J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ise

Ian Wickham wrote:

I'm looking for a windproof mid layer thought I might try them

so hard to find, I'm looking for a insulting outer layer and a waterproof base layer and I just can't find them anywhere, I bet they're all on the same rack somewhere :D

The Jura mountains run down part of the border of France and Switzerland, they form the watershed of, and divide, the Rhine and Rhone rivers. The word Jura is old from Celtic roots and means forest so you have the forest mountains. Another interesting thing about them is they control our weather in the plateau area a bit, air tends to condense on the Jura giving us a blanket of fog in the plateua region. Some of these photo's show this really neatly with a sea of fog between the Jura the main alpine chain.

Col du Mollendruz is a nordic ski area near the Lac du Joux which was frozen as I drove past this morning. Because views were going to be so good I took a long loipe along the ridge to enjoy the views.

I probably got more photo's today than I can use really, so this is a tiny selection.

Not quite the law but it's a con I think. They just can't have rows of cars some with winter tires on and some without and they can't seriously be swapping the tires on each rental.

I was going to say the marginal cost to them of winter tires must be practically nothing but I wonder if that's true thinking about it, a lot of the hire companies probably do swap the cars before they're through the first set of tires,

The law and what customers want are probably less a concern than their insurance though, I doubt they'd be covered for an accident on a winter road without winter tires on.

johnski96 wrote: Again, typical in France, fantastic restaurants if you have 00's of Euros and a couple of hours for lunch OR a rubbish cafeteria. Not much in between. (bit like London actually).

there's plenty in between, there's two excellent places over towards St Nicolas, another one at the base of the Mont Joux chairlift, one at the bottom of Le Christomet which is probably one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten in anywhere in the alpes, another one at Combloux to name but five. Places like the self service at the top of Mont Arbois or over Cote 2000 are pretty awful but you don't have to go there.

There again, I think the variety of cuisines at reasonable prices is one of the things London does particularly well, where else can you eat Himalayan food one night, Indian the next, Moroccan the third and Lebanese the fourth and so on? very few places in the world I'd have thought.

Ian Wickham wrote:I drive through La Bresse on the way to LGb, seems patchy snow wise and very flat 8)

really? La Bresse-Honeck in the Vosege mountains?

are you sure you're not thinking of Bourg-en-Bresse, Bresse-Sur-Grosne etc just south of Beaune?

msej449 wrote:I recall reading advice from a motoring organisation saying that you should ideally fill-up a diesel with a tankful from an Alpine garage before you parked it at the resort. This is because diesel sold in the Alps has additives for extreme cold. If you fill up away from the Alps you won't get the appropriate mix. My diesel can almost reach 1,000Kms on one tank so I always try to do as recommended. anyone care to confirm or otherwise?

I've heard that but only from people in the UK. In years of living France, Germany and Switzerland no one I know here has ever heard of that, nor running a diesel car in the past have we experienced it.

I do know that all diesel is seasonally adjusted not only in Europe but the UK as well to stop the wax in it freezing in the winter. It would be a bit bizarre to do this in the alps alone, as it happens the coldest places in France, Germany and Switzerland aren't actually in the alps. Other practical considerations like tank capacity as you mention make it absurd, you'd buy fuel in Paris and freeze in Val d'Isere.

Salski wrote: I can't comment on the off-piste - I only ever go near it if something goes horribly wrong!

Pretty interesting in places, easiest to access is Mont Joly of course with masses of terrain up and down the lift. For more excitement it's possible to drop into Les Contamines from there, or vice versa, and ski out towards Cote 2000 dropping onto the bus route. Likewise Combloux offers some good possibilities.

I saw someone with those on their car yesterday, I didn't immediately recognize them and they looked like a cross between chains and autosocks. They weren't helping the guy I saw much but it could have been him )