Skiing

BA were going to charge me about £500 to change flights. I rebooked with Jet2. Still £370 but actually a bit more convenient for me to fly to Stansted rather than Heathrow, I only had Heathrow originally to fly with my friends.

I left the car at Gatwick, so had to return there. The parking people were unrepentant about charging me until the 22nd whilst handing the car back today. Good old Gatwick Airport.

Gouging bastards. I feel a bit of sympathy for the small ski operators who just can't afford to refund and are assuming (probably over optimistically) that clients' insurance means they won't be out of pocket. But the parking people are just gouging because they can.

Good to hear you making it back home ok. Just read on Twitter that Crystal are putting people on buses. Gotta be tough being them at the moment, lots of anger on social media.

We’ve made it into the departure lounge now so hopefully homeward bound shortly- thanks for the offers of help those who made them, very much appreciated.

Les Arcs shutdown today, just as we left. Flight in from Stansted had 10 passengers. No major precautions at Grenoble or Stansted, we arrived safely back to the UK though which is a relief. I feel for the staff, managers and owners in the ski resorts their season looks to be over not sure what compensation they will receive 5 weeks short.

The chap who was the manager or owner of the hotel we were in looked absolutely shattered at the news they’d miss five weeks which is what, 20% of their season?

Airbnb have already automatically refunded my Avoriaz apartment, SNCF provided full refund on the website. Eurostar just give me a travel voucher to rebook up to 12 Dec 20 - seems a little optimistic.... :/

The economic hit of all of this is going to be just as catastrophic as the fucking virus

BA will refund 6 quid of my unwanted flight, I paid £142
Apartment company won’t refund: 2000 Eur between 6 of us
Snowboard school won’t refund: 345 eur
Today’s Jet2 flight: £370
Don’t know about the day’s guiding and home transfer yet as one of the other girls booked that.

On the plus side, apartment company did refund my pre-booked ski pass, presumably because they could get a refund themselves.

Let’s see what insurance co say tomorrow

You can apply for a refund on the taxes and fees. Not sure how much of a faff it is, I’m just about to tackle it.

Despite St Anton being closed entirely, and Austria shutting its borders, the lack of FCO direction to not travel means insurance company won’t cover anything. Waiting on credit card provider for acc.

BA have pushed our flight but confirmed we can effectively use the future flight as a voucher toward any trip provided we book by December...

What was interesting though was how uninformed the travel group we booked accommodation through: we heard about the resort likely closing from German friends who had booked direct, while our company was phoning to confirm transfer details.

Fuuuhhhhhhhhkkkk

Just spoke to travel insurance and not only would the policy not pay up because technically I voluntarily cancelled (no surprise there), I wasn't even insured! The policy is attached to my husband's bank account so I'm only covered if he travels with me. When we first took the policy years ago we checked the docs more than once and we both thought I was covered in my own right, but I checked again today and it's true, he definitely needs to be with me. I've been skiing without him under that policy for at least 8 years, with weeks of off piste! Thank fuck I never had an injury. Cancelled accommodation is trivial compared to being uninsured and needing medievac.

On the plus side, BA have swapped the flight for a voucher so that's saved at least.

christ this is almost a good way to find that out!

the cost for my skiing accident in 2017 to the insurers was over 60k euros in total

Ouch - what did you do?

broke tib and fib, on piste, had to be wrapped up into a sled and ski’d back down by mountain rescue, xray in resort medical center, then 4 nights and a titanium rod in the main hospital

How painful was the sled ride?

Saw a woman twisting her knee last week as we were going up in the lift. Next time we past she was in a sled but the slope they were in were mainly afternoon moguls. Must’ve been a bumpy ride

it was end of afternoon and id spent 15+ minutes calling for help so i felt basically no pain, other than realising my foot(boot) was moving independently of my leg, that was mostly panic inducing, until the staff were pulling my boot off in the medicenter

adrenaline is a hella painkiller

When you're training to pull them though, batshit good fun.
You tend to go relatively slowly, but I can remember the squeals of pain more than the thanks.

Pulling?! Not cutting?

nope. pulling.. theyre intact

ive not dared but them back on yet

Ick. My neighbour snapped his femur this season but avoided the sled, they dosed him with morphine or ketamine and heli’d him off. Anecdotally I’ve heard heli’s are used for a lot more than before because the rescue can charge a bigger whack on insurance (and fair play to them if it keeps them operating).

I’ve not been sledded off myself but got skidooed down Blackcomb with a dislocated elbow. I did follow the sled down when my best mate did her ACL on a school trip back in the 80s, then we were driven to the hotel (not hospital) in the back of a teeny Renault. Teachers iced it and had her back on the slope a few days later! Did not go well :(.

Gives me the shivers

Have you not skied since?

nope.. afterwards i was fully ‘its not gna stop me’ but been 3 years...

Daughter due to fly to Whistler today. No surprise that she is preparing to work from home tomorrow. The resort closed at the weekend in line with the European resorts.
Interestingly though she works for a one of the big accountancy firms and they don’t know if their work from home systems will stay up.

I can totally understand that. The older I get the more I worry when charging down the piste. Been meaning to get my head around off-piste skiing the last two times I've been in the alps, but every time I traverse out I keep seeing myself in one of those sledges...