After a blank season in 2021, ski resorts were finally able to reopen for winter 2022. All skiers had to provide a health pass or a negative test less than 24 hours old, and wearing a mask in ski lifts was compulsory from the age of 11, whether indoor or outdoor, as well as in queues.
The authorized equipment was: surgical masks, category 1 fabric masks, certain approved filtering neck warmers and FFP2 masks.
Masks were not, however, necessary when skiing downhill. Skiers then had to constantly juggle at the bottom and top of each slope to put on and take off their mask after taking off their gloves, helmet... not easy, especially if the weather was bad!
Is Frogmask a good anti-pollution mask for the mountains?
With a Frogmask it was possible to avoid this exercise because you can keep it on your nose all the time!
In addition to filtering suspended particles down to 0.4µm (the mountain air in some valleys like Chamonix is not that pure), it will keep you warm and its water-repellent material will protect you from water if it snows . Finally, its great breathability will not hinder you during exercise.
Some stations don't have such clean air
While we hope that we will never experience another pandemic, the fact remains that the air in some Alpine valleys and their associated ski resorts is not what we expect in the mountains. The alert levels are very often in the red.
Let's take the example of the Arve Valley in Haute-Savoie. This valley is known for being one of the most polluted in France. With an average of 5,000 cars and 1,500 trucks using the Mont Blanc tunnel every day, nitrogen dioxide pollution is inevitable. The phenomenon is amplified in this deep valley in the event of a thermal inversion : An atmospheric phenomenon in which a layer of warm air covers a layer of cold air, creating a "lid" that prevents the dispersion of pollutants into the atmosphere (the pollutants are then trapped on the ground as if they were "under a bell jar"). It is therefore not surprising that some schools prohibit their students from participating in outdoor activities when pollution levels are at their highest. What about skiers who frequent the resorts around Chamonix, Saint-Gervais, Vallorcine, Les Houches or Combloux? The subject remains taboo.
It's the same story in the resorts overlooking the Maurienne valley, which provides access to the Fréjus tunnel, or Grenoble. The city is located in a basin surrounded by mountains where polluted air is trapped. The pollution is very often higher there than in Paris!
