Mike Lane schrieb:

< On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 20:53:49 +0100, Tom Peel wrote
< > Mike Lane wrote:
< >> If all goes well I shall be driving from France to Italy in late
May.
< >>
< >> The obvious route is through the Frejus tunnel, but I would far
rather go
< >> over one of the Alpine passes such as the Col de Montgenevre, or
the Col du
< >> Mont Cenis. My problem is that I don't know if any (or all) of
these passes
< >> are still likely to be closed due to snow at this time of year. My
Michelin
<<>> map marks Mont Cenis as closed from November to May but I don't
know if
< >> this
< >> means it is officially closed or just a possibility depending on
the
< >> weather.
< >> Can anyone give any advice on a good route for driving across the
Alps?
< >>
< >
< > You can get information about winter closures for Austria,
Switzerland
< > and France from the Austrian AA here:
< >
<
http://www.oeamtc.at/netautor/na_pro...php3?mdoc_id=1
<
< > 013901
< >
< > Sorry, it's in German, there may be other sources. Right now all
the
< > passes listed in the French alps over 2000m are closed. It says
< > Montgenevre is currently open, Mont Cenis is closed. The conditions
can
< > vary on a daily or even hourly basis. I've had to turn back on a
< > mountain pass in Switzerland in August due to freezing fog and
snowfall.
<
< Yes, thanks for that website. I don't read much German, but I can see
it says
< under the heading "derzeit Wintersperre": "ja" for Col du Mont Cenis
and
< "nein" for Col de Montgenevre. Which I take it means 'yes' the Mont
Cenis
< pass is closed, and 'no' Montgenevre is not closed. Please correct me
if I am
< wrong. It's six weeks or more before I set off, so I will keep an eye
on that
< website to see if 'ja' changes to 'nein' :-)

Even familiar with the language - I would also go for
one of the official government sites for France at
http://www.bison-fute.equipement.gouv.fr/
especially
http://www.bisonfute.equipement.gouv...2_quartse.html
and there "COLS FERMES" for the list of the closed
moutain pass roads - including updated information on
other restrictions ....

Have a great trip

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 16:40:16 GMT, Mike Lane <[email protected]> wrote:

    >The obvious route is through the Frejus tunnel, but I would far rather go
    >over one of the Alpine passes such as the Col de Montgenevre, or the Col du
    >Mont Cenis. My problem is that I don't know if any (or all) of these passes
    >are still likely to be closed due to snow at this time of year.

http://www.bison-fute.equipement.gou...tions/index.do
shows the current closure status of the French passes.

Regards, Martin

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 10:44:57 +0100, Tom Peel wrote
(in article <[email protected]>):

    > Mike Lane wrote:
    >> On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 20:53:49 +0100, Tom Peel wrote
    >> (in article <[email protected]>):
    >>
    >>
    >>> Mike Lane wrote:
    >>>
    >>>> If all goes well I shall be driving from France to Italy in late May.
    >>>>
    >>>> The obvious route is through the Frejus tunnel, but I would far rather go
    >>>> over one of the Alpine passes such as the Col de Montgenevre, or the Col
    >>>> du
    >>>> Mont Cenis. My problem is that I don't know if any (or all) of these
    >>>> passes
    >>>> are still likely to be closed due to snow at this time of year. My
    >>>> Michelin
    >>>> map marks Mont Cenis as closed from November to May but I don't know if
    >>>> this
    >>>> means it is officially closed or just a possibility depending on the
    >>>> weather.
    >>>> Can anyone give any advice on a good route for driving across the Alps?
    >>>>
    >>>
    >>> You can get information about winter closures for Austria, Switzerland
    >>> and France from the Austrian AA here:
    >>>
    >>
    >> http://www.oeamtc.at/netautor/na_pro...e.php3?mdoc_id
    >> =1
    >>
    >>
    >>> 013901
    >>>
    >>> Sorry, it's in German, there may be other sources. Right now all the
    >>> passes listed in the French alps over 2000m are closed. It says
    >>> Montgenevre is currently open, Mont Cenis is closed. The conditions can
    >>> vary on a daily or even hourly basis. I've had to turn back on a
    >>> mountain pass in Switzerland in August due to freezing fog and snowfall.
    >>
    >>
    >> Yes, thanks for that website. I don't read much German, but I can see it
    >> says
    >> under the heading "derzeit Wintersperre": "ja" for Col du Mont Cenis and
    >> "nein" for Col de Montgenevre. Which I take it means 'yes' the Mont Cenis
    >> pass is closed, and 'no' Montgenevre is not closed. Please correct me if I
    >> am
    >> wrong. It's six weeks or more before I set off, so I will keep an eye on
    >> that
    >> website to see if 'ja' changes to 'nein' :-)
    >>
    >> Do you have any recommendations about which pass is nicer (more scenic, or
    >> less busy, or whatever) to drive over?
    >>
    > I can't comment on these routes as they are off my beaten track. I'd
    > just like to reiterate that, even when the passes are listed as open,
    > you should think twice about driving if the weather is at all doubtful.
    > On our last drive last summer over the Gotthard Pass, which is a
    > comparably easy drive, we hit the clouds just short of the top and had
    > near zero visibility. Now, the Gotthard is a comparatively wide
    > well-maintained well-marked road, but it was a white-knuckle crawl until
    > we got out of the fog again.
    > T.

Yes, I know those sort of weather conditions from climbing mountains in
Scotland. If the cloud base is below where you want to go, then forget it!

--
Mike Lane (UK North Yorkshire)
To contact me replace invalid with mike underscore lane