Not giving up on skiing this winter...yet!

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Paddington

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Okay, so the various lockdown across Europe are not looking good for my plans to hit the slopes in december...So I'm hatching a new plan....I have to have hope! If the lifts are closed then the fall back plan is easy ski touring and cross country.
Can anyone recommend any day outings for easy ski touring or any guidebooks that will give me some ideas......austria/ France or italy. Thanks
 
Paddington said:
Okay, so the various lockdown across Europe are not looking good for my plans to hit the slopes in december...So I'm hatching a new plan....I have to have hope! If the lifts are closed then the fall back plan is easy ski touring and cross country.
Can anyone recommend any day outings for easy ski touring or any guidebooks that will give me some ideas......austria/ France or italy. Thanks
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My lad lives in Chamonix and they do a lot of ski touring. They do skin up though.
 
I'm anticipating the lifts will be closed, so planning to skin up....slowly! I'm new to ski touring and solo, so would be looking for easy, non glaciated terrain.
 
Loving your positivity, however, the countries have to be open in order to get there in order to be able to stay in order to xcountry.
December is not that far off and if i were in your situation, I would be looking at Finland and Estonia as places where it might be possible to travel to rather than hoping Italy/France etc might allow some tourism.

Best of luck
 
My normal, pre Christmas, 4 week snowboarding trip to Austria is not likely to happen this year (for some reason or other 🙂)

So, I've got my fingers crossed for snow in the Brecon Beacons

Here's a grainy photo from the 90's of snowboarding with sheep near Storey Arms

No lifts, you have to walk up 🙂

The crazy thing is, we had just got back from 2 weeks snowboarding in Canada!

sb01 (5).jpg

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We have ditched plans for a trip this winter
SD in a lift queue is never going to happen even if resorts open
Face coverings shouldn't be a problem though 😷
 
suavecarve said:
Loving your positivity, however, the countries have to be open in order to get there in order to be able to stay in order to xcountry.
December is not that far off and if i were in your situation, I would be looking at Finland and Estonia as places where it might be possible to travel to rather than hoping Italy/France etc might allow some tourism.

Best of luck
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Had a quick look at Finland and estonia....interesting. Requires a bit more research for a possible trip in the future. Not sure I fancy the drive though. I expect this year if I can't get into mainland Europe to ski, I won't be able to drive through it to reach the Baltic area 🤔
 
Depending on what happens re France, I think ski touring was not allowed during the last lockdown.

Happy to be corrected though.
 
clanjones said:
Depending on what happens re France, I think ski touring was not allowed during the last lockdown.

Happy to be corrected though.
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No. I think you are right. But I'm hopeful/ desperate...I had pinned my hopes on getting away for 3 months this winter. The thought of being stuck at home over winter is depressing me. I live in Scotland and love hillwalking here, but skiing here 👎 high winds, rain, narrow pistes, dodging rocks...takes the fun out of it!
 
some resorts have loads of covid measures in place re SD and sanitising the lifts etc. Fewer people going may mean queues not too bad ? resorts not booked for the christmas week.....

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Kirsten said:
some resorts have loads of covid measures in place re SD and sanitising the lifts etc. Fewer people going may mean queues not too bad ? resorts not booked for the christmas week.....
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My original plan was downhill skiing at various resorts....co vid test before I leave, ferry Newcastle to Amsterdam, drive via Germany to austria for 3 weeks, then Italy then france. But given lockdown in France and recent re closure of lifts in italy....was thinking if i get into austria just stay there and if they close lifts due to outbreaks then I could ski tour or cross country???
 
A bit nearer than Estonia would be Norway and Sweden. Certainly lots of xc trails in Norway and I suspect Sweden.
 
I know what you mean Paddington we live in Scotland as well and have the Scottish skiing T shirt. My wife has just read out a post about people traveling during the current lockdown and a family of 2 adults and 4 children were fined 1000 Euro each!

I can't confirm the veracity of the story but what ever you do please make sure you are aware the situations in the various countries, if you go, otherwise you might have a big hole in your wallet!

We cycle a lot as well ski and have just decided to cancel a 2 week trip to Gran Canaria in January. (the fourth trip cancelled this year!) It will still be there in a years time and hopefully so will we!
 
I signed up a couple of weeks ago for email updates from gov.Uk which keeps me up-to-date with the rules for any of the countries I might hope to visit. Not interested in breaking any laws. NO trips up North at the moment as I live in tier 3 central belt...suppose it could be worse, I could live in England 🤔 with lockdown looming!
 
Don't speak too soon! Sadly I suspect the same will happen in Scotland in not too distant future.

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If the Vaccince roll out starts in december as I hope it will then I still think there will be time left to get some skiing done before spring arrives. I notice in Austria there is a full lockdown with the exception of the ski areas.
Its carry on as normal in Switzerland. Although I doubt most of us cant afford to go skiing there. :cool:
 
Chris Laing said:
If the Vaccince roll out starts in december as I hope it will then I still think there will be time left to get some skiing done before spring arrives. I notice in Austria there is a full lockdown with the exception of the ski areas.
Its carry on as normal in Switzerland. Although I doubt most of us cant afford to go skiing there. :cool:
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December which year????

Also with these quarantines in place, that means that the UK snoop government can then track you with the 5G chip they are going to inject into you.
 
Chris Laing said:
If the Vaccince roll out starts in december as I hope it will then I still think there will be time left to get some skiing done before spring arrives. I notice in Austria there is a full lockdown with the exception of the ski areas.
Its carry on as normal in Switzerland. Although I doubt most of us cant afford to go skiing there. :cool:
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I wasn't aware they had moved to a full lockdown in austria....I thought they had " lockdown light"...can't remember exact details of that without looking it up....But things like earlier closures of pubs etc.
 
ADJF said:
December which year????

Also with these quarantines in place, that means that the UK snoop government can then track you with the 5G chip they are going to inject into you.
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They can chip me, if it means I can go skiing 😉

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Chris Laing said:
If the Vaccince roll out starts in december as I hope it will then I still think there will be time left to get some skiing done before spring arrives. I notice in Austria there is a full lockdown with the exception of the ski areas.
Its carry on as normal in Switzerland. Although I doubt most of us cant afford to go skiing there. :cool:
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I have a moral objection to going to switzerland...money grabbers...I went years ago and forgot to change my notes to English ones. I finally found a bank that would exchange them, but for a lower rate than English ones! I grabbed my money back, stomped my foot and gave them a piece of my mind 😤
 
I'd guess the cross country courses will be open here in the Jura, life would grind to a halt if they weren't. No resorts or facilities to worry about, just lots of snow and trees. There's an aire right next to where the course crosses the road not far from us, usually see folk in campers there enjoying a long weekend of Ski de fond.

This is where we go, about 30mins up the road.

www.les-fourgs.com

Sentiers raquettes et piétons

www.les-fourgs.com www.les-fourgs.com

Not snow yet though (road past it the other day) but by mid Jan it should be good, just have to sneak over the border through the forest.....
 
Ridgeway said:
I'd guess the cross country courses will be open here in the Jura, life would grind to a halt if they weren't. No resorts or facilities to worry about, just lots of snow and trees. There's an aire right next to where the course crosses the road not far from us, usually see folk in campers there enjoying a long weekend of Ski de fond.

This is where we go, about 30mins up the road.

www.les-fourgs.com

Sentiers raquettes et piétons

www.les-fourgs.com www.les-fourgs.com

Not snow yet though (road past it the other day) but by mid Jan it should be good, just have to sneak over the border through the forest.....
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excellent info. Thanks. If I can't get in via france, I will sneak in via switzerland! Oops....ignore the " money grabbers" reference I obviously didn't mean you! 😇
 
Paddington said:
excellent info. Thanks. If I can't get in via france, I will sneak in via switzerland! Oops....ignore the " money grabbers" reference I obviously didn't mean you! 😇
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can only agree, we only live here but often (usually) shop in another country to cut costs.....

Les Fourgs is just inside France in the the Jura, great cross country course of 180km
 
Ok, so austria has gone into lockdown until 30th November. But I'm still hopeful/ in denial....maybe the lockdown will get the numbers down and things will open up in time for my ferry on 10th dec. 🌨🎿
 
Paddington said:
I'm still hopeful/ in denial....maybe the lockdown will get the numbers down and things will open up in time for my ferry on 10th dec. 🌨🎿
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I am with you on that , however just sold my Motorhome so bit stuck at the moment.
1604601230730.png
 
Up until last year we hadn't spent a January in the UK for 12 years, usually heading for the Alps as soon as the hangover wore off. We trundled South or East, waving happily at all the Brits heading the other way, then after 5 weeks or so, reversed the process just as they all headed back out for the half term week.
I am banking on the hope that most EU governments are praying that the current lockdowns will bring everything down to a manageable level for long enough to get Xmas, New Year and at least part of the ski season done & dusted, thus keeping the voters just about on side.
That said, half term is not until the 3rd week in February and I fear that if there is any significant spike in the hospital admissions before January is out, then governments will impose LD3 early in February and simply extend half term as they planned to do here last month.
Paddington - there are some delightful small resorts off the Sion Valley and that can also be reached via the Portes-du-Soleil ski area, which has plenty of parking & Aires, not to mention Samoens with the Le Giffre campsite a great place to stay. If you go via Chamonix, the run over the Col de la Forclaz & down to Martigny is memorable. The other way is via Chatel and down to Monthey.
I see P&O have at last started advertising crossings to Calais for January, although they are unlikely to get my business this trip if they charge the same as Le Shuttle, which can be done in the germ free comfort of my own "cabin" & quicker.
Fingers crossed. CB.
 
I agree with you Chester. I'm hopeful they will open for xmas. If so I think there will be another spike and lockdown late jan/ early feb. I expect the ski resort wi ll open and close on numerous ocassions throughout the winter

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