© Cara Brown
© Le dauphine
© Le dauphine
Looks Like Everyone Asked Santa for Snow this Christmas...
Unfortunately he delivered it all in one big dump!
I guess he was a busy man this week and with so many people across Europe asking for snow, it probably seemed only sensible for Santa to deliver it all at once, just after Christmas, and then be on his merry way back to the North Pole. But as the long awaited snow finally arrived in the Alps on Friday night, it brought great joy to some, and an extremely long day and night of travel to others.
With some roads being impassable due to large volumes of snow and others blocked due to accidents, overturned vehicles and stranded vehicles that were unprepared for the winter conditions, the busiest day of the year on the roads in the Alps turned into a nightmare for many tourists and travellers.
For those in the tourist industry of the ski resorts of the French and Swiss Alps, the Saturday between Christmas and New Year is well known to be a busy day, with chalet change overs and airport transfers causing their fair share of problems. But this year the enormous dump of snow added to that chaos and left around 15,000 vehicles stranded on the roads across the Savoie region on Saturday night, with temporary emergency accommodation being set up in numerous locations to help keep travellers safe from the sub freezing temperatures.
Hundreds of volunteers from La Croix-Rouge (Red Cross) were mobilised across the area to provide beds, mattresses and food for stranded tourists. "There were many Belgians, Parisians and English" said a young volunteer from Cluses. "They included many children and few babies. We also had dogs and even cats!".
School halls, church halls and community halls were converted into shelters for the night as people were stranded in their attempts to make their way to and from the popular skiing destinations. Many cars were not equipped with winter tyres or snow chains, making movement on the road impossible.
As the snow and icy road conditions continued into Sunday, many emergency airport transfers, coaches and flights were organised by tour operators to make sure that tourists and travellers reached their final destinations.
With thousands of people now safely home, or starting their New Years holiday we can reflect on the great work done by those in the emergency services to rescue as many people as they could and avert disaster wherever possible. The message now must be to prepared your vehicles for winter driving conditions and in the event of extreme weather to travel only if necessary.
The good news is of course that many resorts are now fully open with great skiing conditions, check out our latest snow reports for more information.
For tips and information on winter driving, including a video demonstration on how to put on your snow chains, have a look at our travel section and stay safe this New Year.
