 Poster: A snowHead
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Turned into a great post, not sure if I'm now more, or less keen to drive one year 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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My story is part weather induced chaos but only for silly people (like me) who hadnt planned properly:
In my 20s, me and a bunch of mates were excited about our upcoming skiing adventure - we each made our way to Milan where we met up and hired a big minibus. We stuck our destination in the sat nav (I cant even remember which resort but I think it was French) and merrily, we got on the road. Later that day, only a few kilometers from our destination, we reached a sign which roughly translated said something along the lines of "mountain pass closed in the winter". We consulted the sat nav only to realise that we would need to drive back most of the way to Milan before re directing onto a route that avoided mountain passes that are shut in winter. A hard lesson learned.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Tue 28-10-25 18:36; edited 1 time in total
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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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@AliAfro, sat navs eh? A few months ago we were going to a business meeting in a rather remote location in Northern Italy, so remote that the Sat Nav couldn't recognise it. SO Mrs U programmed the most local town centre ...
Road gets narrower, and narrower, and higher, and higher and eventually we come across a sign saying that the road ends here and only agricultural and forestry vehicles should proceed.
Now we criticise our car for being a wee bit agricultural, but it's not that clever.
Had to phone the company and get talked all teh way back to the junction where it all went wrong.
Luckily they were quite familiar with the problem 
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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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| JohnS4 wrote: |
The most snow I've seen was 1999, last week of Feb, in St Anton. This was same time as the terrible avalanche in Galtur in the Paznaun valley not that far away where many people died and buildings destroyed.
We arrived by car on Saturday, no problems, skied on Sunday, then it started Snowing heavily on Sunday night and continued for 3 more days almost non-stop. The lifts were closed for 3 days which was annoying but fortunately we were there for 2 weeks and the fantastic conditions after the snow made up for that.
There was about 1 meter of snow on the road near the Shell garage, nothing could move in or out of town until Friday when they sent in a load of snow clearing equipment and cleared it all in a few hours.
For anyone who was staying in the town at that time it was a memorable experience and I've not seen anything like it since. |
February 1999.
BBC1 Breakfast had daily reports from Lech, live telephone chats with hotel bound British families, not permitted to leave their hotels under any circumstances until they could be helicoptered out of that part of Voralberg. There’s footage of that on youtube I think. Obviously lifts and pistes were closed for weeks. Snow reports randomly across the Alps gave 6m upper slope snow depths … these might’ve included St Christoph, Zermatt and Flaine?
We got bussed out of Hochgurgl about 4 days into the endless blizzard. Thomson’s gathered all guests from the 2 ‘resorts’ into Edelweiss & Gurgl hotel late at night, then waited for the police to give the go ahead to depart.
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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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Worst I've seen were Le Plagne in 2012 when it threw down about a meter of snow overnight. Thankfully I only saw it/people walking through narrow channels cut through the snow while dragging their bags along the top of the snow at shoulder height next to them to get to their transfer coaches as we had a late flight so were skiing, rather than driving on it (and all cleared by the time we did leave).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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No actually IN the alps, but driving down about 11 years ago, new year week.
About 11AM, on the A5 approaching Langres, overhead signs telling HGVs to get of the road immediately. Bit odd?
Next, warnings of "pluie verglaçante" - Never heard of it guv! - Freezing rain apparently
Turned onto the southbound stretch to find HGVs and cars literally all over the place - jackknifed, overturned - anywhere but the road! Absolute carnage.
Worked out that freezing rain means an odd condition where superfrozen rain hits the road and immediately turns to a sheet of ice!!
Not very nice and was very grateful of 4WD and winter tyres!!
Will look out for that one in future
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December 2009 going to La Plagne - snowmaggedon on the outward journey - tunnel was a nightmare - had to overnight Friday in Ashford. Snowed all the way through France Saturday afternoon, chains from the N90 turn off, all the way up to Aime 2000 arriving early hours of Sunday morning.
December 2014 - Tignes Le Lac - snowmaggedon on the return journey. Storm came in early Sat morning. We tried to ski, almost impossible. Tried to chain up and leave, stopped by gendarmes. The valley roads had frozen overnight and there were multiple crashes. Ended up sleeping on the sports centre floor (on crashmats).
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Tue 28-10-25 18:22; edited 1 time in total
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I wasn’t driving, but I was in a minibus in Japan with a local driver one night and it was belting down with snow. I was in the front seat, it was a thick storm, no road signs buildings or anything other than snow. The sides of the road were just snowbanks, the road was whited out entirely. At one stage it completely whited out, zero definition, I started to get that vertigo style lurch on. The driver just kept their foot in it for probably twenty seconds and we were probably doing 50 or so…. Frankly I was bricking it. They thought it was completely normal.
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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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@AliAfro, Nae too clever a rather basic 'school boy' error.
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I've driven in snowy conditions a fair bit over the past 35 years, from the European Alps to the New Zealand Alps; from Aviemore to Avoriaz. Mainly without incident, but with a few hairy incidents. My top 3, in reverse order...
3. Late night ascent to Tignes in a Geneva Airport hire car. Heavy snow falling and road conditions worsening from before the turning to Les Brevieres. Had to pull over and fit the snow chains - except they were too small. Couldn't get them anywhere near, so pressed on without them. Got over the dam at Les Boisses and then the fun began as the road (unploughed, with 10cm or more of snow on it) began to climb. The snow tyres were marvellous overall, but losing grip on the steeper sections and bends. On the section out of Les Boisses, I was getting grip by running the sidewalls of the tyres against the kerb. When needs must! A few times, I was convinced the car was coming to a halt but, incredibly it kept going (just!) and we finally made it up to Tignes Val Claret.
Phew!
2. Descending from Sauze D'Oulx on snow-covered roads. No sign of any tarmac. Italian airport hire car with no snow tyres and no snow chains...Thankfully the traffic was very light, as the tyres had practically no grip - resulting in the car virtually sledging down the road when I braked 
1. Heavy snow falling and snow-covered roads on the main pass between Italy and Serre Chevalier. Chains fitted no problem and no issues on the ascent. The descent was another issue entirely. I braked (must've been too sharply ...) approaching a bend on the way down - resulting in the chains on the front wheels biting in and gripping the snow and the car spinning round and completing a perfect 360. Fortunately, there was nothing coming in the opposite direction and we continued merrily on our way.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Markscotski wrote: |
| @AliAfro, Nae too clever a rather basic 'school boy' error. |
Even a schoolboy would know that you never trust the sat nav's proposed route until you have verified it yourself and you never set off without comprehensive hard copy maps, compass, sextant and star charts 
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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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| mountainaddict wrote: |
| I braked (must've been too sharply ...) approaching a bend on the way down - resulting in the chains on the front wheels biting in and gripping the snow and the car spinning round and completing a perfect 360. . |
May I ask how quickly you were going? This magic trick is always a worry with chains.
My worst ski driving experience was around Munich one Sunday evening on the way to the airport. German autobahn speeds. It was rain, not snow; worst rain I’ve ever driven in, and it was dark, I was on my own, in a strange car, in a strange land, following my phone satnav propped up somewhere, surrounded by all these crazy Germans driving their Mercedes flat out. It was terrifying. At least when it snows people slow down!
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Probably as much a matter of "how straight was the vehicle" as "how quickly were you going". Always brake in a straight line where possible as Newton doesn't take snow days so the back of your car will always want to carry on in a straight line from where it is, not follow the front of the car around a corner. Normally not an issue as the tyres give more than enough grid to make them follow but an at all tight-ish turn (weight transfer off of on rear tyre) and a low friction surface (like a icy, snowy road) and the one-and-a-bit rear tyres flip from 'enough grip' to 'not enough grip' and the back of the car follows Mr Newton's laws.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
| May I ask how quickly you were going? This magic trick is always a worry with chains. |
I really can't remember m'lud! (Er...too fast? )
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FAQ
