Video: Land Rover winter driving event
There is a phrase that goes something like "what you don't know can't hurt you". This is simply not the case when it comes to winter driving. Today's editions of the Anzeiger von Saanen and the GstaadLife print edition both carry lengthy articles on the virtues of taking a winter driving course, focusing on how high-end auto manufacturers, including Land Rover, Audi, BMW and others have made it something of a tradition to take over Saanen Airport for a few days in January and February to teach their clients the finer points of winter driving. While the articles had some interesting facts about how this has brought booming business to Saanenland, especially the Steigenberger Hotel which seems to be Winter Driving HQ for most of these companies, we here at GstaadLife.com had the good fortune to be invited by Hansueli Brand from Ledi Garage in Feutersoey (yes, he of Paris-Dakar Transafricaine Classic Rally fame) for a day of driving Land Rovers on the ice pistes of Saanen. And having experienced what we experienced, and learned what we learned, we would seriously proffer that no-one should be allowed to buy a Land Rover, let alone drive it in snow, until they have taken this course.
Click play on the video below to get a taste of the action from the Land Rover winter driving course:
Our training started off on Monday evening at the Steigenberger Hotel with cocktails for the participants. The first surprise; no less than two thirds of the drivers were women. This was refreshing, and we found ourselves looking forward to the day's driving even more, free as it would be from the testosterone-fuelled bravado of men trying outdo each other with Jeremy Clarkson impressions. After drinks, there was an enjoyable hour of theory with Sven, possibly the most jovial person in Saanenland this week, taking us through the ins and outs of tire tread, stopping distances, under-steer, over-steer, and how to knock small Japanese cars off the road when they pull out in front of you in icy conditions. The following morning (we didn't attend the apparently schnaps-laden dinner festivites) we gathered with a group that consisted largely of English parents from the Kennedy School who all knew each other. It was straight into the action with steering technique exercises on an icy slalom course, followed by Sven leading the group straight out to an off-road proving ground they had prepared in the hills above the Saanen Airport runway. This was quite simply the most eye-opening part of the whole experience, and even though we later raced around the ice-fields doing massive four-wheel slides as seen in the movies (which were surprisingly much more fun with the new Freelander 2 than with the supercharged Range Rovers), the off-road sections were by far the most exhilarating. We spent two hours going up and down what seemed like impossibly steep slopes covered in sheet ice, not only coming to understand how to operate the car in extreme conditions, but more importantly gaining the confidence to know that a car can be controled in almost all circumstances, so long as you keep your head and follow a basic set of rules (not all of which are common-sense). And while most participants already had Land Rovers of various flavors, the whole thing turned out to be something of a back-hand sales show for Land Rover, with one Englishman in our group declaring at the coffee break that we was seriously considering turning in his Porsche Cayenne Turbo for a supercharged Range Rover. Our take...when these courses come round again next year take one, because not only is it immense fun, but what you learn could one day save your life. And if you drive an SUV, you can go some way to appeasing your guilty conscience about your carbon footprint by knowing that you know what these vehicles can really do...
Click the video above to get a taste of the action.
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