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After reading this, I am pretty glad we live in the French Alps and not in the North American mountain ranges.

nc mountain cabin rentals

Posted by White-Peak Holidays…

Self catered ski holidays often go hand in hand with self drive holidays. With snow falling again in the Alps and with a cold snap forecast for the UK, now is the perfect time to announce our Winter Driving Survival Kit competition, in partnership with the RAC.

Keeping Safe on Winter Roads

Whether you’re lucky enough to be living in the mountains or not, chances are that you’ll encounter some tricky driving conditions this winter. To help you out we’ve partnered with the RAC, the UK’s leading supplier of breakdown cover to offer you some quick tips to staying safe on the road as well as giving you the chance to win some great winter survival gear.

Winter Driving Tips:

Spending time in the cold trying to dig yourself out of snow or waiting to be rescued is the last thing you want to be doing this winter. Luckily, many of these instances are avoidable by simply taking some simple precautions:

1. Check Your Car – Making sure your car is set up correctly can solve all sorts of issues so remember to check these components before setting out:
i. Car Battery – Batteries are more liable to go flat during the winter months so check them regularly.
ii. Coolant & Screenwash – Make sure both of these are topped up; the coolant needs to contain sufficient anti-freeze and the screenwash should be at the right concentration.
iii. Tyres – Check that the tread on your tyres isn’t too worn. We recommend a depth of at least 3mm.
iv. Wiper Blades – Examine them for damage and be careful when freeing them from your windscreen during icy weather as this can cause damage.

2. Keep These Items In Your Car – Even if you make all the necessary checks and preparations you can’t guarantee that you won’t have some sort of incident. To make sure you’re prepared for multiple eventualities we recommend you keep these supplies in your car at all times:
o Ice scrapper and de-icer
o Torch and spare batteries – or a wind-up torch
o Warm clothes and blankets – for you and all passengers
o Boots with grip
o First aid kit
o Jump start cables
o Food and a warm drink in a thermos
o Shovel
o Reflective warning sign
o Road atlas
o Sunglasses – the glare off the snow can be dazzling
o In-car mobile phone charger

3. Adjust Your Driving Style – Ice and snow covered roads are much more sensitive so even if you’re not a naturally aggressive driver it’s still important to heed these tips. You need to accelerate gently and change up to a higher gear quickly to avoid spinning your wheels. If you suffer from wheel spin when trying to get moving, try changing into second gear. It goes without saying that there is much less grip on icy roads; in fact did you know that you may need up to 10 times the normal stopping distance between yourself and the car in front?

Be wary about driving in the tracks of other cars – the snow is more compact and can be icier. If you do encounter a skid, drive into it to regain control and refrain from slamming on the brakes. For example, if the rear of your car is sliding to the right, steer right. And don’t be caught out by the sun – low winter sun combined with white snow can cause dazzling glare so always take a pair of sunglasses with you.

Follow these tips and your chances of arriving at your destination safe and sound will sky rocket. However, you can never remove the risk of an incident completely so we recommend taking out breakdown cover, just to be safe.

To make sure you’re prepared if you do breakdown in the cold we’re giving away some winter essentials, courtesy of the RAC:
o A Winter Driving Kit
o Rud Shoe Chains
o A Foldable Snow Shovel

We’re offering you various different ways to enter – each way gives you one entry.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This weekend, Chatel will host the 3rd Mountain Style Contest. Once again, the course looks insane, with massive drops offs, near vertical descents and huge gaps.

An impressive international list of riders has been anounced including:

Steve ROMANIUK (Can), Lance MC DERMOTT (UK), Thomas VANDERHAM (Can), Kyle NORBRATEN (Can), Curtis ROBINSON (Can), Dylan DUNKERTON (Can), Sam PILGRIM (Can), Kurtis SORGE (Can), James DOERFLING (Can), Gareth BUELHER (Can), Pascal BREITENSTEIN (Sui), Mischa BREITENSTEIN (Sui), Julien FOURNIER (Sui), Graham AGASSIZ (Can), Antoine DUBOURGNON (Fra), Yoann PACCARD (Fra), Fabien PEDEMANAUD (F), Brandon HOWEY (USA), Cyril KURTZ (Fra), Simon KIRCHMANN (All), Floriane PUGIN (Fra), Joscha FORSTREUTER (All), Robin CHAUVIN (Fra), Damien HUSCZ (Fra), Mike KINRADE (Can), Kyle JAMESON (USA), Daren BERRECLOTH (Can), Ben BOYKO (Can), Bruno PENONE (Fra), Peter HANKE (All), Tristan AMBID (Fra).

The program is as follows:

Friday 3rd July
9h-17h Riders, press and partners welcome.
Site visit.
Pro/Amateurs training “The Face”
Pro/Amateurs training women “The Girly Face”
18h Aperitif Contest presentation

Saturday 4th July
9h-13h Pro/Amateurs training “The Face”
Pro/Amateurs training women “The Girly Face”
14h Ranking run – men and women
 Partnership evening party.
19h Dirt Jam
20h Kranked – Revolve movie played on the giant screen.
Party at the Sloopy’s

Sunday 5th July 
9h Finals in two runs: men and women
15h Prize giving

A bit of a belated post this, but towards the end of the winter 09 season, we were proud to host the Discovery Channel who were in the Alps filming a trailer for the new Bear Grylls series.

The director wanted a “Siberia” type environment from which to film the trailer, and White-Peak were brought in to be the location finders and local fixers.

We hope that you like the result…