Skiing from a VW T6 Campervan

Is it really possible to have an enjoyable and successful ski trip living out of a tiny VW T6 campervan in the Alps in the depths of winter? We were unsure, so when we had the opportunity to cheekily extend our family ski trip for another few days, we jumped at the chance to book a few nights at a winter campsite close to the Paradiski ski region in France. If we loved it, it could change our skiing plans for ever. If we hated it, how bad could a few nights in the sub-zero snow campsite really be?

We have owned our campervan for about five years now and it is fair to say that we have used it to the max, clocking up more than 500 nights in it todate. We have travelled extensively in the UK and Europe, in all seasons, but have never been brave enough to commit to a a full blown week of skiing out of the van. So when we had the opportunity to tack on a a few days to our family ski holiday with our grown up kids, the temptation to have a little experiment was hard to resist.

We stayed for 4 nights at the Huttopia Campsite in Bourg St Morris just below the Paradiski ski area. The main benefit to this location is that it has a funicular link from the valley floor to Arc 1600 as an entry point to the entire ski domain. We love Les Arc and La Plagne from past ski holidays and we know the areas really well, so we knew that we could find our way around okay. In addition, over the summer we had stayed in a Huttopia site and we were really impressed. As well as a large summer camp brand, they also pride themselves on maintaining some top quality winter campsites across Europe. We were intrigued to see what the Bourg St Morris site had to offer.

Positives from skiing in a Campervan

Ski transfers from the campsite- we have only ever used ski-in-ski-out accommodation on our previous ski trips as we really dislike the hassle of carrying our ski kit too and from the slopes. Obviously, at a valley campsite, we do not have that luxury. We needn’t have worried however, as the daily ski transfers worked like a dream. There is a free shuttle bus service from the campsite to the funicular station, and then it was only a short funicular ride up to the village of Arc 1600 where the slopes began. We were that sad that we timed the journey. We left the campsite at 0900 and were skiing our first run at 0930. The inconvenience of this transfer is far outweighed by the accommodation cost saving of staying in the valley.

Boot room- we worried about keeping our expensive ski hire kit safe, as we have no room for it overnight in the van- the prospect of leaving skis under the van overnight was not that appealing. Again, we needn’t have worried as the campsite had its own secure boot room for all of our kit. It really was state of the art, with racks of boot heaters and individual storage areas for skis as well as plenty of space for drying wet clothes. The room was light and spacious and so much better than the gloomy and cramped chalet basements we have been used to previously.

Ski pass- a cheeky little bonus that we didn’t expect was that we could purchase our lift passes directly from the campsite with a 10% discount from the lift pass office price. The discount was welcomed, but the convenience of having a lift pass ready to go straight onto the funicular each morning was worth its weight in gold. It was just another example of where the campsite had thought really hard on how to reduce the friction from the skiing experience.

Funicular- my only experience of valley skiing had been from a school trip 20+ years ago to Italy where I can still remember the endless queues and crush for the morning gondola up to the ski station. This wasn’t the case with the funicular from Bourg St Morris. The service was quick and efficient, there were no queues and we rarely had to wait for longer than a few minutes for the departure. It is a surreal experience being whisked up the steep mountain side on a futuristic cable railway- starting at the green valley, passing through the cloud level and ending in a snowy ski village.

Shuttle bus in Bourg- once or twice, we finished our ski day early due to the weather, so we were too early for the campsite shuttle bus. Walking with full ski kit was not an option, so we used the local shuttle bus instead. These free buses run constant loops around the valley floor- so the only challenge was getting on the right loop and making sure we were going in the right direction! It worked really well, as there was a stop right outside the campsite.

Warm facilities- one of the biggest worries about winter camping has to be cold toilets and showers. The Huttopia site was well set up for winter camping. The toilet block was so hot, with hot air heating pumped directly into each toilet and shower cubicle and also into the washing up area- it was warmer than our Dales house at this moment in time! The showers were always piping hot and immaculately clean and were a joy to use at the end of a long day skiing.

Campsite community room- a T6 camper is really small, which is fab, but some times you just need a bit more space to spread out in the warmth. The campsite had a fantastic, and very underused community room with a log burner, constant central heating, free coffee facilities, a TV and lots of games to play. Seemingly no one but Jackie and I thought that this was a good idea, and we had our own private lounge for the entire stay. We took our drinks up to the lounge after skiing, dried out our wet kit, did work on the laptops and generally used it as a home from home.

Electric Hook Up- the inclusion of electricity in the daily camping cost was a god send. I am sure that we could have operated without it…just, but the inclusion of EHU made the whole camping experience more stress free. We didn’t have to worry at all about our battery levels, we didn’t have to ration power, or have to rely on our solar panels for power. It just made life so much simpler for very little cost.

Campsite staff- the staff at the site were so accommodating and their English was impeccable- much to our embarrassment at our lack of French! They were always available to help and offer advice, and the whole team made the campsite experience so much more enjoyable and familiar. We have noted to ourselves that we really do need to improve our French over the course of the next few years.

Friendly UK campers- there was a real enclave of UK based motorhome dwellers on the site. The vast majority of them were out for the season, and had done the same for many years previous. The remainder were all on extended breaks much longer than ourselves. It was nice to hear some friendly English voices in a morning, and to have people to chat to round and about the site. They all had amazing experiences that they loved to share and were nice to hear. We are not massive fans of the Brits abroad theme, but it certainly wasn’t an annoying experience.

Supermarket and town are close by- the Huttopia site is based quite close to the valley town of Bourg St Morris. The benefits of having a normal town, with normal supermarkets on your doorstep cannot be understated when you compare it to staying in a purpose built ski village which charges a premium for that mountain side location. Not only do you have the choice and convenience of a large supermarket on your doorstep- you also have the cost saving of normal valley prices.

Challenges of skiing from a Campervan

Not ski in- ski out. On all of our previous family ski holidays we had always chosen accommodation that was ski-in and ski-out. It just makes the whole experience at the start and the end of the day so much easier. With our choice of camping in the valley, this clearly wasn’t an option for us on this trip. Although the transfer and funicular trip each morning took us about half an hour to the first run of the day, we did not find this too much of an inconvenience. Certainly the cost savings of staying in the valley far outweighed the cost of ski-in, ski out accommodation. We are not sure how tiresome the transfer arrangements would become after a few weeks, but for our short stay they were entirely bearable. Perhaps we shall test out the longer term effects next year???

No loo- there is no getting around it- the T6 does not have room for a loo, and in many respects we are glad of that, as an on board loo needs emptying at some point (Yuk!). Staying on a winter campsite is hardly roughing it, as you always know you have lovely warm facilities only 20m away…but they are 20m away! At 3am in the morning when you need a wee, it can be a bit of a pain to have to get wrapped up and go to the toilet block. To be fair, it’s not all that bad. You get the bonus of invariably seeing the clear night sky, a warm bed on your return, and to be fair, I have often rushed out in just thermals and snow boots as luckily no one is around to witness this sight!

Space and keeping stuff dry. If the campsite didn’t have decent drying facilities (boot room and laundry), we would have been stuffed in our T6. These facilities meant that we could keep all wet or damp kit out of the van until it was really dry. We had a few very stormy days on the mountain that soaked us in thawing snow. If we only had the van to dry things out we would have really struggled and would have had a damp and smelly time in the van. But that is why we chose this particular campsite. In our view it is absolutely essential to to have good drying facilities when winter camping- when in the Alps or closer to home. When we are out and about in the UK, we always make sure we know the places that we can dry our kit.

As always in a campervan or any small space, organisation is key. Everything has it’s place and there is a place for everything that we need in the van. If this goes awry for a few days, chaos reigns and we need to sort it out! This is never more important than in winter. We are pretty good at living out of the van, but space is really at a premium in winter as everything is bigger on order to deal with the cold. We used every space available, particularly in the footwells- not only is this a valuable storage space, but also adds much needed insulation to the icy cold cab space.

Staying warm- this was not really an issue for us, even though the night time temperatures at times got down to minus 10. We took advantage of the heated community room when it was open- this was not only warm, but also spacious and allowed us to spread out and relax before we were confined to the van for the night. When in the van, we occasionally used the LPG heater to take the cold off, but once the van was up to temperature, it stayed warm really well. Simply boiling a kettle, or cooking kept the van warm. We used hardly any LPG during the trip, as the T6 is so small to heat, anything more than a few minutes makes it uncomfortably hot (sauna anyone?). The only extra that we added to our sleeping arrangements was an additional fleecy blanket on top of our normal duvet. We often went to bed in our merino’s, but more often than not had to take them off as we were too warm in the night. Mornings in the Alps in a van are cold- we didn’t move from the duvet before we had boiled a kettle for coffee and the associated heating effect!

Water freezing in tanks- the T6 does not have a complex water system like many motorhomes, but we do have onboard water and waste tanks under the van. To put it simply, we did not use this at all. The risk of damaging the tanks or the pipework in sub zero temperatures was not worth it. We went back to basics and just used a refillable water container for our fresh water needs. We didn’t need much- just for hot drinks and cooking. We drank bottled water and did our washing up in the lovely and warm wash up area of the campsite.

Digging out- this might sound like quite fun, and it is, but it takes time. It took us about an hour and a half to dig the van our and get it ready to leave the site. Clearing snow is hard, physical work (unless you have a snow blower!). We only had about a foot of snow to clear- it can get much worse. What I didn’t prepare for was the emotional stress about leaving the site. The digging out is easy- the worry about the road conditions, whether to fit chains or not, the anxiety about frozen engines and black ice haunted me for 24 hours before departure. It is not a nice feeling- just be aware that it may effect you in this unexpected way.

Check out our YouTube video on this same topic here.