 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi there guys
I booked the chalet, kit, flights, and car. Week to go until we fly, I recall that our car is only a Ford Focus and the lady at the car hire place doesn't speak English and can't tell me whether the car has winter tyres. All she will say is that we must have snow chains.
Never having travelled in anything but a resort transfer minivan and falling asleep, I wonder if anyone can help with:
a) is a ford focus or equivalent (1.4 or 1.6 litre car) powerful enough to get up from Turin to Sestriere?
b) is the road well enough swept and used so as not to need winter tyres?
c) I've never thought that I'd need to install snow chains - I thought that was for when you were going almost offroad or off major roads. Uh-oh. Bitten off more than I can chew?
Any help and thoughts much appreciated!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Hi,
Just got back from Sestriere. We drove a hire car and used chains for the first time...
Focus is fine. The drive is easy and the roads are good but Sestriere is very high so you definitely need to be able to deal with snowy roads - just in case.
We booked a car with winter tyres but they didnt have one when we arrived at Turin so were given chains. We didn't need them on the way there but
snow was forecast for our return trip so we practised putting them on the night before helped by youtube videos (although note the wide variety of different designs and tensioning mechanisms).
It's worth practicising before you need them - took us the best part of an hour of swearing and getting filthy (instructions consisted of one diagram). Like most things, once you know what you are doing it gets easier. If you don't practice do remember - put them on BEFORE you really need them, find somewhere safe and flat, expect to get messy
Cheers,
J
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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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+1 for practice and putting them on the night before if possibility of snow is a must
If you have a diesel then if it looks like it's going to get cold (say < -5 to be safe) then get additive and add it as soon as you find a garage that sells it - DO NOT WAIT. The car hire company won't have done this. I hired a car a couple of years ago in Italy and it went below -15 and the deisel froze and didn't thaw. We had the car towed back to the airport and had to get a taxi (which the rental company paid for) but it was a lot of hassle and stress. Thank goodness we tried to use it a couple of days before our return date otherwise we'd have been screwed as it took a whole day to resolve (which mant no skiing for me - grrr)
Before you go out take some marigolds or to be cheap some UK garages have free plastic gloves on the forecourt - grab a handful when you fill up one day.
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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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Diesel in Turin will NOT be winterised, we had to get a replacement fuel filter after our own car conked out following a fuel fill-up in Turin. Fortunately we weren't that far from our apartment at the time, but needed to return to Turin to collect friends from the airport. So it did cause some hassle. Always careful where we fill up now.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We did it in a 1l Fiat Panda, no problem. Just make sure you take the snow chains and the deisel additive!
Dont worry, it isn't that scary!!
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Hah! Thanks everyone. So now I'm dreading the reality of this trip... The drive down the mountain in hours of darkness is chillingly frightening. I've convinced myself that we're going to both need to fit snow chains and defrost a carload of diesel! It can't be that bad, surely... And anyway, what's the worst that can happen?
don't answer that.
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rubberbullet, the drive is not that scary, and the roads were much improved for the Turin Olympics, I wouldn't worry yourself too much.
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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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| Hells Bells wrote: |
| rubberbullet, the drive is not that scary, and the roads were much improved for the Turin Olympics, I wouldn't worry yourself too much. |
I haven't seen a truly scary road in my trips to many resorts around Europe.
Mount Hutt, New Zealand - now that IS scary.
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| rubberbullet wrote: |
| ... And anyway, what's the worst that can happen? |
Just pray for armco 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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the drive is not scary at all - seriously
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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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One time our group hired 2 cars with snow chains from an airport (not this one, close to Venice IIRC) and one pair was broken and the other was the wrong size. Ever since this I always put the snow chains on in the hire place before I leave, so I can complain if they do not work. You may want to consider this.
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