulling over the idea of driving there myself this winter, but having been up that road on the bus a couple of times in the winter I think I would find it pretty intimidating, even though I'm used to driving on mountain roads in the UK. It is a lot more hairy than say the drive up to Tignes from Bourg.

The couple of times I've been to Zinal before I've taken the train from Geneva then bus up from Sierre (changing at Vissoie). The Swiss timetables run like clockwork and it has all been very straightforward, even with a ski bag and big holdall.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
If you can't put winter tyres on your car, then I'd seriously consider flying to GVA and using public transport, or trains and taxi. Just make sure your flight arrives early enough in the day to make the connections. As ever, I'd recommend looking at the options on the SBB website. Set 'from' as Genève-Aéroport.

I have a 330 BHP RWD BMW M235i which (usually) goes to our apartment a couple of valleys along at La Tzoumaz. Personally, the worst drives locally have been in very heavy rain in the dark, when I can't use the adaptive headlights either (because they are set to LHD), rather than on snow in the daytime. And the only time I've had to use chains was an evening pick-up from the station in the valley to get out of the car parking and village. As mentioned, the most worrying bits aren't the narrow sections, but those without barriers at the edge. The only time I've come close to getting stuck was in the village itself, where it was deep slushy snow and skiers kept striding into the middle of the road to make carrying their kit easier in the snow, and I kept having to do hill stop/starts.

But I have winter tyres on (Pirelli Winter Sottozero S3) - I wouldn't want to do it on summer tyres. Summers+chains are fine if its a 'controlled' situation (like putting them on in the garage to get up the ramp and out onto the main road, then taking them off soon after) but not for general driving and of course, your front wheels aren't chained so they have no traction at all on the snow (so a tendency for the front to carry straight on at a bend. Not so good).

If you do decide to fit winter tyres and drive down, then remember to set your traction control for snow when first hit it, or start the car on it. On mine, it's the 'car-with-wriggly-lines' button by the shift stick, which I press for a second or two until TRACTION appears on the instrument display. When you come back onto tarmac, repeat this and the TRACTION should disappear. You can do this while the car is moving. You do the same with the chains on. This setting is also for sand and gravel as well. This enhances the electronic limited slip differential function (not to be confused with the mechanical M Performance LSD - if you have one of these you still set the TRACTION in snow).

If you have something like a 135i or 140i then you'll actually find winters really useful even back in the UK. On mine, they effectively eliminated eLSD intervention in the winter and significantly improve resistance to aquaplaning in heavy rain and standing water.
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Quick update on road closure later this year. It’s only for two months mid May to the middle of July.
Details here:
https://www.anniviers.org/fr/fermeture-sierre-vissoie-2022-593.html
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