I could be wrong but I feel very sure all cars that are expected to experience snow in and around the Alps etc have Snow tyres or carry chains by regulation. Obviously including hire cars, Hire companies now just fit snow tyres.
Pretty sure one of our French friends will square the details very soon.
I’ve driven in and out of resort maybe 15-20 times in my own vehicles, always with chains available but only fitted them 3 or 4 times. Plus 10 or 11 times with hire vehicles, which all but one, had snow tyres. That 1 time it snowed and it was harrowing getting caught out in heavy snowfall and needing to get back down the mountain.
Peter wrote:
The risk of car rental is that unless you rent a 4×4, or stick to the car park in the town, you could get stuck.
No way you need 4×4 to drive from Aosta to Cervinia (or Chamonix) if you arrived by plane. Simply the weather would be too good for roads not to be clean as they were last week.
Depends what you drive? and how much snow or icing?
That was my old fiat punto at La Plagne (bought it while student for 600Euros), we were stuck for 2 nights, people who decided they have the gear to drive went for it but were stuck for one full night !
GA_Pete wrote:
I could be wrong but I feel very sure all cars that are expected to experience snow in and around the Alps etc have Snow tyres or carry chains by regulation.
I’d be surprised if it is by regulation in France.
I hired cars from various companies at Lyon Airport (LFLL) at least half a dozen times over the years, although the last time was 2019. I always requested snow tyres. Only once were they supplied. I always had to request (and pay extra for) snow chains, and on some occasions was forced to buy a set at the local Carrefour. I ended up needing the snow chains twice. (Despite growing up in Canada in a city that always had more than 2m snow per year, I had never used them before, and they were a right faff to put on.) Would definitely have appreciated having snow tyres.
The couple of times I hired in Switzerland (Geneva), they always came with snow tyres.
Lyon is close but it’s not the Alps.
Well, it depends. Yes the main roads are cleared well. But…
IiRC on some of the mountain roads in France there are restrictions, when weather conditions have made the roads dangerous.
At these times it is mandatory to have snow tyres or chains or both.
I don’t recall a regulation that states they must be fitted.to all hire cars. It would make sense though for some hire companies in the Alps in winter to have some or most of their cars prefitted with snow tyres and possibly supply chains.
Depends what you drive? and how much snow or icing?
With such snow forecast you simply wouldn’t fly. So this example doesn’t count.
The topic of the thread is fly to ski rather than how much snow can fall in the mountains or how efficient is snow clearing in particular country, town, street or parking lot.
I’d be surprised if it is by regulation in France.
In Croatia it’s mandatory by law to have winter tires from Nov 15 until Apr 15. If you rent a car in that period, they will be supplied. Chains are mandatory on notification when particular road is covered with snow/ice but only for trucks and the vehicles that are not 4×4.
Since the majority of interested pilots dropped out from Aosta/Cervinia fly-in due to different reasons, I propose repeating it in February. I don’t have any specific date in my mind but I guess 2nd half is ok.
