J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

There has been a change in the law in France, which requires that people taking out sports insurance produce a medical certificate (I thought only competitors needed one) so you do need one, but only when taking out a new policy, if you are renewing an existing policy you don't need one.

When you get to Chamonix just go to any "doctor-generalist" and ask for a "certificat medical de non-contre indication à la practique du Ski", should cost about 25 Euro.

The Licence Carte Neige is an annual membership to one of the clubs affiliated to the French Ski Federation, the insurance comes with membership. The clubs get a proportion of the premium.

You can also buy it online via the FFS website http://www2.ffs.fr/carteneige/online I think it's a bit cheaper if you buy it online and like the DSV policy there are different levels of cover. There's also summary of the cover provided in English http://www.ffs.fr/pdf/carteneige/FFScn-assurance-12-13-en.pdf If you plan to buy it again don't throw the old card away otherwise you will have to get a new medical certificate.

Two German skiing forums you could try are http://www.freeskiers.net/community/forum.php and http://www.powderguide.com/forum/

As I don't live in Germany and have never used this type of insurance I can't say if the UKV Auslandsreisekrankenversicherung is any good or not, according to Stiftung Warentest HanseMerkur and LVM offer the best protection http://www.test.de/Auslandsreise-Krankenversicherung-Die-besten-fuer-eine-lange-Reise-4417800-0/

I don't think Carte Neige requires a medical certificate. Are you confusing it with the insurance offered by the French Mountaineering Federation (FFME) which does? If you decide to get the Carte Neige bear in mind that all the information and all the claim forms are only available in French and that you have to claim within 7 days of an accident or your claim will be void. Make sure you keep the claim form that you will be given when you buy the card in a safe place.

If you are resident in Germany you will probably have to buy your insurance there. The PJ Hayman long stay policy mentioned above requires that you make the following residency declaration "I confirm that I am a resident of the UK or the Channel Islands and I have not spent more than six months abroad in the last twelve months".

You will need a Reisekrankenversicherung to cover you for illness and a Wintersportversicherung to cover you in case of accident etc. as well as an EHIC card, something like the Deutscher Skiverband CLASSIC PLUS policy might be suitable, its only 55 euro per year but unfortunately it only provides cover for trips of up to 42 days and off-piste skiing isn't mentioned http://www.ski-online.de/2724-start_page.htm (in English) This policy is available to any European resident so it might be of interest to other J2Ski members.

Getting cover for a whole season could be a problem, I'm not sure if you can legally stay as a tourist in a EU country for longer than 90 days in any 6 month period. As OldAndy mentioned you will need to find a German travel insurance specialist. You could try posting (in English) on one of the German skiing forums.

There are lots of shops selling quality ski clothing between Munich airport and Innsbruck. There are some really big sports shops in Munich itself; Sporthaus Schuster, SportScheck and Sport Bittl. The motorway to Innsbruck passes lots of towns that have ski shops, Intersport Eybl on the outskirts of Wörgl is close to a motorway exit. All of them have websites so you can check out what they stock before visiting.

The timetable is issued provisionally to enable people to comment on things such as large gaps like the one you mention and the timetable is sometimes changed as a result. When next year's is issued you could inform the department of transport in Sion about the need for a bus service to the val d'Anniviers over lunch time. It would obviously help if you got the local tourist authority involved. You could even write to your old mate Jean-Michel Cina, he came up trumps last time.

As Lillywhite mentioned earlier look at the holidays provided by the UCPA (Union des Centres Sportifs de Plein Air) a non-profit French organization that makes outdoor sports holidays available for people of ages 7–39.

http://www.ucpa.co.uk/
http://www.chamonet.com/accommodation/hotels/ucpa-chamonix.html

Prices include: accommodation, breakfast, lunch & dinner, lift pass, ski / board hire and instruction, but not flights and transfers. Before booking check out the price of the transfer, as (depending on resort) they can be expensive.

bandit wrote: Thanks Swingbeep :thumbup: I see a big lunchtime shaped hole in the timetable (again).

That's because it's lunchtime. Many people still go home for lunch, the schools close, many of the smaller businesses and shops close and some of the larger companies insist that their employees take at least a 45 minute break.

The SBB winter timetable won't be online until the 24th October. In the meantime you can download the proposed version in PDF format http://www.projet-horaire.ch/fr/consultation-de-l-horaire/ if you only want the Post bus timetable to Grimentz http://www.fahrplanentwurf.ch/fileadmin/fap_pdf/2013/12.452.pdf