Slip-on Grippers for the Ice Palace
We recently returned from the "Switzerland: Europe's Crown Jewel" tour. While the tour was very good, overall, one problem area was the visit to the Ice Palace and the Ice Bar at the Jungfraujoch. The floor is ice and is quite slippery when you’re wearing regular shoes.
We were a group of 26 people in the age group 60+ to about 80 and falls in this age group can be quite serious.
There’s a solution to this problem, if Tauck will address it. In the sport of Curling, team members are on ice and are quite active in launching the stone and in sweeping. They must have something that gives them better traction on the ice, while not marking the ice as crampons would.
Turns out, they do. There are special “curling grippers” that you can slip on your shoes to provide traction on ice. Here’s one place that sells them, but I found many others, all at about the same price (around $18).
https://www.hugecurlingsavings.us/products/hexa-curling-grippers-1
It may be that Tauck does not want to provide these slip-ons for their customers. But if you are going on this tour, you might want to spring for these slip-ons. It will make a big difference in your enjoyment of the Ice Palace.
I think Tauck should warn people who sign up for this tour about the danger of the Ice Palace and the Ice Bar (how slippery and difficult it is to walk there) and suggest that they bring something like these curling grippers for safety.
Comments
Lotus girl doesn’t seem to think it was much of a problem. I can only assume that Tauck has not had anybody fall, or I am sure they would rethink the itinerary.
If you put a number of people, aged 60 to 80, on an ice rink (for example) and ask them to walk to the other side, you're going to get some falls, and some of the falls will result in serious injury. I'm happy she did not have any problems, but I sure did, my wife sure did, and a friend traveling with us sure did. And I really doubt if we were the only ones having a problem walking on that ice.
I discovered through some research on the web a report that the medical team at the Jungfraujoch treats a significant number of guests for falls in the Ice Palace every week. I did not keep a link to that report but it seems reasonable. Old people walking on ice is a recipe for falls.
For someone to call the medical team after a fall, they probably are concerned that they have some injury. Otherwise they'd just get up and walk on. So the number of falls in a week is probably a lot more than the number the medical team treats.
[Thinking about Tauck, we were told that we were the 741st tour of Switzerland by Tauck. Now, not all of them went to the Jungfraujoch, but let's say that 300 did, and each of those tours had 25 people. That's 7,500 people. The chance that not one of those 7,500 people had fallen when walking on that ice is a very low probability event.]
We wore rubber soled light-weight snow boots, and I sort of remember hand rails and we were fine, (75 and 85). It was literally the high point of that trip (tour)
Appropriate shoes--sturdy, hard rubber soles--worked fine for us (late 70s and early 90s at the time.). I was initially concerned for my husband, but once he got going there was no stopping him. As sherry_schare indicated, there are rails to hold and you can take your time. The tour directors were there to assist those who were hesitant at first. I see no need to pack special footwear attachments for such a short, one-time event.
I have some yak-trax for walking on ice in New England, but didn't use them on this trip -- only because I forgot to bring them. I managed fine without them, but it might be a good idea to bring them. They weigh next to nothing.
We too survived it surrounded by a horde of giggling Japanese school girls who were challenging each other to not use the handrails, then doing pratfalls to their great amusement. To expect Tauck to post a warning? If they do that for everyplace you could slip and fall on their tours your Green Book would have as many stickers as a ladder. And to endorse a foot gizmo that is not intended for this use…not gonna happen. Use common sense. If you don’t feel secure walking on the ice, turn back and wait in the anteroom.
Thx for the tip, MikeHenderson
Yes, someone has fallen! We took this tour in early October and three of us fell like dominoes!! No one was hurt bad but I heard one lady in another group had to be transported out and she broke her wrist. The Ice Palace floor is ice too so definitely hold on to the handrails. It was a fantastic experience though and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Maybe don’t get too close to the person in front of you😊
Yikes!
You can enjoy an ice house on the Baltic trip also if you search around Stockholm. This was on a Wind Surf trip.
My wife was tempted to try a Double Axle or a Toe Loop. (;-)
I found some other slip-on ice grippers at Lee Valley - https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/home/clothing/footwear/accessories/58247-stabilicers-lite
A bit more expensive than the curling slippers, but they look like they'd work and be easy to put on.
Slip on grippers can be life saving for sure.Unfortunately we realized it in hindsight.We were on a non Tauck’ tour in October.After going to north cape where there was a lot of ice and snow ,we were in a warmer place with no precipitation on the day of tour; we were not on guard and sure enough there was residual ice on the pavement that caused several people to fall including my husband.Luckily even though he hit his head on the pavement in addition to falling on the left side,he got away with just bruising the chest wall.There were others who broke ankle and shoulder on the same day.The ship started selling the grip ons that day .I had two boxes unopened n my closet with the grippers I bought before the trip and decided not to pack because we had winter hiking shoes!Not going anywhere really cold without the grippers.
Would Yak Trax be acceptable for the Ice Palace???
My guess is that Yak Trax would be on the edge of acceptable. I think what they prohibit is any grip technology that could damage the ice. For example, they prohibit crampons which are designed to dig into the ice.
I didn't see anyone monitoring what people wore, so I expect you could slip those on and not have anyone scold you.
They are difficult to get onto your shoes. It is not an easy task because they require first to sit down and stretching the yak tracks onto the shoes you’re wearing.
The only signs I saw anywhere near the Ice Palace were that crampons were prohibited (crampons will damage the ice). With the danger of falls, I can't imagine they would prevent people from using grippers that did not damage the ice - grippers such as those used for curling.
When I went into the Ice Palace, I felt very insecure because of how slippery the ice was - I came very close to falling one time. And at my age, a fall could easily result in a broken hip. I wish someone had warned me about how slippery it was and suggested something like the curling slip-ons.
I would highly recommend that visitors to the Ice Palace use something like the curling grippers - you will enjoy the visit a lot more when you're not so worried about being injured in a fall.
I returned from this tour a few weeks ago and purchased Yaktrax based on Mike's previous posts. I was very excited to be so prepared; unfortunately our tour guide (not the TD, the local guide who spent the morning with us) very emphatically said we could not wear them. I was planning to put them on prior to exiting the train (easier than outside because there were no places to sit and it is very crowded) and she was adamant that even these were not permitted. I really don't see how they could damage the smooth ice; however, I followed her instructions and did not use them. It is indeed very slippery on that ice and we used the ropes and leaned on each other. Even the snow outside was a challenge; however we took it slow. I'm still happy I purchased the Yaktrax - I know they will get used when I'm out in the snow at home!
The Yaxtrax have metal grippers so I can see why they might not want you to use those. The curling slippers would be more acceptable. If you were questioned, you could point out that they're used in curling specifically so they don't damage the ice.