Thinking of getting a caravan for summer and maybe for skiing in winter.

I’m thinking of maybe leaving it at a storage site somewhere not too far from the Alps eg around Lyon then i could just go over in the car and only have to tow it for the last few hours to the caravan site.

Anyone use theirs for skiing, is it worht it or a total ball ache?

Secondly, i’ve read that its best to get a van with a max loaded weight of about 85% of cars kerbweight for stability

Kerbweight for my car is 1395, but a lot of the decent sized vans have max plated weights around 1370kg and about 1150 MIRO.

Now the boot in my car is huge, so if i load the van as little as possible to keep it as light as i can and stick everything else in the boot i’d be increasing the weight of my car but keeping the van closer to its unloaded weight, so vans weight / cars loaded weight would be a better ratio for stability? Is this an ok way of doing it? Obviously i need to keep to the max weights for my car (max car weight 2150kg, max train weight 3350, max car towing ability 1500kg)

I’ve towed a caravan down to the Alps a few times. Even did a season in one once!!

Gave it up in the end as it was a PITA. towing it down wasn’t too bad, although it does take longer and costs more in tolls, which in your case wouldn’t matter so much, but it was just the faff of getting stuff dry keeping the caravan area clean and tidy, obviously they are pretty small. We had kids as well so when we put them to bed we had to stay quite or go out into the awning so needed heaters and the like. The last year we did it it snowed loads then rapidly heated up and the awnings got flooded out and really boggy as the snow melted!!

It did work out fairly cheap, we were going for 3 weeks at a time. but in the end you can always get apartments for not a lot more money and a load less faff.

Le Giffre caravan park in Samoens is right by the lift station though if you fancy giving it a go.

Done a couple of weeks around the scottish ski areas in our caravan, one of the best trips I’ve ever had – but it was more about the overall experience than the skiing or the caravanning. The skiing in scotland can be fabulous, but it can be rotten or even not worth bothering going.

When we stayed in Aviemore, there were a few vans on site on seasonal pitches, and one van-conversion camper with three antipodeans living in it, working as lifties up at Cairngorm, so it is possible. We’d a small elecriec heater to keep us warm, so it was a bit chilly first thing but 2 minutes with a heater got it nice and toasty

Drying things can be an issue – not much space to hang loads of clothes, and it can get a bit stffy if you have wet clothes (and towels) and the heater going to try to dry them

I’d personally stick with 85% using the plated max, not MIRO.

Heavier vans tend to have a larger surface area and you notice the tail wagging the dog in any sort of wind/hgv overtaking far more with a light car and a large van.