Fly to ski

nice place - but St.Johann is only VFR, like LFLJ Courchevel. here an approach to the old LFLJ runway (350m) in 1985 - shows me 28years younger

web cam choose altiport http://www.savoie-mont-blanc.com/En-direct/Fiche-Info-neige-Webcam/%28id%29/sitraGEO130262#webcams

Great video... And all the more so because it was done in '85.

You look marvelous :-)

28 years - that gives wrinkles ;-)

Consider Chambery as a restricted airfield in winter. Here is the NOTAM

LFFA-B0779/13A02 Q)LFMM/QATXX/IV/NBO/AE/000/115/4546N00551E022 A) LFLB CHAMBERY AIX LES BAINS B) 201302141516 C) 201304142359 E) RESTRICTIONS PERIODE HIVERNALE - RISQUE DE SATURATION AD: -CONDITIONS D'ACCES : . SEULS LES USAGERS AYANT OBTENU LA CONFIRMATION PREALABLE DE L'EXPLOITANT AD AURONT L'ASSURANCE D'UNE POSSIBILITE DE TRAITEMENT ET DE STATIONNEMENT . LES DEMANDES DOIVENT ETRE FORMULEES PAR VIA MYHANDLING AU PLUS TARD 48HR A L'AVANCE . CETTE CONFIRMATION PREALABLE ACCOMPAGNEE D'UN NUMERO ET DE L'HEURE D'ARRIVEE(EVENTUELLEMENT DIFFERENTE DE CELLE DEMANDEE) SERA COMMUNIQUEE AU DEMANDEUR PAR L'EXPLOITANT . CES NUMEROS SERONT REPORTES EN CASE 18 DU FPL . D'EVENTUELLES RESTRICTIONS IMPOSEES PAR L'AFTCM SERONT RESPECTEES EN TOUTE CIRCONSTANCES - RESTRICTIONS : . VOLS D'ENTRAINEMENT IFR DANS LA TMA SOUMIS A AUTORISATION PREALABLE DU CONTROLE ET INTERDIT LES SAM ET DIM . IFR MONOMOTEUR A PISTON INTERDIT SAM ET DIM . CHAMBERY ET ANNECY NE PEUVENT PAS ETRE CHOISI COMME TERRAIN DE DEROUTEMENT LES SAM ET DIM . LES VOLS VFR PEUVENT ETRE LIMITES . RISQUE D'ATTENTE POUR LES VFR AVANT AUTORISATION D'INTEGRER

Meaning : due to high activity, prior request mandatory at least 48H before flight. Authorisation then granted with an authorisation number, to be reported in the FPL. Other restrictions may apply. SEP IFR forbidden on week ends. VFR flights may be restricted. In this category of airfield, Annecy might be a good alternate. If you don't mind smaller airfields, why not Annemasse or le Versoud?

An IFR flight means more workload for ATC than a VFR one. MEP and jets pay more. On week ends in winter, traffic can be pretty high in Chambery because it is fairly close to many large ski resorts. The airfield is used by charter airlines and private jets. I remember reading in a magazine that VFR SEP are not welcome either then.

Last year, we already talked about ski trips to the Alps and feasible airports.
I recently dug into this once again and I might as well share the results here.

In a nutshell, it seems like it has really become very difficult, airport-wise, to find a decent place to land and park.
But let’s see…

First of all, I focussed on IFR-airports only. This is not because I want to be able to appraoch in IFR conditions. I would not want to do that in or close to the Alps in wintertime; rather, I would go only if VFR conditions could be reasonably expected at the destination. I did this more because what is required is that the airport surfaces will be kept free of snow even after a lot of snowfall, which, as a general rule, is only the case at those airports. There are exceptions, of course, like Courchevel (but that’s a restricted altiport) or Samedan (bloody expensive for parking). Also, as a general rule, only IFR airports usually have rental cars on-site, which would make things easier.

Note that I merely looked at the official regulations in place and didn’t actually contact the airports, yet. Experience tells that many restrictions which are very serious on paper sometimes are not that bad in practice.

Anyway, here we go:

1. Innsbruck (LOWI):

NOTAM in force which forbids any GA parking for more than 60 minutes until the beginning of March.
Done.

2. Salzburg (LOWS):

AIP SUP in force until end of March which severly restricts parking, particularly on saturdays, but also on other days. PPR required, but according to a report by cheshunt, this is sometimes impossible to obtain.
Done.

3. Annecy (LFLP)

According to AIP SUP, until mid-April, slots are required for saturdays and sundays.
Additionally, according to NOTAMs, until mid-April, all aircraft require handling. This is probably in order to furhter reduce the number of small aircraft to come in (don’t know the price of the handling).
There are other mean restrictions. IFR flights are forbidden for SEPs until mid-April as well, so one would have to come in VFR – no big deal. However, they even forbid Yankee-flights. (The most stupid thing I have ever seen…I think we all shoud fly in there on a Zulu-plan – which would make zero difference to them – and then show them our middle-fingers.)
Done.

4. Chambery (LFLB)

According to AIP SUP, until mid-April, slots are required for saturdays and sundays.
According to NOTAMs, until mid-April, PPR is required from mondays to fridays.
The same India- and Yankee as in Annecy apply.
Done.

5. Bern (LSZB)

According to AIP, for visitors, the airport is PPR all year ‘round. I don’t know if this is treated in restrictive manners in the winter season. No other restrictions by NOTAM/SUP/AIC.
Maybe that’s half an option.

6. Geneva (LSGG)

According to AIP and AIC, PPR all year ’round. I am pretty certain (but not sure) that they will be very restrictive with parking in winter. No other restrictions by NOTAM/SUP/AIC.
Maybe another half option here.

7. Sion (LSGS)

According to NOTAM, they currently have a general parking ban due to WIP.
Also, the AIP categorically mentions “no parking for transient GA <3 tons”, which seems odd, but anyway.
Done.

8. Lugano (LSZA)

Looks like there is no PPR or other parking restrictions in place. (Interestingly, they generally ban BE55 Barons and Cessna 210s, as well as all aircraft falling in to the swiss class “A” noise category.) Also, just like Bolzano, Sion and others, they require special training for IFR ops, but let’s disregard that here.
So, LSZA looks like an option. I am sure it is rather expensive, though.

9. Bolzano (LIPB)

Looks like there is no PPR or other parking restrictions in place. The only doubt: the small GA grass parking might be unusable in winter and aircraft might have to be parked on the main apron, which invokes a handling fee.
Anyway, that’ looks like another option.

END

So, as I said above, it seems like charter and “big GA” have basically wiped out the alpine airport infrastructure for light GA.
Of course, one could always IFR airports which are more distant from the main ski locations (Grenoble St. Geiors LFLS, Bergamo (LIME), and Klagenfurt LOWK spring to mind), but at a certain point, it becomes inattractive.
So, indeed, it looks like the only real option for light GA does come in form of the VFR-only airfields.

Therefore, this question is:
Which VFR-only airports in the alpine region
-do regularly keep the airport surfaces clear of snow and ice even after prolonged snowfalls?
-ideally, which of these airports offer hangarage for visiting GA?

Going through the list of candidates, I guess these places might qualify: Zell (LOWZ), Niederöblarn (LOGO), St. Johann (LOIJ), Lienz (LOKL), Saanen (LSGK), Buochs (LSZC), Grenoble (LFLG), Gap (LFNA), Annemasse (LFLI), Barcellonette (LFMR), Aosta (LIMW), Sondrio, Trento (LIDT).

Any inputs or experiences?

I can’t comment on Saturdays in LOWS, but I would be surprised if you really were declined parking. After all, they have a vast GA apron that’s completely separated from the airliner apron.

I was in LOIJ a fey days ago. They are very welcoming, but you should call ahead for longer parking, as they have only very limited parking space. There’s also a NOTAM for that. The location is hard to beat, as Kitzbühel is immediately nearby. LOWZ has an equally stunning location and, in my experience, no parking problems.

You didn’t mention Hohenems (LOIH), which is reasonably close to the skiing areas in Vorarlberg (westernmost province of Austria).

If you’re more after family skiing or mountaineering than “big name resorts”, there’s also Mariazell (LOGM), although they are opened somewhat irregularly in winter.

Of course, there’s always Samedan (LSZS), if you are willing to pay their fees …

I never really felt the urge to fly to skiing … I could show you what the trunk of my SUV looks like when the three of us (2 kids and me) looks like when we go. And we don’t even carry skis for the kids ( we rent them). Skiing is already expensive enough. No need to really blow up the cost by renting cars, parking fees and the like ..

Of course if budget is not a topic and you fly a Caravan … probably very cool :-)