Archive for the ‘European skiing holidays’ Category
Sunday, 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 »
Saturday, 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 »
Monday, 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
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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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Friday, 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 »
Sunday, 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 »
Friday, 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 »
Friday, 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 »
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
I’m just back from an amazing week in Chamonix!
6 days and nights of talking to local business owners and managers and they were really enthusiastic – everyone thought www.sno.mobi was a great idea and loads of business have joined – our Chamonix pages are already buzzing with bars, restaurants, taxi, ski instructors, lots of accommodation, chamonix ski holidays, property for sale and a lot more…
… but it gets even better…
… we have partnered with the Compagnie du Mont Blanc (the lift company that runs the whole valley) and they are now using us as their mobile channel. The guys there are very switched on – they’re really aware of how mobile web has exploded, how expensive it still is (to build to work on all devices) and are keen to use our system to communicate all their info to visitors in-resort. They have put our stickers in all the gondolas, kiosks and lift stations in the valley and they now run our Piste & Lift info and Lift Pass pages as their own – a terrific partnership for us both!
We’re also talking to the Office du Tourism – we could be very useful for them in the same way (providing a mobile communications channel for free, when it would be very expensive for them to build their own). We’re offering them the use the Events Listings for free (normally you would buy an Event Listing, like when a bar wants to List their Happy Hour). The Tourism Office can then List all the major Events in Chamonix… and everyone can see them because everyone has a mobile phone! I met an incredibly swtiched on young guy who is heading up their PR and marketing - he knew all about how mobile web is exploding and he was super enthusiastic… talked about working together as if it were a done deal…
… although my next conversation with the head of the walk-in tourist office was less emthusiastic… because I seemed to be offering a service which would add to her work-load (ie inputing the events at the start of the each new season).
In fact I think I ballsed-up this meeting, because I went into it fresh from the PR guy, thinking the meeting was to show this lady how to input Chamonix events… infact she is at least as senior as the marketing chap who prematurely said “oui!” to to me and this meeting should really have been to explain and convince her that Chamonix Tourism Office actually wanted a mobile web channel.
I spent the first 5 minutes wondering why the conversation was getting stuck, before the penney dropped and I realised I must start MUCH further back to explain:
- what mobile web IS, and
- why its technically so hard to work on ALL phones, and
- how we’re the ONLY ski site in the world who CAN, and
- how we can put Chamonix events into literally EVERYONE’s pocket, and
- how it works towards their eco-plans because they’ll need to print less maps and brochures and flyers etc, and
- how it will mean less people need to come into the Tourism Office (busy place) because the info is in their pocket
… and… and…
But I’ve been in enough BBC management meetings to know when you have someone on-side… and when you don’t…
… I fear the new chap may be out-ranked by the long serving person in charge of the walk-in tourism office… we shall see…
… its all part of the VERY steep initial learning curve!
I have to be really pleased because it’s a terrific start with the Compagnie du Mont Blanc, but for me, the best thing of all is how all the business owners and managers really agree with our goals for ethical business – we can promise to keep it really cheap (so every business can afford to be found) as long as they all add a link to us and put our sticker in their window – it costs them nothing and saves them a lot of money (we’re cheapest because we don’t need to spend their money on our advertising and search rank).
All very exciting – more to follow soon…
(re-post from March - moved from Blogger to www.SNO.travel/Blog )
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 European skiing holidays, Grand Alpine Tour, mobile web and WAP, posts on www.sno.mobi | 2 Comments »
Sunday, January 11th, 2009
If you’re still thinking of Canada for ski holidays then you’re probably not feeling the financial pinch as much as the rest of us. Put simply, skiing North America is not the European snow lover’s answer this coming winter.
If you still want a snow fix when your credit is crunching… you’ve got to think European ski holidays.
Sure, we all like to travel, but I think we forget just how much of Europe we have never visited, let alone actually skied in. I was talking to an American skier on Flickr yesterday who explained that, while he loves the powder as much as anyone, he doesn’t visit the classic US big powder ski resorts anymore because they’re tracked out within the first hour of fresh snowfall… and the unexpected bonus he gets from going for fresh tracks in the smaller resorts is that he is discovering some beautiful little chocolate box ski resorts where the staff and locals are not too busy or jaded to speak… but actually love giving you advice on where to ski or snowboard… trails and bowls which, in the larger resorts, are refered to as “secret spots” are shared with relish on the smaller mountains.
Its’ much the same in for us in Europe and this winter is the perfect year for us all to discover what that old American ski dog was describing to me – it’s often your own undiscovered back yard where we’ll find the genuinely stunning places for a ski holiday – this is the year to do it because we are more skint or at least more careful than we’ve been in a decade… and a flight across the Atlantic is simply not necessary when we can fly 90 minutes to Geneva and a cheap ski holiday that’s half the price of Canada or US ski holidays.
My friends recently manage to snowboard saint martin belleville and then later take a further les arcs ski weekend including all flights and airport transfers for less than the price of just one Canada holiday skiing or boarding – that’s why this is most definitely the year for european ski holidays.
(if you’re really strapped, check out these cheap deal ski holidays)
Tags: cheap deal ski, European skiing holidays
Posted in European skiing holidays, skiing, snowboarding | Comments Off
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