I've always wondered, what was life like in ski resorts in the non-season(s?) when resort infrastructure was effectively closed. I know a lot of people like to skin up and head up the mountain under their own steam. For these people, that must have been one hell of a Winter. What was it like?
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Ryunis, we couldn't ski tour...
It was a pretty bonkers time as we were restricted far more than in the UK, some of these blogs will give you a taste of what it was like...
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Mon 13-11-23 0:20; edited 2 times in total
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?
Bloody hell, I had some sort of paradise in my mind's eye but this is quite different. How closely were the restrictions followed generally? Could you see tracks on the mountains?
We learned to snowshoe. It was fun, but the lack of restaurants wasn’t.
In spring we learned to play kubb. A great lawn game requiring an even number of players. Swiss rules meant we were only allowed a 'bubble' of 5 people, so one of us had to hide every time a train came past.
In truth we had a pretty good lockdown. The weather was great, and purely by coincidence we moved to a bigger house almost as soon as lockdown was announced.
We did our best to keep fit, so our bubble met every afternoon at the botttom of our garden steps for a socially distant walk in the valley.
It wasn’t really tough, though the second lockdown in 20/21 which closed down the first half of the ski season produced some innovative solutions to the rules. In CH we could ski but restaurants weren’t allowed to provide seating, even outside. This restaurant rented a load of toboggans and sat them outside. If anyone asked, we were all tobogganing!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
.
Here the ski resorts shutdown mid march 2020, so about a month earlier than usual, but then were open again the next season.
BC had a much more balanced idea of restrictions (which I think in hindsight was a much better approach), so nothing like the European style lockdowns.
Bars and restaurants had limited opening and capacity, mandatory masks, limited lodge access, and ski lifts and gondolas had reduced loading and you could choose just to load with your family if you wanted. Initial line ups were fairly substantial due to the loading limitations and line spacing, but limited gondola uploads and no international travel actually made lift lines on the mountain once you got up there almost non-existent!
After all it is free
After all it is free
Experiences will vary greatly, depending on location, but personally I found it quite frustrating. I’m referring to 20/21 season, as far as I can remember (it all blurs a bit, so I might have my timelines mixed up).
First, everything was closed, then the lifts opened, but no restaurants. The snow cover was good, I think, but I remember a cold winter, which was made difficult by the lack of huts to warm up in. My friends with young kids hardly went out, or only for an hour at a time because it was so hard to keep them warm. Even without kids, the lack of hot food and drinks and somewhere to warm up was unpleasant.
Because there were no tourists, some areas did not open at all, and many others only opened a small number of lifts and pistes, so there wasn’t as much terrain available without touring. Rules about meetings meant it was more difficult to find buddies, so it just wasn’t as fun, especially with the increased police presence (remember, they carry weapons) in resorts and on the roads.
Lift queues were controlled with long, winding lines of netting, which somehow managed to make it more likely that you ended up riding with a randomer than your partner Masks were a soggy mess if there was any weather, and often if there wasn’t.
It was much nicer when visitors could return, and when the huts could open again.
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.
@telford_mike, did we have two lockdowns? I only remember the first one and I quite enjoyed it too.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
One of the most amazing winters I've ever experienced. Good snow, mostly open lifts but almost empty resorts, skitouring for powder on what would normally be groomed pistes...
There was a period of high avalanche danger made even more sketchy by the reduced skier traffic (equipped re-calibration for some), but it was incredibly special. Skiing Kandahar in St Anton at midday in mid-February with my gf as the single other person on the whole slope is something I guess I'll never experience again.
Lots of snow and no competition for it = no stress powder skiing:
Red pistes at Obergurgl as good as they'll ever be:
Skiing in face masks the whole time was def weird though:
Got skunked on some lines but still good type 2 fun (couloir had slid, but we couldn't see until we'd committed, so 800 vert metres of jump turns on icy runnels):
Empty pistes:
Once in a lifetime winter! Honestly I'd love another...
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Mon 13-11-23 9:47; edited 1 time in total
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@Nadenoodlee, the 21/22 Christmas period wasn't exactly a lockdown, it was just pretty restrictive, especially when travelling with kids that simply couldn't have had the full 3 vaccines that places like Austria were demanding.
So we had several false starts of booking, cancelling, rebooking, until we found somewhere that would take us (Passo Tonale as it turned out - pretty close to where the whole pandemic kicked off for Europe).
As it turned out, things weren't too bad, mask wearing everywhere (specifically FFP2 - we had to buy them specially) and limited opening hours for restaurants - the place was a ghost town after about 8pm. The most noticeable thing was on New Year's Eve - the bar of the hotel we were in stayed open for residents, and when it got to midnight, the (mostly British) group in there trooped outside, sang Auld Lang Syne, trooped back in and went to bed. No fireworks or any other sort of festivities.
Based on my long experience of ski resorts at NYE, it was frankly eerie!
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.
@ratechaser, oh yes! Was that when everyone rushed for the border before it closed? I think we drove to Morzine and there were no/few Brits!
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
@Nadenoodlee, I certainly remember that France was completely off-limits. Italy was about the only country that we could get into with partially vaccinated children. Although the rules changed for Austria a couple of months later that meant we could get half term out there as well.
All things considered it could have been worse!
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@Nadenoodlee, 21/22 was the “year of the lateral flow” - had to do one before coming home, along with those passenger locator forms in both directions. We had a pretty normal season (other than passe sanitaire etc) - compared to 20/21 when we managed one trip to complete on our place and two short touring days in Avoriaz.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@ratechaser, wasn’t xmas 21/22 the weird “amber +” rating for a short while (France did it to UK and UK did it to France)?
We managed a pre-xmas trip and then back out mid-jan.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@andy from embsay, I think we were allowed in and out (as CH residents) from June 2020 but needed the nose pipe vouchers for ages - god I don’t miss them AT ALL.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
We went to France in (I think) July 20, then went back in December - but that was the only trip that season. But 21/22 was pretty much normal in terms of trips - just getting in and out was a faff. Remember when you could enter France if you flew into Geneva but not Lyon?
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?
We rather enjoyed the two seasons.
20/21 - the weather was unusually mild and sunny so we just tucked ourselves in, went more or less totally teetotal and did some form of exercise most mornings. I would get a nice 6km run in round town while remaining within my 1km radius of home.
21/22 - we had great snow, did lots of touring with picnics and discovered that we were allowed to hop on the train cross border to Les Marecottes (CH) which was open so we spent quite a few Wednesdays there - including one epic powder day. Really not to horrible at all.
I did feel for families in small apartments in cities though
@telford_mike, did we have two lockdowns? I only remember the first one and I quite enjoyed it too.
Yes, we had 2. The first started in March 2020, when we were completely clueless - no tests, no vaccines etc, and all the bars and restaurants closed. The second (maybe not really a 'lockdown') started towards the end of 2020, when we had testing and vaccines, and we had that app on the phone that determined whether you could go to the pub or not - 3G and 3G+ and all that.
Again having read a few posts on here and as a couple of people have mentioned, it does all become a bit of a blur, so it's actually quite good that I kept the blog going back then and can now look back at it all.
There was the first lock-down and then just as we thought everything was back to normal, so we had the second one and the so-called English Variant when Macron suddenly closed the border to Brits just before Christmas.
And that coincided with Brexit and all the faff of becoming a French resident which did have a few advantages in that I could legally travel to France, though I do recall a certain amount of vitriol aimed at me from a few on here as I escaped just before the end of the year
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
The year the UK was on a lockdown, 20/21 season, was the real emphasis to get off my butt and start my instructor qualifications, so in a way, thanks COVID!
After all it is free
After all it is free
We had to abandon a ski trip in Sweden 3 days early in March 2020 because our original flight home was cancelled. A part of me wishes we had stayed as I think Sweden was one of the few countries that remained business as usual (we were on the slopes while everyone in France was racing to the Swiss border to get a flight out of Geneva). Unfortunately we had multiple NHS and care workers in our group so it wouldn't have been possible but it's nice to dream about...
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.
To quote my wife " If Carlsberg did lockdowns" it was quite a cold winter with decent snow and lots of nice sunny days. The lifts in our village were closed but further down the valley was open. If we were going up in the gondola locally and saw half a dozen people skiing to middle station it was considered a busy day. Yes the lack of restaurants was a bit of a pain but we generally don't leave the dogs alone much more than half a day anyway. I also still had my lift pass subsidised by Tirolershilehrverband in case we could open at any point during the season.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
The beginning.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
I forgot to add earlier that one of my kids was on a school ski trip in late Feb 2020 at Madonna di Campiglio - they were coming back just as things were starting to get bad there, luckily their coach back didn't get held up, but we did spend the next couple of weeks wondering who would be the first of them to show signs of infection!
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.
I remember the 2019/20 season started quite normally: there was some news in January of a new disease causing a bit of trouble in China, but that was miles away and not of any concern.
Things ranked up a bit in February and we started being very careful. The beginning of March, French resorts were insisting they would be staying open to the season end, and then the next day (Friday March 6) announced they were closing immediately. Fortunately we had already decided to return home, and set off 0500 on the Saturday to avoid the rush.
Come the 2020/21 season various announcements suggested no lifts would be running in French resorts. No problem we thought, and ordered touring skis. Then they closed the borders and stopped all travel. We stayed at home in UK with touring skis in the loft, and did lots of walking in ever-increasing mud.
Meantime it was bonkers in La Plagne. No lifts, presumably to reduce spread (?), but the buses continued to run. You could get up to Aime 2000 in a packed stuffy bus and then ski down to La Roche at 1500m. You then joined a large competitive rowdy queue to get back on the bus and repeat being coughed over on another packed bus ride. There was a lot of covid.
2021/22 was the glorious season Macron closed the border in December: good for those already there. Hardly any Brits for December and January. Wonderful! The weather was glorious and the pistes were empty. A glorious time indeed, as long as you didn’t frequent any crowded bars. La Mine at Plagne 1800 was a covid nursery.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
sane during the madness
Masks were a soggy mess if there was any weather, and often if there wasn’t.
