Just spotted this on the British Embassy site in Paris. Wonder if this campaign will make any difference…

The British Consulate in Lyon is launching a campaign to avoid ski accidents on holidays (14/12/2009)

Sir Peter Westmacott was in Lyon on 9th December for the launch of an awareness campaign focusing on winter holiday makers. It was an initiative from the British Consulate in Lyon to run this campaign, during the 2009-2010 ski season. The Consulate area covers the départements of Savoie, Haute-Savoie and Isère, all of which have numerous ski resorts where foreign visitors flock, with a peak from December to April. We estimate an approximate 700,000 British tourists visit the region during holidays.

The aim of the campaign is to help British tourists feel safer on holidays and make the most of their trip. Unfamiliar environment, cold and high altitudes can indeed heighten effects of alcohol drinking and lead to accidents and other mishaps.  More often than not they involve young people, students, seasonal workers and club groups.

This is a poster campaign which supports a diverse range of innovative educational projects aiming at raising awareness on safety concerns while on holidays. Two posters have been designed with the support of the French authorities, tourist boards, airports and British tour operators. They will be displayed in most resorts in the area covered by the British Consulate in Lyon.

Also run in Switzerland and Italy, this major safety awareness campaign was initiated by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to raise awareness on alcohol misuse in ski resorts and emphasise the necessity of full travel insurance cover. It will come into full swing in December when the first wave of British skiers head for the French, Swiss and Italian ski slopes.

Apologies if you’ve already mentioned this somewhere…

I noticed an article in the Daube about it, here is Google’s translation:

t is well known, when the English have messages to convey, they do not go with the back of the spoon. It is direct and trash, such as road safety campaigns.

The latest campaign aimed at British tourists in ski resorts in the Rhone-Alpes does not affect any traditions. With this little touch of humor “so British”. “Do not catch your death” literally “does not catch the death” means “to help British travelers to make their stay abroad for more secure and benefit fully from their holidays,” said the embassy.

Specifically, the poster campaign to be held in the ski resorts and airports, buses and trains, but also in chalets and hotels, “is to warn the million tourists about the dangers of alcohol at altitude and cold. “It also tends to warn against the lack of travel insurance and adequate medical. “

A 2005 study of Department of Foreign Affairs showed that one third of the skiers / snowboarders under 25 years are experiencing problems abroad because of the mixture / altitude adrenaline and alcohol. And the Consulate of Lyon faced thirty deaths due to accidents in the mountains.

http://www.ledauphine.com/index.jspz?chaine=26&article=234820

There have been quite a few problems in the combe de Venosc at les Deux Alpes too.

That’s the first I’ve heard about it, if the objective is to raise awareness it’s not working too well.

I’d wish them every success although I think they’ve got their work cut out there, they might start with the ski stations who are signing up for the brainless idea of being able to download how far and how fast you’ve been each day using your lift pass data.