April 23rd, 2010
As the Airstream caravan tour got busier this blog got further behind, but I still have all the pictures and stories from the next 2 months of our 3 month alpine tour of 30+ ski resorts, so please check back and I’ll write more soon…
… in the meantime, our mobile ski resort guide has exploded (over 10,000 page views per week at the height of the ski season) and we are about to start providing ski holidays from the top UK ski holiday companies, so we can help you find the best cheap ski deals too!
 our gorgeous vintage airstream for sale Before the next airstream tour blog, I’m both sad and excited to announce that our wonderful 1966 vintage Airstream caravans for sale in the UK so drop me a line at snoman@sno.mobi or call me on 0771 0057 177 (UK mobile).
Airstream pictures and “uk airstream for sale” info is in the “pages” link call “airstream caravans for sale” on the right of this page
or check out our ski holidays and ski resort reviews on SNO.travel and SNO.mobi
Tags: Airstream, airstream for sale uk, airstream uk, aistream for sale. airstream caravan, vintage airstream
Posted in Airstream, Grand Alpine Tour | No Comments »
October 29th, 2009
 one of our wheels - its not supposed to look like that After a glorious first fortnight in the French alps – some truly memorable days in the ski holiday hotspots of Alpe d’Huez, Les Deux Alpes and La Grave - it was time to up-sticks from our first campsite in Bourg d’Oisans and head for our next sojourn in Brides les Bains, below the ski resorts of the legendary Les Troi Vallees.
Many things happened in between getting up that morning and our leg-stretch stop 2′30″ into the 3 hour drive… but this post is a pictorial account of how the last 30 minute leg turned into a rather more eventful few hours of highway high-jinks.
If it can go wrong, it will go wrong.
Murphy’s law had been pretty much in effect all day, but we remained cheary and confident that we would get to Brides les Bains with plenty of time to get settled before dark & enjoy a relatively easy day. For once, we had no work planned, only a little travel.
Stopping for a freshen up, Iddi returned to my driver’s window and said “you know the back doors gone”
“its gone?”
“yes”
“what do you mean?”
“its gone”
“gone?”
“yes”
“gone how?”
“its gone”
“broken?”
“gone”
“gone as in bent?”
“no, its gone”
“you mean its not working?”
“no, its gone”
… this went on for some time until Iddi eventually elaborated,
“its not there anymore”
 what do you mean the back door is gone? it's not there any more
The rear door could have fallen off at any time during the last two and a half hours drive… it would take up to 5 hours to retrace our route and get back to where we were now.
This was one of those moments when you completely reframe your ambitions for the day – our hope for a casual day of travel and camping evaporated and was replaced by the goal of merely getting to the new location with all of our caravan.
We paid the toll to leave the highway, took a new ticket (to pay to retrace our steps) and headed back on the opposite carriageway… our biggest fear was not finding this rare piece of a vintage caravan at all… but only just ahead of our fear of finding it right back at the entrance to the campsite we had left!
… it was then that we caught our first piece of luck that day, or so we hoped… just 2 miles down the road, Iddi thought she saw an appropriately sized piece of shiny metal on the opposite shoulder.
“was it our door?”
“it was the right size”
“but was it our door – should I turn around?”
“it was the right shape”
“how confident are you? should we turn around?”
“I think that might have been it”
We turned off at the next exit and Murphy’s Law resumed… it was not a junction, but a slip road onto another highway with no way to turn around.
Long story cut short, we eventually turned around, got back onto the first highway and started to guestimate the distance to where “possibly our door” had been seen…
… and then…
brrrum-brrum, brrum, brrrum, brr… HUGE vibrations and the rear of the car started to move around without warning…
… can our luck really be that bad?
I tried to imagine what extra carnage our missing door might wreak, but could think of nothing. I slowed down and pulled onto the shoulder.
 one utterly shredded airstream tyre
In a completely unrelated event, fate had dealt us a second caravanning-based hammer blow. A flat tyre might seem trivial but, in my head, it was the end of the world… here’s why:
- I bought the airstream in Arizona with no spare wheel
- a spare wheel is a legal requirement in the UK & Europe so I ordered one, with tyre from a Brit tyre dealer, in the American 6 stud configuration (unusual in Europe) … planning to try it on the Airstream before leaving the UK, but…
You get the picture… I had a missing door, where the whole bathroom might fall out… a tyre blow out… and a spare wheel that might not fit on the axle… on a French highway shoulder we didn’t quite fit on… and, I then discovered, our warning triangle was missing (also a legal requirement in France).
I didn’t expect the next hour to go well.
 Iddi directs juggernaughts away from snoman changing wheel
But, as Churchill once said, “if you’re going through hell, keep going!” - in the face of such adversity, we could but bravely press ahead.
While I’ve never caravanned before, I understood it would be far easier to change a tyre on a twin axle – no jack required – by simply driving the good tyre up one of our levelling-ramps. Hey-presto, the flat tyre is off the ground and ready to be removed!
 ramp is under the good tyre - ready to swap out the blow out
Audentis fortuna juvet
As if to reward such quick thinking, the hastily bought spare wheel fitted perfectly…
… within a few short minutes we were rolling again and pondering how, if we were not driving on the shoulder, had the “probably our door” managed to get onto the shoulder?
 I'm sure this door was a different shape the last time I saw it
We arrived at the door half a mile later and discovered exactly how - at least one truck had helpfully bounced it onto the shoulder by driving over it. The door was bent but intact the damage looked salvagable.
I predict a lot of DIY in my near future
While picking up the door, a French policeman arrived and I explained the whole saga – I can’t tell you how relieved I was that he arrived after the fact – we might have been looking at a fine for not carrying a warning triangle too! Needless to say I bought one the very next day. Luck was still shining on us when, at the next service stop, we met the same chap – he shared a few laughs and took a famliy picture.
 one odd wheel and door in back of car, but alls well that ends well
The mere ‘good day’ we had hoped for was ultimately far surpassed by the jubilation of rescuing that day, and ourselves, from catastrophe – we arrived triumphal in Camping La Piat, masters of our own destiny, and resolved to not think about the repairs until manana. To the chirrup of some encouraging and also some mick-taking tweets, we enjoyed a glass or three… and went to sleep satisfied.
 Jimmy inspects airstream spare wheel - father elsewhere in vino euphoria
NEXT: Val Thorens – the highest ski resort in Europe
(add your Val Thorens ski resort accommodation or business now to www.SNO.mobi and I’ll name-check you in the next blog post)
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Tags: Airstream, blow out, brides les bains, European skiing holidays, flat tyre, meribel, ski resorts, sno, sno mobi, snoman, val thorens, vintage airstream
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October 25th, 2009
 what no lifts & trails? la grave looks like alpine wilderness... because it is On the fringe of conventional ski holidays can be found the odd ski resort with a special reputation - here’s what La Grave.com has to say about skiing la grave:
“By exploring the domain of La Grave-La Meije, you are not in a typical ski resort.
This is a real mountain environment as you head down in an unmarked, and non-patrolled area at your own risk.
You must be aware of all mountain hazards including rocks, avalanches, crevasses, and be ready for the possibility of drastic weather changes.
In 30 minutes, the cable-car (téléphérique) takes you to 3200m, where you can create your own itinerary for the descent. You can choose from vast glacial escapes to steep chutes, a world away from the marked trails, the ropes, and the signs of a ski resort. Let your skill level and your inspirations guide you.
This freedom requires a certain technical level, but more importantly humility, responsibility, and respect for Mother Nature.
For yours and everyone’s well-being and piece of mind, you need to take certain precautions before heading out.”
This is the (no) piste map:
 thats right, there is no piste on the la grave piste map
Unlike pretty much any other ski area in the world, on the la grave piste map the “restaurant” symbol is heavily outnumbered by the “severe danger” symbol.
 perhaps the most dangerous "beautiful place" in the alps
There’s no doubt that La Grave is something special… and perhaps your skiing needs a little magic too, to fully appreciate what it has to offer.
But you don’t need to be Doug Coombs to ski la grave – you can enjoy spectacular off piste heaven in comparative safety if you (1) hire a local guide and (2) are very honest about your skiing or snowboarding ability.
The ski village made for a bond film
 I planned to seduce the beautiful Swiss agent, but the Austrian dwarf got there first
While I’ve yet to find a ski resort I have not enjoyed skiing and apres ski in, there are in truth very few places left in the mountains that maintain the style, charm and authenticity of the Cortina or Saint Moritz of old…
… staying and skiing in la grave is the closest you can get (in 2010) to being in a 60’s Bond movie.
 I dispatched the Austrian dwarf, but the French shepherd had me hemmed in...
La grave is beautiful, unspoiled and, as is given away by the cars parked in its streets, that perfectly vintage-glam mix of old local familes and old-money ski-tourist.
No doubt there’s more than the odd parvenu here, but you can kid yourself that you’re rubbing shoulders with discreet European minor royalty and David Niven types.
 was that Stephanie de Monaco? don't stare, act casual... talk loudly about how many ponies you need to play polo full time
It created for us the perfect foil for La Grave, to visit Alpe d’Huez and Les Deux Alpes before coming here.
The latter two ski resorts provide everything that the modern package ski holiday maker has come to expect from their ski holidays – massive and modern lift infrastructure, huge variety of accommodation, eateries and nightlife, well organised on piste safety.
La Grave is everything that the modern ski resort is not – un-pisted (if not entirely un-patrolled), beautifully aged mountain village, small apres ski scene, higher cost of guided skiing.
 beautiful mountain village is the antithesis of a ski resort
La Grave might not fit most peoples idea of a ski resort, but that’s precisely its charm – the authenticity of a proper, old fashioned mountain village, coupled with proper all-mountain skiing and snowboarding.
Un-pisted, un-tamed… un-safe? possibly.
Un-dimned, un-blunted, un-spoiled? Definitely.
And we love it!
 Jimmy says "get your piste-softened, lift-cossetted, choc-chaud-pampered arse out on a real mountain"
NEXT: The Day the Wheels Fell Off – Murphy’s law takes charge of the Grand Alpine Tour next leg to Bourg Saint Maurice & Les 3 Vallees
Tags: european ski resorts, European skiing holidays, grave, la grave, lagrave, ski holidays, ski resort, ski resorts, skiing, sno, sno man, sno mobi, snoman, snowboard, snowboarding, www.sno.mobi
Posted in European skiing holidays, Grand Alpine Tour, posts on www.sno.mobi | 8 Comments »
October 17th, 2009
There isn’t much about ski holidays or ski resorts here I’m afraid - this is probably one for family & friends really… & anyone who likes characterful/cute toddlers – pictures shot in Les 2 Alpes, posted in chronological order, Jimmy is 21 months old:
 ok, do "serious face", no smiling allowed! 
 try again - now, be very serious - no smiling... 
Please help to feed & clothe this poor child, by adding a link to http://www.sno.mobi somewhere online…
… your Facebook & MySpace pages, websites, blogs, school/college/university website - as many places as you can…
… and if you can, add a link to this blog too http://www.sno.travel/blog
… our hope is that no-one reading will tell themselves “its ok if I don’t bother, someone else will”… and then everyone goes and makes this small effort for us…
… if you all do, we’ll have a web business we can make a living from… and be able to work in the mountains, where we like to be.
snoman, Iddi & Jimmy.
NEXT: La Grave – is this the most attractive deadly-place in the world?
Tags: Jimmy, les 2 alpes, sno, snoman
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October 17th, 2009
 sno mobile is above the ski lifts but no sno yet We all know how learning to ski or snowboard goes – you spend your first wobbly day or two of the ski holiday within arms length of the cafes, on a nursery slope as steep as… well its almost completely flat. Then you progress a little further from the ski resort up the hill and find a slightly steeper bit called a green run.. and then a blue piste to go a bit quicker… and so on until you’re taking ski lifts high up the mountain to the top ski lifts where the best snow and most extreme gradients (and rates of decent) are to be found.
Not so when skiing Les 2 Alpes
Often called “the upside down ski resort”, Les Deux Alpes is so named because, unlike pretty much every other major ski resort in the world, 2 Alpes keeps its easiest and nursery slopes at the top of the mountain… and its fiendishly challenging stuff down at the bottom near town.
This has two VERY important consequences:
1. it is one of the best places to learn to ski and snowboard in the world
2. it is one of the scariest places for a beginner to miss the last lift back down in the world
Set your alarm for 15:30 and find a lift down!
 beginner slopes up on the glacier With the biggest skied glacier in Europe you can get plenty of summer piste time in at Les 2 Alpes, but the highest area can be shut down in winter if blizzards make it unsafe. Les Deux Alpes is probably best known as the home of one of Europe’s if not the worlds top snow parks, which is moved up and rebuilt from its winter 2600m to 3200 for the summer season. Near the top, Les Deux Alpes is also linked to the legendary off piste of La Grave – only to be attempted with a mountain guide!
You wouldn’t believe it if you’d walked and driven around with us, but Les 2 Alpes is also the second oldest ski resort in France (after Chamonix Mont Blanc). A very dificult fact to take in, as you navigate this enormous and modern looking ski town.
Arriving for a quick day of work there in early October, we probably couldn’t have picked a quieter time to visit, but we were still amazed by how utterly deserted it felt.
Crossing from one empty street into a second, we were stopped by a huge shaven-headed biker with black paint brush in hand.
He turned out to be a a cracking chap from Paris, down to help his friend do up her bar, and a huge fan of vintage Americana - expressing his enthusiasm in much better English than my French, we couldn’t but stop and invite the whole family in for a closer inspection. (sorry for not taking a picture, we got carried away gassing about bikes & caravans in franglais)
As fickle as I know it sounds, this one encounter completely changed my opinion of the place and its now at the top of the “must go back to” list for this season. As I used to say when making telly, its always about the people.
 having met only 1 business owner, will Les Deux Alpe "get" www.SNO.mobi ? We put our little post card into pretty much every business and accommodation letterbox we could find but met just one business owner in this entire ski resort – how useful is that going to be for getting SNO known in 2 Alpes?
Would you believe that Les Deux Alpes has had one of the biggest responses and new business Listings created since we launched last season!
New Les Deux Alpes ski accommodation & resort business added this week: Evolution 2 | Bensbus | The Secret Bar | Le Majestic
snowboard Les Deux Alpes skiing: snow forecast Les 2 Alpes weather forecast | les 2 alpes webcam | snowboard les 2 alpes
NEXT: La Grave – off piste mecca, but did you know the village was so beautiful, unspoiled and posh!
(add your La Grave ski resort accommodation or business now and I’ll name-check you in the next blog post)
Tags: 2 alpes, 2 alps, Airstream, alps, European skiing holidays, french alps, les 2 alp, les 2 alpes, les 2 alpes skiing, les deux alpes, ski, ski holidays, sno, sno mobi, snoman, snowboard, snowboard les 2 alpes, snowboarding, www.sno.mobi
Posted in Airstream, European skiing holidays, Grand Alpine Tour, posts on www.sno.mobi | 6 Comments »
October 12th, 2009
Seeing Alpe d’Huez ski resort in the summer makes it clear that this is a very modern and purpose-built ski resort. Not the ski resort to choose if you’re looking for chocolate box alpine charm - you book Alpe d’Huez ski holidays for the amazingling modern ski facilitites and mountain infrastructure.
Alpe d’Huez has a massive 250km of piste, which makes it one of the world’s biggest non-linked ski resorts. The top Altitude is over 3,300m so you’re unlikely to get a no-sno holiday here and the modern ski lift system means you can really clock up the miles, if that’s your oeuvre.
 does this make you want to ski Alpe d’Huez ?
The inhabitants of Alpe d’Huez are among the most welcoming of any French ski resort. We met a charming young Frenchman who, although lightly toasted, managed to explain in English that he needed to take lots of pictures of our Airstream. I think he was in charge of a shop or cafe but it was hard to tell which one – his father, he told us, was owner of the “big” hotel. We were in the big car park/square at the very top of the resort so, if this chap rings any bells with you, do steer his gaze at this blog post and say hello for us.
While it’s undoubtedly very famous for ski holidays Alpe d’Huez is probably best known as one of the classic climbs on the legendary Tour de France bicycle race. This epic climb has been a TDF stage finish every year for several decades, since it was first made famous by (now legendary) rider Fausto Coppi. Coppi attacked around half way up and soon his only rival had nothing left to give. He and the Alpe became instantly famous because this was the first year that the Tour de France had motorcycle camera men, to cover this spectacular mountain battle.
Since this incredible race in 1952, only Coppi and Lance Armstrong have been able to win the maillot jeune (yellow jersey) on Alpe d’Huez and then keep it all the way to the finish in Paris!
 roadies and even mountain bikers make the pilgrimage to climb the mighty Alpe d'Huez
If you’re a weekend warrior like me and you’d like to have a go at something you’ve seen your heroes do, then pedalling up the Alpe is likely to be on your list of “want to do” things - its such a famous climb that the draw of Alpe dHuez is not restricted to cyclists…
 cross country skier gets some summer langlaufen practice climbing Alpe d'Huez on rolla-skis (roller skis?)
I doubt this super-fit X-country skier is the first to climb Alp d Huez on roller skis, but has anyone gone up in one of these before ?!?
 first 1966 Airstream to climb Alpe d'Huez ? - someone call Norris McWerter Despite the Airstream weighing over 2 tons, the climb up was actually very easy, if slow, and certainly worth the effort for the views… so I’m pleased with myself for completing the first ascent of Alpe d’Huez in a 1966 Airstream Overlander.
It was only on the way down that we had a reality check, re what we were asking some VERY OLD machinery to do, on this torturous piece of mountain road.
With our four wheel drive car in 2nd gear, I rarely had to touch the brakes all the way down – there’s an aweful lot of resistance in a 4×4 drive train plus a 3 litre 6 cyclinder diesel engine - but…
… what I hadn’t thought too much about, was the fact that the Airstream brakes were ON and holding back that 2.5 ton trailer ALL THE TIME !
 wheels on fire... rolling down the road... After approx 5km of the 12km descent, we saw huge clouds of smoke billowing from the Airstream wheels!
We pulled over and gave them a LONG time to cool – then completed the descent of Alpe d’Huez in 2km intervals – it was a pretty scary wake up and will ensure we’ll given these roads (and the poor old sno-mobile) a lot more respect hence forth.
Fevered brow… knees a tremble… sweaty palms… time for a lie down…. see you next time in Les Deux Alpes!
Snoman.
New Alpe d’Huez ski accommodation & SNO businesses added this week include: bensbus.co.uk | Pacific Pub | L’Igloo | ESF Alpe d’Huez | Chalet Gothics | Ecrins Lodge | You! if you Get Listed Now its Free!
snowboard Alpe d’Huez skiing links: snow forecast Alpe d’Huez weather forecast | alpe d huez webcam | snowboard alpe d huez
—————————-
NEXT: Les Deux Alpes – it is big and it is clever… and everyone seems to know about www.SNO.mobi … strange things are happening in an autumn ghost town ski resort…
(add your Les 2 Alpes ski resort accommodation or business now and I’ll name-check you in the next blog post)
Tags: alp, alp d huez, alp d'huez, alp huez, alpe, alpe d huez, alpe d'huez, alpe d'huez ski holidays, alpe d'huez ski resort, alpe huez, alpes, alps, armstrong, bicycle, coppi, cycle, European skiing holidays, fausto, lance, ski alpe d'huez, ski holidays, skiing alpe d'huez, snowboard alpe d'huez, tour de france
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October 9th, 2009
 camping in the alps in September is pretty great actually After a relatively easy, if un-glamorous trip down from Calais to the French alps, we traded in our nights in highway truck stops for balmy days in a gorgeous French campsite at the foot of Alpe d’Huez ski resort.
 Jimmy helps daddy to fetch water to the Airstream We get excellent WiFi so I can crack on with a few days of work online which need to be completed before we can start to visit the alpine ski resorts to review their ski holiday facilities. Jimmy settles in immediately and, along with mummy, befriends a charming Dutch couple who are regulars at the campsite (been coming here for 17 years, and I can see why).
A lot of roadies stay in this campsite for just a night or two, as they’re here to take on the mighty Alpe d’Huez, one of the most famous climbs in the Tour de France – there are also a lot of Dutch caravanners & motorhomers here, among the many French old-timers who have made this their summer/autumn residence in retirement.
I’m struck by the marked difference in the Dutch and French approach to us – bonhommie aught rather to be a Dutch word I think, as one or a couple of Dutch campers come to say hello most days, ask if they can look around the Airstream and enquire enthusiastically about our Grand Alpine Tour - the French only speak or even smile at us after several days of effort with huge smiles all round and “bonjour! ca va?” attempts to engage.
It’s here, and while thinking about this difference between the French and Dutch, that I started to realise just how similar the English and the French really are.
The Dutch are certainly extraordinarily socially capable, when roaming abroad – I think a lot of their confidence comes from the impressive Dutch multi-lingual abilities, of which I am frequently envious, but there is something more to it too. Maybe its that straightforward matter-of-factness… whatever the reasons, they are one of the most generous and enjoyable of nationalities to meet when travelling.
 Ben and Jimmy were immediate friends But back to the English and French – yes, we are incredibly similar. If you look at demographics, a caravanner is most likely to be working class and/or retired so I asked myself, if a French person turned up in a (let’s be honest) fairly flash caravan, in a working class caravan site in the UK, how many of the locals would rush over to say hello… speaking in French? Not too many is my guess! But, if that French person made lots of effort to be friendly and engage, no doubt most Brits would be generous and welcoming… and so it went on our first week in the French alps.
 turn right, behind the bins to find the waterfall - is everywhere stunning in the French alps? yes, probably By the end of the week Jimmy was saying “au revoir” or rather “ov-war” to everyone and even “bonjour” if the camper had a “doggie” with them. With French ladies, Jimmy is our secret weapon! (he is a terrible little flirt – gets it from his ma  )
 Jimmy checks out the cafe culture in Bourg d'Oisans, below Alpe d'Huez
Next: driving up (and struggling down) Alpe d’Huez with a 2.5 ton vintage caravan
(if you’ve a business or accommodation in Alpe d’Huez, Get Listed Now on SNO.mobi and I’ll name-check you in the Alpe d’Huez blog post)
Tags: Airstream, alps, cheap deal ski, european ski resorts, European skiing holidays, french alps, mobi, Overlander, road trip, ski, ski holidays, ski resort, ski resorts, skiing, sno, sno man, sno mobi, snoman, sno_man, vintage, vintage airstream, www.sno.mobi
Posted in Airstream, European skiing holidays, Grand Alpine Tour, posts on www.sno.mobi | 4 Comments »
October 4th, 2009
Passports – check
Ferry tickets – check
Euros – check
Alpine Maps – check
Vintage american caravan – check
Trepidation – CHECK
With no more time for procrastination, prevarication and even palpatation… we left the safety of our sunny Surrey camp site and headed for “In’jin country”
 this way there be dragons Actually the road to Dover sea port was pretty uneventful, but it still felt like we were taking our life into our hands… as we headed for nearly four months in an untested vintage caravan, on an uncharted route, via un-booked campsites, to visit largely un-opened ski resorts…
… Jimmy slept through our trepidation with the certainty of someone who knows that, whatever transpires, it’s not his problem.
 All we Brits need is a good queue to take our mind off things Fortunately there is no real managing of a road trip and, once you’re properly on the road, any fear and foreboding is quickly submerged by the rhythm of travel.
Like ski holidays, road trips can be hard going but mostly road trips are fun – especially if you’re 19 months old, or travelling with someone who is.
 Though he's been in his PJs and sleeping bag for 2 hours, Jimmy is not taking any hints re sleep On the ferry we all start to crash…
 Jimmy sleeps on daddy, on ferry, en route to France … I’m trying to keep the wheels on with a LOT of coffee but…
 Jimmy sleeps on daddy, who sleeps on the ferry, en route to France … coffee is no longer working … I even tried taping a hedgehog to my head but, as you can see, even that didn’t work.
Normally mummy can’t sleep with daddy’s driving but, add 2.5 ton caravan, remove 40+mph velocity… and she’s gone.
 Iddi sleeps en route to alpine ski resorts
lost in france right-click link & select “open in new window” to listen to Bonnie Tyler cheese-classic “Lost in France” while reading.
Since we’re a very big “rig” we sleep in French truck stops, but are careful to only stay in the busy service station car parks – not the un-manned picnic stops. We’ve heard scary things about those pretty little picnic stopping areas - lovely for lunch by day, but prone to highway robbery by night. Aparently thieves have not been deterred by the fact that people are asleep inside the caravan they are breaking into!
 not the most glamorous start but we're quickly meeting French truckers - some of them might ski I won’t bang on here about the roads. the driving style or the exorbitant motorway tolls – I silently repeat to myself that they are not “wrong”, they are just “different” as my Franglais slowly starts to return amid much gesticulation. On the thousand or so mile journey down to the French alps, we slowly begin to adapt.
Jimmy hasn’t really noticed we’re in a different country, but is pretty put out by all the sitting down, as we eat up the miles.
 Where ever I keep my toy box... that's my home
And then the road starts to fade into the background and thoughts turn back to the 30+ ski resorts we’re going to visit in the Swiss and (mainly) French Alps… as we arrive in the mountains.
 its not snow capped, is not great weather, but we're here... in the alps
Next: first week in a French campsite – thank heavens for the Dutch!
Tags: Airstream, alps, European skiing holidays, french alps, road trip, ski holidays, ski resorts, sno, snoman, swiss alps
Posted in Airstream, European skiing holidays, Grand Alpine Tour | 1 Comment »
October 2nd, 2009
A few words and pictures on preparing our selves, lives and vintage Airstream for a 3 1/2 month tour of the major ski resorts for european ski holidays.
Is that entertaining if you don’t know us? … not sure… but you’ll come to know we three sno lovers and predict for yourself if we’ll be able to go from London-living-townies (him BBC telly maker, her Bank of America IT manager) to some kind of ski-resort/Romany/travelling hybrid… in 10 short weeks…
… laughter… tears… something for everyone!
TO-DO-LIST
1 – get Airstream and tow-car ready (see caravan-geek post)
 sno mobile gets ready to roll 2 – Rent the Putney Flat:
We can’t afford to be away on this mad adventure and also pay the mortgage, so our home must be rented - thanks to Gumtree we managed to do so in extremely short order… to a local young family, spookily similar to ourselves (he’s even a beeb chap)… makes you doubt your uniqueness that sort of encounter… however, they are lovely and need exactly the same duration tenancy as we need to fill (they’re having a big loft extension done and need to be elsewhere with 2 very small children) – Iddi deftly handled the flat renting process and this is a pleasing, if solitary, TICK on the to-do list.
2 – Choose 3 month route through the alps:
It’s a big old drive from London to the alps but once you’re there, all of the major ski resorts in France are within a few hours drive of each other… so the plan is to up-sticks and head to a new ski holiday resort twice each week (approx 3 days per resort). That will make for approximately 30 ski resorts in 15 weeks. In my more self-aware moments, I realise that this mammoth number can’t really be achieved, but it’s a great target (that’s my opinion – Iddi thinks it verging on ridiculous).
Idalette has taken control of the route and campsite booking – she’s massively more organised than me and is proving the missing link in the business, as she creates “processes” for things that have heretofore relied on my (unreliable) memory – quite a relief!
3 – pack the flat
 are we packing away or just making things worse - essentials for the Grand Alpine Tour go into the Airstream (ski holiday clothes and a spectacular amount of Jimmy kit)
- some baby things go out on loan to my sister who has jus become pregnant with first baby!
- antiques go to safer places with friends and family
 as luck would have it Ive recently bought a car big enough to carry a grandfather clock - everything else, thanks to our lovely tenants, gets stored in the eaves of the flat – fantastic!
Here is the (lightly scathing) response Idalette gave to my pearls of caravan-packing-light wisdom:
[quote] … pretty straight forward except deciding what to take for three seasons’ weather when you only have one suitcase worth of space. “Layering” is the answer, apparently! So I will be wearing summer and autumn clothing together as my winter apparel. It may look strange, but it will get me noticed and “that is the whole idea” (!) [end-quote]
Well “layering” has always worked for me.
4 – “breaking-in”
A gentle introduction to caravan full-timing in a pleasant Caravan Club site in Surrey. Here we learned what we needed but had forgotten… and what we had brought that is useless and/or took up too much space.
It also gave me the chance to fix the final bits and bobs (eg make the fridge work, get the www.SNO.mobi logo stickers fitted to Airstream and car, buy and fit the 3G dongle aerial and cable, fit the super low wattage LED strip lights, etc, etc)
Mainly we were able to get used to living in the Airstream, jst as we’ll have to for over 3 months in over 30 european ski resorts – it was a bit of an adjustment but actually… once you know the drills… extremely comfortable and really great fun…
… and so…
 Jimmy is an Airstream full timer as Jimmy now keeps shouting at us…
 Lets GO Lets GO!
Tags: 3g, Airstream, dongle, european ski resorts, European skiing holidays, french sim, mobi, mobicarte, roaming, roaming data, ski holidays, ski resorts, sno, sno mobi, snoman, vintage, vintage airstream, www.sno.mobi
Posted in Airstream, European skiing holidays, Grand Alpine Tour | 4 Comments »
October 2nd, 2009
Not much about ski holidays or ski resorts, this post is for the Airstream lovers – you might want to skip this one if you’re not a vintage caravan nut… or just look at the pretty pictures!
1 – polish alluminium Airstream exterior:
From totally oxidised grey, to a mirror shine takes 2 people 2 weeks and 5 different grades of cutting and polishing – lets not get into that here! – if this is your bag, you can read an amazing Airstream polishing guide or get it done by pros like like Sarah Jane’s company American Caravans, as I did – this blog will stick to the “before” and “after” shots of the sno mobile
 43 year old Airstream looking lovely but very grey and oxidised  George works his magic on the old girl's bodywork  WOW! inspection before Grand Alpine Tour (inexplicably dressed as bandidos)
2 – make sno mobile road-legal in UK – also done by Sarah Jane’s talented chaps
- convert brakes from US “electric” to UK “over-run”
- replace running gear & suspension to work with over-run hitch
- replace towing hitch A-frame and add a hand brake
- convert road lights and add UK yellow turn-indicators (from a 60’s morris minor)
 Like J-Lo ?
3 – buy a huge 4×4 large enough to safely pull a 2.5 ton caravan at speed on the highway
- US trailers have a much higher “tongue” weight (direct downward weight on the tow-bar) so only a Landrover can really tow a big Airstream safely (our trailer is the longest and widest you can legally tow in the uk with a car) - Defender, Disco or Range Rover? – it transpires that only a Range Rover is heavier than our trailer (safer at highway speeds if tow car is heaveier than trailer), so I had the perfect excuse to empty the bank account and buy a cracking mota
 gets over 20mpg while pulling 2.5 ton Airstream - runs on bio diesel too!
4 – build a cot for Jimmy and suspend it from the Airstream ceiling
not much need be said – parts of the process, here in pictures
 take one Ikea cot and begin to improvise  power sanding is best accomplished with "air guitar" technique  campsite sheep will dispose of unwanted packaging  legs are so passe - for that true DIY look, at least 2 corners must be supsended from the ceiling or wall  behind bars  Jimmy loves his new Airstream bed
5 - fit a massive battery bank, so we can keep working on the laptops, even if we’re in a ski resort where we can’t hook up to electric
- for the tech lovers among you; 6x Trojan T105 6v batteries wired in series and parrallell to give nearly 700 amp hours at 12v (its a monster!) – I got a spark in to check my handy work and his old dad asked me if I used to work on submarines…
- a big 2.5KW inverter/charger which can charge them all back up over one night on hook up, or power prett much anything on 240v AC from the batteries (all hidden in dead space under the bed and nicely centralised weight between the axles)
- a big yellow builder’s transformer to give 110v US-style, so we can keep the fab vintage fridge and the US power outlets (if you check your phone and laptop charger, you’ll see it can work on either EU 230v 50hz or US 110v 60hz)
- 3x fairly inconspicuous UK power outlets plus 3x cigar lighter outlets for things like car chargers (charge things direct from 12v batteries without wasting lots of battery power in the inverter)
6 – get mobile broadband working in French and Swiss ski resorts (3G for the laptops)
we’ll need to be reliably online every day in lots of different mountains and not at rip-off UK roaming data prices! so I need to find a way to get French 3G (ie a dongle) working in remote mountain places inside an Airstream (which is basically a Faraday cage – ie not radio signals go in or get out!).
Why is this hard? (1) dongles are locked to the network you buy them from, so my O2 dongle won’t let me use a French Mobicarte SIM and (2) we need to get the 3G signal from outside the Airstream where its strong, to inside the Airstream where its warm and dry!
I found this excellent 3G antenna from Panormama Antennas and fitted it to the old American TV mast - the old mast has a very cool little winder inside so you can turn the aerial for best signal, from the inside! I love it when old tech meets new – a really nice way of keeping this brilliant piece of 60’s engineering in use!
NB: You MUST buy a dongle with an aerial socket and also get the right lead for that dongle – marvellous chap at Panorama Antenas helped me get the right kit and it gave me excellent 3G reception in an English campsite where I couldn’t reliably connect before.
I unlocked the dongle online at unlocked-dongle.co.uk but have yet to get it working with another SIM, so I won’t make this link active until I can tell you it actually works. You need to use a French SIM because you really don’t want to be surfing on a UK SIM with your laptop while abroad – the prices are jaw dropping!
 laptop online in remote mountain campsite via WiFi connection to old Nokia N95 - phone is suppliying its mobile 3G broadband via the clever Joiku Spot software My backup 3G connection is my old Nokia N95 which has Joiku-Spot installed - the clever (and cheap) bit of software allows this excellent little phone to act as a mobile wifi hotspot from anywhere using it’s 3G connection to the inernet, and shares the internet connection with my laptop via wifi! Again, simply buy the French Mobicarte SIM when over there… and pay for the Internet Max option (tip-1: don’t buy it by the hour as they try to make you… buy “Illimitee” for a monthly fee and you get at least 500MB allowance for around €12; tip-2: use webmail, not Outlook, because SMTP traffic is NOT included and will devour any credit you have on the account)
Update: Mobicarte unliited “lnternet Max” option has now gone – currently the only unlimited data per month plan is from 8pm to 8am but costs only €6 per month! so for now its internet cafes by day and 3G after supper – works great for me
6 - lots more little bits of this and that… and…
7 - the www.SNO.mobi logo stickers!
very chuffed with these so here are a few pictures of the finished sno mobile
 Jimmy gets first look at new sno logos  let me see!  looks pretty cool  I like it - what about the car?  just like our website  Jimmy thinking about helping the photographer  Jimmy helping the photographer  nice
Our wheels are ready – let’s get this sno on the road…
Tags: 3g, Airstream, dongle, european ski resorts, European skiing holidays, french sim, mobi, mobicarte, roaming, roaming data, ski holidays, ski resorts, sno, sno mobi, snoman, vintage, vintage airstream, www.sno.mobi
Posted in Airstream, European skiing holidays, Grand Alpine Tour | 1 Comment »
August 21st, 2009
 - vintage Airstream Overlander 1966 and on the right a 1950’s one fully polished – now THAT’s what we need for our sno-mobile!
After looking for the perfect vintage Aluminium (Aluminum if you’re American) caravan (travel trailer) for an age, we found the perfect one in the middle of the Arizona desert …
… so I jumped straight on a plane from London UK to Phoenix AZ and bought it from a marvellous American chap who thought I was a ficticious e-person invented by an internet scam artist… he was more than a little surprised when I rolled down his dusty drive the following night in an enormous U-Haul truck!
(use these shortcuts if you’re looking for ski holidays or a ski resort guide)
I could try to write in some joepardy about how my internet search took me down a few bling alleys and also about the bonkers American “dealer” who advertises vintage Airstrreams for sale which he hasn’t actually bought yet…
… but the saga is long and considerably less interesting than the final 5 day adventure to buy my vintage Airstream and drive it 1500 miles to the container port in Texas, to put it on a boat back to England…
… so…
Falling back on the old adge that a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few images which document what happened when I went to meet retired US marine veteran “Arizona Bill” in the desert, with thousands of dollars cash in my pocket, to buy a caravan which was 6 years older than I am.
 Bill is an old-fashioned kind of young guy - hospitality like you used to get... This is Bill – in this picture he is the second owner of a 42 year old vintage aluminum travel trailer - soon to become the former owner of a 42 year old vintage aluminum travel trailer.
I found his particular Airstream after many weeks of online and on-phone searching. I’m glad it took so long because there are really no short cuts to learning the in’s and out’s of vintage Airstreams. They are things of beauty and rarity here in the UK, but they really are two-a-penney over in the good ‘ol US - so you need to learn a lot if you’re going to buy one yourself.
If you can afford to have it done properly, have a real expert do it for you. If you need to DIY, like me, then take your time… because there are some absolute shockers out there!
1 2 3 4 U S MARINE CORPS !
Arizona Bill is a former US Army infantry captain (don’ t know why I keep thinking marine - perhaps because Bill’s a bit of an anglophile and worked with our Royal Marines). Having served in some really very difficult circumstances and unpleasant places, Bill has seen things that he would really rather not have… and is more than a little thankful that he is now retired from the armed forces, back into civilian life. He was selling his Airstream because he used to take his boys camping in it but now has a VW combi for that purpose (much more like camping, than the Airstream “home on wheels” approach).
Understandably, it seemed not entirely credible to Bill that someone might fly eight thousand miles to buy a two ton trailer, which he could not possibly fly back with. After more than a few emails and phone calls to convince him, Bill seemed to accept that I wasn’t going to ask him to deposit money into a Nigerian bank account – he agreed not to sell the Airstream until I arrived fresh off the plane the next evening.
I decided not, at that stage, to get into a long winded explanation of our clever ski holidays website which is designed to also work on all cell phones… or that his Airstream was about to become a sno mobile on a Grand Alpine Tour of three dozen Swiss & French ski resorts… from Bill’s perspective, the story was already weird enough.
My longish flight was delayed almost to the point of all the rental companies in Phoenix closing but, after literally running around them all, I found not a single one willing to rent me a pickup with tow hitch… once they knew what I wanted to tow… and how far…
… so I rented a U-Haul lorry (truck) and told the nice chap that I was taking my friend’s little boat-trailer down to go sailing in the port of Galveston (next to Houston TX 1,500 miles away) and required a (double the cost) one-way rental.
I finally pulled into Bills yard, up a dirt road amid cacti and wagon ruts (embellishing slightly for effect) – it was dark and Bill was understandably surprised/concerned that the Nigerian internet fraudster had actually materialised and was affecting a British accent and red-eyed cheeriness.
All credit to Bill – he was busy re-attaching the Airstream curtains which he had washed and ironed (!) and even gave me a full set of fresh bed sheets, so I could “test-drive” the Overlander, overnight in his yard. He even had a cable hooked into his house to show me the vintage fridge freezer was super cold on that hot desert evening.
 everything is perfectly formed and it all works! gas & electric fridge, 3 stove gas hob, gas oven, gas hot water tank, electric water pump, shower with mini-bath, vintage loo (hmm, not sure about that), plus all original furniture Cutting a long story only slightly shorter, after a hot but comfortable night, Bill helped me look around the Airstream and all of its facilities and foibles. We basically spent the day teaching me how to “Airstream” (lighting the water heater, runinng the fridge on gas instead of electric, using the stoves, oven and grill, purging gas, emtpying the black water tank, etc). I should explain that I have neither owned a caravan before, nor even stayed in one (not since I was 7 anyway).
 Bill's favourite local bank teller signs to say I bought the Airstream fair and square After a visit to the local bank to pay in the cash and get the title notarised, we returned to Bill’s place where I showered, enjoyed something spectacular in an omelette (what did you call that Bill?) and with a wave and many thanks… I was off!
 U-Haul was the only company who would rent me a tow vehicle to pull the vintage Airstream - I thought a cheap 4x4 would be perfect but nope... it had to be a truck! 14ft U-Haul plus 26ft Airstream equals the first 40ft vehicle I've ever driven - still, only 1500 miles across the US driving on the wrong side of the road!
first time driving a 40ft articulated vehicle?
1500 miles across the desert?
in a foreign country?
on the wrong side of the road?
… piece of cake!
Inexplicably, I actually asked Bill to drive it out of his yard and to the nearest hard surfaced road… as if that was going to be the trickiest section of the 1500 mile trip!
And then I was on my own…
The road from Bill’s place to the highway had a 3 mile cone-lined narrow section which was almost exactly as wide as my new “rig” – so the first 10 minutes at the wheel were often sphynctre clenching – but I got to the highway as the sun went down… and started truckin’
convoy (right click this link and choose “Open in New Window”, to listen to “Convoy” while reading the rest of this post)
 nice Rs The 3 day and night drive from central Arizona to southern Texas was an exercise in ignoring the clock. My body/brain wasn’t on local time anyway and all that really mattered was to maximise the mileage, rather than to be awake or asleep at the correct local times… so I alternately drove until I was tired and then slept until I was not… repeatedly… for 3 days.
America is PERFECTLY geared up for travelling by road – a road trip is written into the DNA of an American… it’s second nature.
But the US is deceptively big by road, if you’re from a small island, where you can drive the length in a day and the width in half that.
The highways aren’t different from ours in Britain and neither really are the stops/service stations, its just that its much more normal to be “on-the-road”. Its normal to drive until you need to sleep and therefore its normal to sleep in a service station car park (you’d have PC plod knocking on your window at 3am if you were found sleeping in the Scratchwood services car park on the M1).
I slept in the Airstream sometimes by day and sometimes night – mostly alongside 18 wheelers, because my “rig” was too long to park with the other RVs and caravans. It was interesting to note that most people didn’t stop and stare or come to look/talk – interesting because I knew they would do in the UK and Europe – that was the whole point of travelling in it on the www.sno.mobi ski resort tour, to get SNO noticed.
Airstreams – even beautiful vintage ones – are utterly unremarkable in the USA and that’s why mine was just $8000 (approx £5300) from Bill - it would cost over £30k to buy in the UK (well beyond my budget).
I’m ashamed to say it now but that lovely old trailer of mine was bounced along behind the U-Haul truck at 80+mph for most of the trip, because time was tight and I kept telling myself that American miles, like their gallons, are smaller and therefore I wasn’t really do a proper 80!
That night I shared the price of a motel room with El Paso Airstream Guy
 met Mark on the last leg to the port - he was shipping his to Japanese clients
On the final night before reaching the sea port of Galveston Tx, coming to the end of my driving wakefulness, I passed a slightly older and beautifully polished Airstream cruising along behind a pickup. I honked as I barrelled past and thought no more of it until, parked up that evening the owner/driver pulled in at the same station/motel area. We got to talking and I discovered that Mark was a retired preacher who funded his homeless charity, across the border in Mexico, with a little Airstream dealing on the side… as one does.
 polished 50s shows patinated 60s the way forward
Mark’s trailer was an empty shell so he needed a cheap room to sleep in… and my trailer was for camping only (I was determined to put no water or anything else into the tanks before dropping it off for the 4 week boat trip home) …
… Mark needed a place to sleep and, after 3 days on the road, I needed a good shower and shave…
… so we split the price of a room and I used his shower before retiring to the car park outside.
The following day was a comedy of errors as we tried to keep charging Mark’s pickup battery from my U-Haul truck…
… eventually swapped out his alternator…
… then went on a hunt for someone to “purge” (ie empty) my lovely polished aluminium gas tanks, so they’d be allowed on the boat.
Fortunately Mark knows a lot of people (he has shipped a lot of these trailers), but no one could do the job and also give the newly required certificate (its an insurance thing – they’d be sued beyond the horizon if they exploded on a container ship).
In the end we resorted to opening the valves in an industrial area and hoping no one would smell it – very naughty – but it didn’t come out nearly fast enough so I had to give up on those lovely polished tanks.
 quite a loss these, but I later discovered you can't get UK/Euro adapters to fill them anyway and they're not legal (must be steel over here)
Since Mark had been such a cracking chap, I gave them to him to “get what you can on eBay” – which turns out to be rather a lot!
With all of the faffing around, we got Mark’s trailer on the boat before the yard closed for the day, but not my sno-mobile - I would have to return in the morning – so Mark and I said our goodbyes and I drove to the beach to spend my last night in the US…
… and end the road trip…
… as is fitting…
… where the road ends…
 can't drive no further, the roads run out
… at the ocean…
… with a beer.
NEXT: the dash to get ski website, caravan and life ready for the Grand Alpine Tour…
Tags: Airstream, European skiing holidays, mobi, Overlander, road trip, ski, ski holidays, skiing, sno, sno man, sno mobi, snoman, snowboard, sno_man, vintage, vintage airstream, www.sno.mobi
Posted in Grand Alpine Tour, posts on www.sno.mobi | 3 Comments »
August 4th, 2009
In the immortal words of George Peppard,
“I love it when a plan comes together!”
A few short months ago I dreamed a dream one wine soaked night…
… that we would take sno.mobi to the very people in the mountains for whom it was created… Not for our ski website to email and call the entire ski holiday world, but rather to actually go there and meet everyone, one resort at a time!
It all made such sense and I began to drift off to sleep… smiling at the perfect plan… likely never to think of it again.
But fortune favours the self-aware…
…and these days I’m firmly in the habit of texting myself when I have a cunning plan in the wee small hours…
… the better to profit from somnambulent insight… or at least expose a flimsy wheeze to the cold judgement of morning.
Oddly, when I read it back the next day, it still seemed a great idea!
The best way to get sno.mobi out there to all the ski resort businesses and accommodation.
With a 4 month window for this Grand Alpine Tour, we can visit and meet people in about 30 alpine ski resorts but… we’d need to do it in style and some comfort… and on the cheap.
In March I had done a month of travelling to meet the great and the good in Chamonix, Courmayeur, Meribel, Courchevel, Val Thorens, Verbier, La Tania and Orelle ski resorts. It was great to get enthusiasm from the Toursim Offices and local business and see people helping by linking back to http://www.sno.mobi from their own ski websites but in truth, it was no good at all for family life.
I missed snogirl and the boy terribly and working all hours you’re awake gets tiring – I needed to go home after work and ‘have a life’ like other working snomen… and I think that’s how the idea of us all being in the mountains began to take shape.
OK – easy to organise a relocation except… we need to be in 2 resorts per week… and that means we can’t just move to Chamonix for example. So here’s the conundrum:
How can you live in a reasonably civilised manner, despite moving every 4 days?
Clearly living out of a suitcase is not civilised (unless your suitcase is a victorian campaign chest) and the cost of accommodation over 4 months is prohibitive.
A caravan was the obvious answer but they are known to by deeply uncool… then the penny dropped… I now had the perfect legitmate reason to buy a fabulous artefact that I have lusted after for as long as I have been a lover of “retro-cool” (and that’s even before I was a snoman)
a vintage Airstream caravan!
It all suddently made sense, we could caravan and be proud in one of those fantastic silver bullet travel trailers from the 50’s and 60’s…
… and so the hunt began.
Next… the snoman meets Arizona Bill and El Paso Mark… on the hunt for a vintage Airstream in the good ‘ol U.S of A
Tags: apres ski, bars, chamonix, chamonix chalets, chamonix mont blanc, chamonix ski holidays, restaurants, ski, ski chalets, ski chamonix, ski holidays, ski resort, snow forecast, snow report, snowboard
Posted in posts on www.sno.mobi | Comments Off
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