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What to expect this summer for the European Alps?
Phil Lauffen wrote: On May 1st they're opening everything in Austria 'except catering, leisure, and tourism'. I expect that it'll be a long while yet before the borders open, but there is motion. I would estimate that by late May we'll know whether these measures are going to cause a second wave of cases, or whether we can expect to see open borders in Mid June. Yeah, that would be my guess as well. For now I will hold on to my weeks of time off in the second half of June. |
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Thread hijack... likely hood i can go sport climb inside the Eu this summer? |
Rob WardenSpaceLizard wrote: Thread hijack... likely hood i can go sport climb inside the Eu this summer? Very high, starting globally around May/first part of June, that is if you can get inside the country where you want to climb in the first place... |
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The Swiss Alpine Club posted an update that they're working on their mountain hut protection plan, and hope to have some open by June 8 for food at least: sac-cas.ch/fr/le-cas/les-ca… In collaboration with representatives of the sections and the Swiss Cabins Association, the CAS is working hard to develop a protection concept for the operation of mountain huts. The objective is to finalize it by the beginning of May and make it available to the huts and sections. This should allow cabin keepers to take the necessary precautions this summer. We sincerely hope that the reopening of catering businesses will be possible again on June 8 at the latest. The CAS huts remain closed for the time being. Seems unlikely they'll be open for sleeping and staying for a lot of the summer, but hopefuly you can get food and drink. |
Rob WardenSpaceLizard wrote: Thread hijack... likely hood i can go sport climb inside the Eu this summer? In Switzerland it's likely you can sport climb starting in May. sac-cas.ch/fr/le-cas/les-ca…; At the press conference on April 22, Sports Minister Viola Amherd announced that sports activities without physical contact would be authorized again from the beginning of May 2020. The prerequisite is that hygiene and "Social distancing" can be respected and that appropriate protection concepts are filed. This flexibility will, among other things, have a direct impact on competitive sport climbing and climbing gyms. |
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Things are slowly moving in the right direction, infection rates are going down across the EU. Germany is planning to lift quarantine procedures for Schengen citizens by mid June and many other countries look like they are tagging along. France looks a bit more difficult (they might only allow domestic tourism this summer). Spain and Italy haven't made a statement so far, but I would say they are on the same page as France. |
Rob WardenSpaceLizard wrote: Thread hijack... likely hood i can go sport climb inside the Eu this summer? Depending on the country, but, for non-EU folks, my guess is its not too likely to open by summer. Maybe fall in some countries. Good article summarizing the current situation: |
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If you are already in the EU and want to climb in a different EU country (plus Switzerland) this should be possible in about a month, luck holding. |
Dylan Colon wrote: The situation in the US is such a mess that I expect European countries will be in no hurry to welcome tourists from North America, unfortunately. No, it looks like the Schengen area will be closed for all travellers from outside the block, exceptions made for 'necessary' travel. |
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So it looks like most European internal borders will open around June 15. My climbing partner and I have made plans to travel to Germany/Austria on the 12th and if we can get into Austria by that date we'll drive straight on to the Glockner massif where we are planning to spend most of our 10 day trip. If we need to wait a couple of days until the 15th we'll go into the Wetterstein massif first to do some acclimatisation routes and continue into Austria after that. |
Victor Machtelwrote: So it looks like most European internal borders will open around June 15. My climbing partner and I have made plans to travel to Germany/Austria on the 12th and if we can get into Austria by that date we'll drive straight on to the Glockner massif where we are planning to spend most of our 10 day trip. If we need to wait a couple of days until the 15th we'll go into the Wetterstein massif first to do some acclimatisation routes and continue into Austria after that. Hope you enjoy your time there mate! Being binational I crossed the Swiss/French border a week ago and they were (already) no border patrol in sight, so you should be fine crossing european borders even a couple of days before the 15th. I ll cross my fingers for you ;) |
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By the way, I am in Geneva for the next year and am very interested in finding partners for alpine stuff. I'm working on my French, but unfortunately it still sucks, so it's been hard. I have all of the needed gear and a fair bit of experience on alpine rock. |
Dylan Colonwrote: By the way, I am in Geneva for the next year and am very interested in finding partners for alpine stuff. I'm working on my French, but unfortunately it still sucks, so it's been hard. I have all of the needed gear and a fair bit of experience on alpine rock. Hey Dylan, I'm living in southernish france, Chamonix valley is definitely within weekend striking distance, I have a long list of TD+, ED- mostly crack oriented routes up there that I'm itching to do mostly aux envers and l'argentière; send me a PM if you want to chat. I'm native english speaker so no worries on that front ! |
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Hello all! I ran the first half of the UTMB two weeks ago. All the huts were open and accepting reservations in the Mont Blanc Group. You need to bring your own bedding materials, but other than that, it was a normal hut experience. Hope this helps! |
Winterparkmg McGeheewrote: Hello all! I ran the first half of the UTMB two weeks ago. All the huts were open and accepting reservations in the Mont Blanc Group. You need to bring your own bedding materials, but other than that, it was a normal hut experience. Hope this helps! Dude!!! You got into the UTMB?!?!? That's so awesome to run any of it! Strong work! Okay, back on topic. |
Buck Rogerswrote: Good point. Point of clarification: I ran the first half of the TMB. Not the official race. Just the course. Race is still on as far as I can tell, but I am NOWHERE near qualified to compete in it. As suggested - on topic, the huts were not full two weeks ago. The staff is fond of looking at the guest list and if you're from the US or Israel, your spot may be given away to walk-ups in the early evening as they have had a lot of no-shows, primarily from those locations. So call ahead and confirm your plans prior to your trip, or shoot them an e-mail. They are usually very responsive. |
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Everything is operating at full-tilt here in the Eastern Alps. |
Phil Lauffenwrote: Everything is operating at full-tilt here in the Eastern Alps. How is mask usage and distancing - people doing that? |
Bill Schickwrote: On all public transportation (gondolas included) there is a strict mask requirement. There are other limits on restaurants/bars for # patrons/m^2. Otherwise it really feels all back to normal. I'm only speaking for Austria, and really just for Tirol. |
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When I was at Bleau 1.5 weeks ago everyone was social distancing very well at the boulders and I'd say that at least 50% had masks on all the time and everyone had them with them if they had to go near someone that was not part of their group. |
