Thinking about visiting my brother-in-law in St Anton in Austria over Easter as part of his job he has an apartment we can stay in – no way we could afford to go skiing otherwise. In order to keep cost down we are going to drive there – I have plenty of experience of driving on the continent and into the mountains in the summer but not in the winter, any advice? I will be getting snow chains obviously but just wondered if any has any experience – my far is that roads will be covered in snow and ice!!

Zero snow on roads unless extreme conditions, you’ll need Winter tyres.
I do the journey at least 3 times a year, Winter and Summer.

I believe the law in Germany and Austria is that if the roads are covered in snow and ice you must have winter tyres fitted – chains are insufficient. So if you don’t have winter tyres you’ll be taking a gamble and if you’re breaking the law your insurance will most likely be invalid.

Zero snow on roads unless extreme conditions, you’ll need Winter tyres.

You don’t “need” winter tyres.

They can make it easier but they aren’t essential by any means.

I used them all the time when living in the Alps, but have since used whatever is on the vehicle I’m taking.

Would prefer winter tyres, but certainly wouldn’t buy a set for a one off trip.

[edit] snow chains over std tyres when needed has never been an issue for me for the last 20 years, (3 trips/year)

Funnily enough, last night I was reading an AA post with the same title as this thread 🙂

Note the slightly ambiguous comments on winter tyre law for Germany (and presumably Austria)

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/safety/winter-tyres-and-snow-chains.html

Since you’ll drive through a few countries, this is useful

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/snow-chains-winter-tyres.html

So you’ll need chains, and winter tyres are law if it’s ‘wintery’ in Germany.

Make sure you can fit snow chains in the dark, with numb cold hands and screaming kids/wife whilst tired, hungry and grumpy!

If it comes to needing snow chains (which in April I doubt it, but never say never) the last thing you want to be doing is faffing around trying to work out how these things go on and so definitely practice practice practice BEFORE you go!

On this note, I can’t rate snow socks highly enough. I was forced into buying them after finding out the only snow chains that would fit my car were the ridiculously expensive Thule ones and they dragged me up a fully snowy mountain without skipping a beat! So easy to fit as well. Not familiar with Swiss law though so would check if these are legally acceptable (the French now consider them instead of snow chains)

Standard tyres aren’t designed to work at very low temps, Winter tyres are. I wouldn’t gamble on normal tyres on the A8 autobahn when it’s cold and wet. 95% of roads in Austria will be totally snow free, you won’t want chains on, and you won’t want to faff putting them on for the other 5%.
Look for some cheap steel wheels with part worn winter tyres.

Best advice above. Get steel wheels and winter tyres; you won’t have any trouble selling them after the trip if you aren’t so blown away by them that you decide to keep them.