 Poster: A snowHead
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Very sadly, I can't go to Alleghe, the risk for me (with an underlying health condition prone to flare-ups) being stuck out there self-isolating if I catch Covid, and being unable to access the appropriate treatment in an emergency. It is a huge nuisance and I am super-disappointed.
I have a single room in the Garni, total cost - though I would be prepared to negotiate a reduction - £671. I also have British Airways Club Europe flights, which I think can be transferred, if required. Flight costs were £147 plus £70 worth of Avios, again negotiable.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 4-01-22 11:53; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Shame you cant make it. Have you had Covid before? If you have there is a very small chance of becoming re-infected, so maybe you can still go.
I have often wondered if admin refunds the hotel cost if they have to 'bail out' for whatever reason (thinking back to last year when people could not travel). Does admin hold it in the snowaccount unless someone else takes your place?
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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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@crossmax,
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Have you had Covid before? If you have there is a very small chance of becoming re-infected, so maybe you can still go.
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I'm not sure that's true in these Omicron days, as accounts on here show. I'm not worried about actually getting it, as I doubt I'd be very ill, given prior infection and vaccinations. It's the risk of having to self-isolate and not being able to get treatment for my other medical condition which concerns me.
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I have often wondered if admin refunds the hotel cost if they have to 'bail out' for whatever reason (thinking back to last year when people could not travel). Does admin hold it in the snowaccount unless someone else takes your place?
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There are no relevant T&Cs, so far as I'm aware, which is no problem if the risk was insurable, which mine isn't. I cancelled my trip to Gressoney in March 2020 and received a small (proportionately) credit for a future Gressoney Bash. If a whole Bash is cancelled, then a fuller credit has been given towards the next Bash (not any Bash, just the next iteration of the one that was cancelled) subject to a deduction for administrative costs and a voluntary contribution towards instructors' fees. I guess I'll just have to see what transpires in my present circumstances. Admin is not a tour operator in the normal sense of that expression, so we have to take the degree of uncertainty on the chin.
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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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What would be the situation regarding quarantine if the UK Govt scrapped the requirement for return antigen test?
Would you still be able to return home?
There could be a great many people on the flights with mild , or no symptoms. Most likely there will be some with obvious symptoms. (hopefully not sat next to you).
Assuming antigen test still required to enter Italy, it strikes me that the return flight could be the most likely infection point of the entire trip.
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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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@brianatab,
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What would be the situation regarding quarantine if the UK Govt scrapped the requirement for return antigen test?
Would you still be able to return home?
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Not if I couldn't get to the airport. But it would help me to get treatment quickly once I returned.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Hurtle, We would make sure you got to the airport, even if it meant you were sat alone at the back of the bus behind all the luggage. 
Seriously though, I'm sure someone with a vehicle could sort something, even if it meant wearing ski gear to keep warm and the windows open all the way.
I think the decision that a lot of people will be making if they think they caught it would be whether or not to report it, or just stay in your room for a few days, then keep a low profile at the airport if only mild symptoms. Reduce the risk of having to isolate.
Not sure what contingency the airlines will have if someone presents with obvious symptoms?
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@Hurtle Is it possible for your insurance to cover medical costs in case of a flare up in Italy if quarantined? Mine covers cost of quarantine and I would suppose it would cover medical costs for illness unrelated to covid if that should occur. Arrangements made with your Consultant to offer medical advice to Italian medical staff could be set up beforehand just in case (my wife used to do this in similar circumstances). All in all very disappointing and you have my sympathy. 
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@brianatab, I'm not prepared to try and bypass the self-isolation rules. I just don't think it's right to do that. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes that some of these rules are loosened by March, so that I can salvage the two trips I still have booked.
@MikeM, so far my researches indicate that the whole condition is uninsurable. And, as I say, the potential problem is not being able actually to get to an appropriate place to be checked out and treated because I'm stuck in a hotel room somewhere. The condition is common and I know what needs to be done (though would prefer to be able to speak the relevant language to explain it to a quack) but if an acute bout is left untreated, it will cause damage to the optic nerve and blindness. Whilst it's only one of my eyes, and in no way life-threatening, I'd still prefer to be able to see out of it, albeit fuzzily as at present. Thanks for your sympathy. I am sad, because Alleghe is my favourite Bash venue by a country mile.
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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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| Hurtle wrote: |
| [b], it will cause damage to the optic nerve and blindness. Whilst it's only one of my eyes, and in no way life-threatening, I'd still prefer to be able to see out of it, albeit fuzzily as at present. |
Please excuse my interest, my wifes' condition is similar, is it NMO by any chance?
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| MikeM wrote: |
| Hurtle wrote: |
| [b], it will cause damage to the optic nerve and blindness. Whilst it's only one of my eyes, and in no way life-threatening, I'd still prefer to be able to see out of it, albeit fuzzily as at present. |
Please excuse my interest, my wifes' condition is similar, is it NMO by any chance? |
No, much more pedestrian - hypertensive uveitis, probably herpes simplex triggered. Interesting to speculate what might have woken up the (lurking in my system from childhood chicken pox) herpes virus: this all kicked off a few days after my first Covid vaccine...but we shall never know. Moorfields say that, more often than not, "it just happens".
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| No, much more pedestrian - hypertensive uveitis, probably herpes simplex triggered. Interesting to speculate what might have woken up the (lurking in my system from childhood chicken pox) herpes virus: this all kicked off a few days after my first Covid vaccine...but we shall never know. Moorfields say that, more often than not, "it just happens". |
Not that I would call that pedestrian! If it was NMO then there would have been a solution - not that you'd prefer that to Uveitis!
Probably not for this thread, but I'm assuming large doses of antivirals are used during a flare-up? I wonder if that would offer some protection to covid? I'm assuming immunovir is used as a first treatment, which is quite specific, but if you're taking any of the more generic types maybe there is a (very small) silver lining. In any case, let's hope the world settles before the season is over and you manage a trip later on.
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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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| Hurtle wrote: |
@brianatab, I'm not prepared to try and bypass the self-isolation rules. I just don't think it's right to do that. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes that some of these rules are loosened by March, so that I can salvage the two trips I still have booked.
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I am in a somewhat similar quandary. I don't have a health condition to worry about - but the consequences of being caught up in isolation / quarantine out at the Alps would have considerable impact at home. I am hoping things will be better by March, too.
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When I had to drop out of a Bash, some weeks before, because of breaking my pelvis Admin was very helpful and responsive and thankfully someone else was keen to take on my booking. If that had not been the case, I had accepted that I would just lose that money. Not clear why anyone else should. In the year of Snowmageddon where most people couldn't get to Arabba (and went to Alleghe instead) some of the people in Alleghe, who had to cough up for hotels there, were very indignant that the Arabba hotel wouldn't immediately refund their costs. That did seem unreasonable to me.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| MikeM wrote: |
| Hurtle wrote: |
| [b], it will cause damage to the optic nerve and blindness. Whilst it's only one of my eyes, and in no way life-threatening, I'd still prefer to be able to see out of it, albeit fuzzily as at present. |
Please excuse my interest, my wifes' condition is similar, is it NMO by any chance? |
No, much more pedestrian - hypertensive uveitis, probably herpes simplex triggered. Interesting to speculate what might have woken up the (lurking in my system from childhood chicken pox) herpes virus: this all kicked off a few days after my first Covid vaccine...but we shall never know. Moorfields say that, more often than not, "it just happens". |
Apropos nothing, really but I suffered repeated bouts of anterior( & posterior!) uveitis from age 16 to about 50 by which time I had (as promised by the first consultant I saw) “grown out of it” - fingers crossed but as “it just happens” there are no guarantees 
I did travel but the thought of being unable to get to see a doc who could prescribe the necessary meds was very scary so, in your circumstances, I’d be staying home as well.
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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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| pam w wrote: |
| In the year of Snowmageddon where most people couldn't get to Arabba (and went to Alleghe instead) some of the people in Alleghe, who had to cough up for hotels there, were very indignant that the Arabba hotel wouldn't immediately refund their costs. That did seem unreasonable to me. |
As far as I was made aware though, that was just 2 people (a noobie couple) out of 120 snowHeads - there are always outliers 
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Poster: A snowHead
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@MikeM,
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I'm assuming large doses of antivirals are used during a flare-up? I wonder if that would offer some protection to covid? I'm assuming immunovir is used as a first treatment, which is quite specific, but if you're taking any of the more generic types maybe there is a (very small) silver lining.
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I'm on Aciclovir all the time and just up the dose a bit on a flare-up. It's herpes-specific, unfortunately - I've checked with that fount of all knowledge, snowHeads! The main treatment for a flare--up is massively to ramp up the steroids and to take pressure-reducing stuff, which has unpleasant side-effects.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Red Leon, wow. Thanks for sharing that, needless to say I have been worrying that I am being over-cautious.
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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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@pam w, well, my IOS trip has been fully refunded, cash in the case of the hotel and credit from IOS. Different folks, different strokes, or whatever the expression is. I am hoping that, if nobody steps forward to take my place, admin and I can strike a mutually acceptable deal, but that's for him'n me to work out in private.
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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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| Hurtle wrote: |
| @Red Leon, wow. Thanks for sharing that, needless to say I have been worrying that I am being over-cautious. |
On a few occasions I convinced 5e docs to let me have a ‘just-in-case’ supply of steroid drops, etc (which, as luck had it, I didn’t need) but they weren’t keen.
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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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| Hurtle wrote: |
| I'm on Aciclovir all the time and just up the dose a bit on a flare-up. It's herpes-specific, unfortunately - I've checked with that fount of all knowledge, snowHeads! The main treatment for a flare--up is massively to ramp up the steroids and to take pressure-reducing stuff, which has unpleasant side-effects. |
Of course, my mistake I meant Acyclovir - I've used it frequently for simple cold sores and I always carry a tube of zovirax when I go skiing as I can almost guarantee I'll get a flare-up if I don't liberally dose my lips with balm throughout the day. No idea where I got immunovir from.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
@crossmax,
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Have you had Covid before? If you have there is a very small chance of becoming re-infected, so maybe you can still go.
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I'm not sure that's true in these Omicron days, as accounts on here show. I'm not worried about actually getting it, as I doubt I'd be very ill, given prior infection and vaccinations. It's the risk of having to self-isolate and not being able to get treatment for my other medical condition which concerns me.
| Quote: |
I have often wondered if admin refunds the hotel cost if they have to 'bail out' for whatever reason (thinking back to last year when people could not travel). Does admin hold it in the snowaccount unless someone else takes your place?
|
There are no relevant T&Cs, so far as I'm aware, which is no problem if the risk was insurable, which mine isn't. I cancelled my trip to Gressoney in March 2020 and received a small (proportionately) credit for a future Gressoney Bash. If a whole Bash is cancelled, then a fuller credit has been given towards the next Bash (not any Bash, just the next iteration of the one that was cancelled) subject to a deduction for administrative costs and a voluntary contribution towards instructors' fees. I guess I'll just have to see what transpires in my present circumstances. Admin is not a tour operator in the normal sense of that expression, so we have to take the degree of uncertainty on the chin. |
I'd just like to provide some context here because I don't think the post above gives a fair and accurate impression of the situation:
| Wot hurtle perhaps should have wrote: |
| By personal choice I cancelled my trip to Gressoney in March 2020 with just 36hrs notice and despite declaring that, in such circumstances, I expected to lose all the money, received a refund for my liftpass and a credit for a future Gressoney Bash of almost 50%. If a whole Bash is cancelled, then a full credit has been given towards the next Bash (typically the next iteration of the one that was cancelled but not necessarily) subject to a voluntary deduction for administrative costs and (on one occasion) a voluntary contribution towards instructors' fees. |
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@admin, whatever you say. The detail is within your control from time to time on your side, whilst being open-ended on ours. That's what we accept when we sign up, and I'm not complaining.
In the interests of complete accuracy, the percentage was 43.8% for Gressoney. I concede that that is not a small proportion. Apologies. Also for cancelling at short notice when it became clear that Italy was riddled with Covid, which of course was brought to the UK by many skiers from Italy (who may or may not have included some snowHeads, I don't know.)
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| Red Leon wrote: |
| Hurtle wrote: |
| @Red Leon, wow. Thanks for sharing that, needless to say I have been worrying that I am being over-cautious. |
On a few occasions I convinced 5e docs to let me have a ‘just-in-case’ supply of steroid drops, etc (which, as luck had it, I didn’t need) but they weren’t keen. |
Yeah, my consultant will supply me with an emergency pack of everything to deal with a flare-up. But - the rise in pressure being the major problem - I'd need to get the pressure checked, to make sure I wasn't imagining things and, after a day or two, re-checked and then treated intravenously if the pressure hadn't gone down. So, reasonably, the consultant says I need to have access to specialists well within a week, even if I've started to whack the thing myself. Last flare-up, I was in Moorfields for 6 hours before they'd let me go home with the pressure at a just-about-safe level (for a while the pressure kept on rising for some unknown reason, to truly stratospheric heights) and I had to go back the following day. The whole thing is a right nuisance.
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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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@SteveM, I don't know whether to smile or cry. x
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| Red Leon wrote: |
| Hurtle wrote: |
| @Red Leon, wow. Thanks for sharing that, needless to say I have been worrying that I am being over-cautious. |
On a few occasions I convinced 5e docs to let me have a ‘just-in-case’ supply of steroid drops, etc (which, as luck had it, I didn’t need) but they weren’t keen. |
Yeah, my consultant will supply me with an emergency pack of everything to deal with a flare-up. But - the rise in pressure being the major problem - I'd need to get the pressure checked, to make sure I wasn't imagining things and, after a day or two, re-checked and then treated intravenously if the pressure hadn't gone down. So, reasonably, the consultant says I need to have access to specialists well within a week, even if I've started to whack the thing myself. Last flare-up, I was in Moorfields for 6 hours before they'd let me go home with the pressure at a just-about-safe level (for a while the pressure kept on rising for some unknown reason, to truly stratospheric heights) and I had to go back the following day. The whole thing is a right nuisance. |
At this point i would normally offer to show you my scars from the shark attack but, on this occasion….. 
My problems were never as severe as yours sound. Fingers crossed they get you sorted out soon - otherwise you might need to wait till you ‘grow out of it’
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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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@Red Leon, must admit, your 30+ years of growing out of it was rather depressing news.
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@Red Leon, PS bad luck about the shark.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Red Leon, shark attack????
And I thought being attacked by a bear was a bad one.
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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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| Hurtle wrote: |
| @SteveM, I don't know whether to smile or cry. x |
Unlike me, I am sure you can multi-task. Which means you can do both at once 
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Poster: A snowHead
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| admin wrote: |
| Hurtle wrote: |
@crossmax,
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Have you had Covid before? If you have there is a very small chance of becoming re-infected, so maybe you can still go.
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I'm not sure that's true in these Omicron days, as accounts on here show. I'm not worried about actually getting it, as I doubt I'd be very ill, given prior infection and vaccinations. It's the risk of having to self-isolate and not being able to get treatment for my other medical condition which concerns me.
| Quote: |
I have often wondered if admin refunds the hotel cost if they have to 'bail out' for whatever reason (thinking back to last year when people could not travel). Does admin hold it in the snowaccount unless someone else takes your place?
|
There are no relevant T&Cs, so far as I'm aware, which is no problem if the risk was insurable, which mine isn't. I cancelled my trip to Gressoney in March 2020 and received a small (proportionately) credit for a future Gressoney Bash. If a whole Bash is cancelled, then a fuller credit has been given towards the next Bash (not any Bash, just the next iteration of the one that was cancelled) subject to a deduction for administrative costs and a voluntary contribution towards instructors' fees. I guess I'll just have to see what transpires in my present circumstances. Admin is not a tour operator in the normal sense of that expression, so we have to take the degree of uncertainty on the chin. |
I'd just like to provide some context here because I don't think the post above gives a fair and accurate impression of the situation:
| Wot hurtle perhaps should have wrote: |
| By personal choice I cancelled my trip to Gressoney in March 2020 with just 36hrs notice and despite declaring that, in such circumstances, I expected to lose all the money, received a refund for my liftpass and a credit for a future Gressoney Bash of almost 50%. If a whole Bash is cancelled, then a full credit has been given towards the next Bash (typically the next iteration of the one that was cancelled but not necessarily) subject to a voluntary deduction for administrative costs and (on one occasion) a voluntary contribution towards instructors' fees. |
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@ADMIN I see your terms have hardened somewhat significantly since then , eh ?
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