UKC

I'm trying to find cheap flights or drive to somewhere with roadside ice for the 27th ish Dec to 4th Jan. I'm going with the girlfriend, so a bit of skiing would also be good. I'm currently looking at Rjukan (flight) and Cogne (driving).

Anyone got any cheap suggestions/experiences? Cheap accommodation near Cogne? If I can get us both in some sort of accommodation for under £150 eac,h I could be swayed to Cogne!

In reply to ERU:

New year is always expensive. I think you might just have to go through all the flight websites like skyscanner etc, but my guess is that at this stage ( quite late ) driving would be cheaper! Roadside is not a a given at this time of the year anyways. Just fling everything in the car and drive to the Alps looking for the coldest place would be my suggestion!
Best of luck

Yeah, I'm playing the flight game now. Flybe are winning, but the flight back is too much. I can do a cheap short hop to Norway, but it hardly seems worth it for 4-5 days.

I'm quickly swaying to driving, but need cheap accommodation. Anything would be suitable as long as it was dry.


We have been offered (via a friend) a holiday home for £300 all in - but it's on Annecy lake! 1 1/2 hours to decent ice.

In reply to ERU:

Oh, and I have been to Cogne a few times but I don't think you can find accommodation there for under 150 quid for two people at new year. Others might prove me wrong, but this would be almost less then camping fees in the Lake District at this time of the yeae...! You might get it if someone cancels or has free options, but I think you would just need to ring around lots!

In reply to ERU:

Annecy could be good if there is a great freeze, but normally, I'd say probably not....Try bunkhouses in La Grave perhaps? They are a relatively good cheap option?

Yeah, but it's not going to get cold Annecy I spent a week in Risoul once making the same mistake. Is there dry tooling near Annecy?

In reply to ERU:
Yeah,I wouldn't take the gamble! Head up high (La Grave, Cogne or so and try to find some digs, might need loads of phoning, but I am sure you can get something if you try!)
There are two gites in La Grave, I tried to copy the link in here just now, but it wasn't working somehow. Just google gites La Grave, they might serve your purpose.

In reply to ERU:

I went to Cogne last Christmas and New Year. Just to echo what has already been said, you won't find any cheap accommodation. Certainly not over new year. 10 nights at Les Nigritelles cost us 930 Euro. We found cheaper places on Airbnb in the Aosta valley but the daily drive to and from Cogne was going to be a pain. Fine if you're happy to travel 1:30 hours every day though.

La Grave will be much cheaper, as mentioned above, but conditions are not as reliable as Cogne. Maybe your best bet though for mainland Europe.

Norway will be expensive for due to hire car costs + accommodation. The downtown Oslo car hire companies are cheaper than at the airport. Budget or Hertz have always been cheapest for me. For Hertz, the Fornebu brange is nearly always cheapest. The shops won't open as late as at the airports though. I'm not that up-to-date with Rjukan accommodation but Rjukan Gjestegård used to be cheapest place. I'd look at other places in Norway though as there is ice climbing everywhere. The coast also got a proper soaking this year so potentially lots of ice if temperatures stay low. Also look at joining DNT. I'm staying in an unmanned hut this Feb for 100kr per night. They have huts everywhere. The English translated DNT pages are not at all user friendly. I'd try and use the Norwegian language pages with Google Translate.

In reply to ERU:

Did this last year; really easy trip, flew to Norway Oslo Torp for about £110 return, rented a shitty Nissan Micra from RentaWreck at the airport between us, phoned Rjukan who said the ice was rubbish, so drove up to Bagn in Valdres valley and did incredible roadside ice for 5 days. Cannot recommend it enough- huge range of routes, single/multipitch, no walk-in more than about 10 minutes, great woods for camping if you're mad and a cosy nissan micra if you're not...

Thanks, I'll be trying to sort something fiubal out throughout today

In reply to ERU:

Update: I've booked a Dover > Dunkirk ferry.

However, Cogne is looking thin. Anyone got any suggestions? I ned to book accommodation somewhere in Europe ... This is fast looming like a ski holiday. Everywhere looks like sit has no ice!

In reply to ERU:

There's was a decent amount of ice in Hemsedal last weekend in case Norway was still on the cards in any way.

Don't forget Cogne extends pretty high at the head of the valleys. Not many people venture that far.

In reply to ERU:

I was going to suggest ice climbing in the High Atlas, Morocco. However, it looks like you're all sorted.

There's a decent number of one-to-two pitch icefalls in reach of the Toubkal refuge, not to mention a lot of new routing potential, if that's your thing.

It's also cheap in terms of flights, transport, food, accommodation etc.

Anyway, good luck with your trip.

In reply to ERU:

Hi there. I have booked a 8 bed chalet in france, near Guillestre, from 31st Jan, until 7th feb. 2 people have dropped out, so we have a double room left. I know its not your choice of venue, and its not the dates you specified, but the climbing is better than cogne, and the apartment is only £58 EACH. We are also driving there, and could possibly fit 2 more in the car.

There are also 2 other girls going, who are meeting us in France.

Stu

In reply to ice guru: I'd love to ice guru, but can't do those dates and will be in Rjukan from the 14th.

I've monitored conditions and accepted it's a skiing holiday. Therefore I've booked into the the Les Trois Vallées region in the Tarentaise Valley, Savoie, Vanoise National Park.

Anyone know if there is dry tooling near there?