Will I need snow chains?

Hi All,

Me and my three companions are off to Obertauern this weekend (about 90km SE of Salzburg).

I am trying to find out if I need to hire snow chains or not for this trip but can't seem to find any info.

So, any advice on whether or not I should hire chains or not would be appreciated. Are there any cool sites that indicate this info?

If I should need them, any recommendations on when/where to hire? Car is a BMW 3 series touring with 205/50/R17 winter tyres if that makes any difference to cost/type of chain.

Cheers,

Solo

I'm thinking you probably can do it with just winter tires (not tyres! ) Never been to Obertauern...but that's just my feeling. You take the autobahn and a B highway to get there...shouldn't be all that bad??!!

Tyres ;-)

never a bad idea to have snow chains, when going skiing. You never know...

btw, out of curiosity, which 3-series touring do you have? Because i had a 320d with those wheels and you couldn't get chains to fit because of the break discs.

330d

I went to Obertauern by car last year (loved it by the way). It was January and it snowed heavily the week before. I invested in chains and I DID need them. We probably could have made it up with just the winter tyres, but just after Radstadt the police had set up a road block and were not letting anyone up without chains. Phew! Lots of people had none so they had to turn round and try to find some in Radstadt. Either that or wait until the police went home for the night. But I'd say that as you have rear wheel drive you should either hire or buy some chains. Even if you don't need them to get there you might need them when there (it's high) or even to get back down. Easiest place is ADAC at Sendlinger Tor. If you're going for a week then it's six and half a dozen whether you hire or buy, if it's just a weekend then hire. They will let you say you'll hire and then decide to buy them after all by paying the difference.

@Jeeves - Thanks for the advice based on your trip there. I think I will get a pair on Friday then for sure. Any rough idea on costs from ADAC?

Can't remember the cost sorry (but that means that it can't have been too expensive!) But with a car like that then surely money is no object
And whilst you're at ADAC you can get the Austrian motorway toll sticker too, save you time at the weekend.

ah jeeves what you dont know is the car is our house ;-)
we decided to spend all of our rent money on a car.

I drove there a couple of years ago with just snow tires and no chains. In fact I am not aware of any ski resorts in Austria or Germany where you are required to have chains these days.

Have fun in Obertauern. It is apparently a bit of a "Schneeloch" (snow hole) and usually has heaps of snow.

as Jeeves said, the police will decide, if the weather is bad enough, not to let cars up certain roads without them. and yes, there are indeed roads where snow chains are "Pflicht". These roads have a blue sign with a tyre depicted in snow chains. In Germany this sign means "Winter Tyres" in Austria it means "Winter Tyres AND CHAINS".

Don't forget all you happy skiers... You also need to have a very trendy orange or yellow reflective jacket in your car when you drive to Austria. It's now the law.

In Austria?

Yep. It was the law in Spain, but has now been adopted by Austria as well. You will see signs in the Service stations and they are selling them for about €10. Or I have been told you can get them from the 3rd floor of Hertie's(Hauptbahnhof) for about €5.

I thought it was Italy...

yes, Austria.. it's now law. And for ALL PASSENGERS!!! Not just the driver. In Italy I think it's just the driver, not so sure. i got one from a supplier the other day, they told me about it.

Potbelly is right though, I bought a couple from Hertie last year for the TT italy trip, they're cheap there.

I did a weekend trip to Obertauern - left early early on Saturday morning and was caught in the huge traffic jam going to Innsbruck - anyhoo, I was driving and the snow was deep and when we got to the bottom of this huge hill(well at the time, I didn't know what was going on) but I saw a bus and several cars pulled over at the bottom and putting chains on their tires. WTF? Then I saw it. The hugest freakin' hill I've seen in a very long time. If you stop in the middle, you're screwed and so are all the people behind you. We had no problem making it up the hill(we didn't stop) and neither did this little Peugot in front of us - he was driving the shit outta his car.

Anyway, I would have felt better with chains. Better safe than sorry(and stuck in the middle of the hill)

One more piece of advice - when you're skiing there, make sure you decide before you get to the bottom of the hill which direction you're going to ski. The runouts to the lifts are the longest I've ever seen and we were pushing a lot(even after picking up a ton of speed before the bottom). But, it had just snowed a ton and it was great!

Like Jeeves, I thought that was the law in Italy, not Austria...

Anyway. Spent the last week at a conference in Obergurgl. There was a snow plough doing it's best, but there were still lots of cars with chains running about. I didn't have them, and would have quite liked them as I arrived at about midnight, after (it seemed) the snowplough had stopped working.

The old blue sign with the chains on it was in evidence quite a bit in that area. Obergurgl is apparently the highest village with a church in Austria... so other places are maybe not so bad.

must agree with jeeves and others here. get chains if you go frequently into the pmountains. i bouhght mine last year after nearly geting stuck, i haven't used them yet, but especialy in austria the police can be very strict about chain usage. and if you dont have them and need them...

as for austrian roads etc here's a link

http://www.oeamtc.at/verkehrsservice/outpu...senzustand.html

oh and those wonderful fashionable vests are pflicht in italy spain austria and i think soon in portugal. to be honest they're a bloody good idea to have in the car no matter wether its the law or not.

@JB Thanks... Didn't realise its for all passengers.

@Jeeves... Probably is, but for some reason I've got Spain in my head

Obergurgl. Now that's a great name. Obergurgl, where they take the art of gurgling to a higher level.

I'd advise picking up some chains because even if you don't need them this trip, you could need them next time. Better to have them than wish you had them.

Also, a student of mine told me about having to use his snow chains to get out of his underground parking garage a couple of weeks ago when it had snowed heavily here in town and his housemeister hadn't cleared/had no chance to clear it yet. So they could prove useful in unlikely situations.

its the untergurgl thats not so nice

Agreed, that's not nice. Makes me think of something rude.

Actually I find Hochgurgl the worst.

Chains certainly can be useful at odd times. Even within Munich city limits.

When in Obertauern last year I left the chains on all week. Didn't really need them once there but they certainly helped with parking and the like. You're not going to be doing more than 50 kph in the village anyway. Plus if you're not staying on the relatively flat main road but in the village itself then there are quite a few slopes to be negotiated.

at the end of the day its safety. rent them from the adac, you probably wont need them but i think its peace of mind. if you do use them do not forget to wash them properly as they rust rather easily. i know enough people who have forgoten and have had to throw them away.

Obergurgl does have a vaguely onamatopeic sounding name, but it's a nice enough place... some pretty snow pictures

Just checked the Austrian Automobile Club site and the safety jackets are not required until 1 May 2005 and then only for the driver:

Ab dem 1. Mai 2005 gilt in Österreich eine „Warnwestenpflicht“:
Der Lenker eines mehrspurigen Kraftfahrzeuges muss eine Warnbekleidung mitführen, die der ÖNORM EN 471 entspricht. Dabei handelt es sich entweder um eine Warnweste, spezielle reflektierende Streifen in Hosenträgerform, oder einen Overall, jeweils in den Farben gelb, orangerot oder rot, eventuell auch farblich kombiniert.

Der ÖAMTC empfiehlt, für jede Person im Fahrzeug eine Warnbekleidung mitzuführen, vor-geschrieben ist das aber nicht.

The last bit says that the Club recommends having a jacket for everyone, but the law does not require it.

@CovKid - thanks for that! I was contemplating where to lay my hands on more jackets!

Thanks to all for the advice and comments. This forum rocks!

I saw some fluorescent yellow safety jackets in Woolworths at Stacchus when walking by yesterday. Dunno if they meet the standards.. they were cheap though.