J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by ise

Trencher wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:I guess with global warming this whole subject matter will be a thing of the past soon :-)

Who knows. If the Gulf stream shifts, you may be using chains to drive into London in the winter :lol: So many tipping points may be reached that the world could potentially look very different.

interesting point, have you seen much about what effect jet stream deflection is having on the current weather? it was the dominant feature of summer weather and there's some odd snow fall patterns across Europe I believe.

Trencher wrote:Do large cities have snow emergencies in Europe ? Here after a snow storm, Cities will announce a snow emergency. This means you can only park on the even number side of the street one night and the odd number side the next night. This allows them to plow the whole street over two nights. It's common for hundreds of cars to be towed away.

In the suburbs, there is no street parking at night during the winter to allow for snow plowing.

:lol: no, possibly there's not a substantial problem with cars being left on the street here though. In suburbs there'd be basically no street parking at all.

I thought that's what I'd heard, here's a map :

http://www.gva.ch/en/Portaldata/1/Resources/fichiers/parkings/AccesAero-Parkings_gva.pdf

skis :D by around 1500 years, amazing though :)

ise wrote:actually he's out there right now doing the same although the snow's many times his height right now, fortunately he's equipped with 4-paw drive and traction devices aka claws as required by local regulation :D

just realised what's caught his interest, from the spoor we've had one or more mountain hares in the garden, I'd have liked to have seen that, they're quite difficult to spot normally.

bandit wrote:
The truth is prowling here.....

http://snowslider.net/2007/11/12/mickey-in-zinal/#more-252

:D

actually he's out there right now doing the same although the snow's many times his height right now, fortunately he's equipped with 4-paw drive and traction devices aka claws as required by local regulation :D

I used to stay in the valley a lot when we lived in southern Germany, it was a good drive, easy road access, in my experience always good hotels, late/early skiing on the glacier and some nice stations linked by bus.

So, yes :D

I appreciate your intent Dave but it's not a question of semantics, what I posted was quite clear because I made careful that it was both clear and accurate. My intention was provide some accurate information and some amount of personal experience from the many years I've lived here. That was derailed by being misquoted and wilfully misunderstood and then abused. Obviously I well understand the exact legal position in Austria, in fact I posted the piece from the Austrian government on this forum earlier this week.

Trencher wrote:So if it starts snowing and you don't have winter tires, you had better pull over and hope that the road gets completely covered so you can put the snow chains on. Or risk a fine. Did I read that correctly

Trencher

yes that's about right, it's fair enough of course, they don't want to make it illegal for people from the UK or Holland etc etc to enter the country but they want people to be equipped. In practice, if it's snowing and the road is partly or completely snow covered then you'll be fine with chains on. Your real worry is no chains, no winter tyres and a snow covered road, that's where you'll be in bother.

For the people going in holiday the message is pretty simple, you must have either winter tires or chains if there's snow on the road as you'd expect. Being informed you just take your own decision, you might choose not to be equipped at all but you're not going to be allowed on some routes.

My own advice, after 12 years living in alpine countries and a few years before that driving in the alps, is that you really need chains and winter tires only if you can. If you're planning to drive around while you're in the Alps and try different stations then I'd advise winter tires if you can get them on the hire car as it's easier. But I see people visiting around here managing perfectly well with ordinary tires and chains. Again, from experience with 4WD drive and winter tires I do need chains from time to time so to me that's the most important thing.

It's up to the individual, you take your own choice based on what you know.