01-May-2011
Category : Alpe d'Huez, Featured
Winter 2010/11 is finally over, and I don’t think I’m the only one who’s glad to see the back of it. Perhaps it was the lack of snow and the almost permanently sunny skies that made the ‘winter’ seem to last for ever.
Looking back at my reports over the season, it probably only snowed a total of ten times. And the sunshine – usually a welcome sight during the dark winter months – became monotonous, taunting us from the centre of clear blue skies devoid of snow-filled clouds.
07-Apr-2011
Category : Alpe d'Huez, Featured, Snowsports
Today I skied in Alpe d’Huez. This week’s warm weather has had a drastic effect on the snow at all altitudes and I’ve been curious about the state of the pistes since lift company SATA reduced the price of daily passes last weekend.
As I was uploading yesterday’s report on the snow conditions in Les 2 Alpes, news reached me that the cold, hard pistes above 2100m had turned soft overnight. Not quite slushy, but wet and soft. Hmmm… was I about to discover the same thing in Alpe d’Huez?
06-Apr-2011
Category : Featured, Les 2 Alpes, Snowsports
The resort is quiet, holiday sales are down and the tour operators are starting to close-up for the summer. Which is great if you’ve already booked as there’s still plenty of skiing in Les 2 Alpes so whatever you do… pack your ski stuff and don’t cancel your holiday!
There’s a lot of chat around town that the snow is finished and the season is over. It’s not true! The chat is coming from seasonnaires who aren’t too impressed with current conditions and that’s partly because it’s warm in resort so everyone is more interested in BBQs and sunbathing than riding. Only the seriously keen – and the tourists – were on the mountain yesterday.
30-Mar-2011
Category : Alpe d'Huez, Featured, Snowsports
I’m struggling with what to write today. I’ve been waiting for the past two days to write this week’s post, hoping for some inspiration, some direction; wondering whether it’s too early to write the eulogy for winter 2010/11.
Last week I wrote about how well-covered the pistes of Alpe d’Huez were. A tour of the Grande Domaine left me pleasantly surprised and keen to make the most of the remaining few weeks of the season. But this week the weather’s become even more unpredictable with snow, sun, rain, sleet and wind every day.
23-Mar-2011
Let’s face facts; it hasn’t snowed much this winter. But despite the clear skies and sunshine it’s been pretty cold for the past few weeks, meaning what snow has fallen should still be in good condition. Yesterday I skied Alpe d’Huez’s Grand Domaine to find out for myself.
I started with the usual warm-up run from the top of the Signal down to Villard Reculas. The Petit Prince piste is a safe bet for good snow so always a gentle start to the day. I found the snow here to be fresh, fast and grippy… who’d know we were suffering a snow drought?
15-Mar-2011
On the pistes today, conditions were a far cry from the balmy winter we’ve experienced so far. In the resort of Alpe d’Huez it’s been warm all day, with temperatures reaching 15ºC but get to the edge of town and you start to feel the wind that’s been blasting across the mountains this week.
It’s been a long time since I last skied, with the half-term crowds and lack of snow not doing much for my lack of enthusiasm. But true to form, my sprained wrist and the doctor’s resulting ban on skiing had me itching to hit the pistes.
01-Mar-2011
Category : Alpe d'Huez, Featured, Hiking
February has been a funny month here in Alpe d’Huez, ending with a foot of snow, a hoard of visitors and an overriding sense of total exhaustion. On a personal level, it ended with two sets of x-rays, two bloody knees, a filling and a sprained wrist… thank goodness it’s March!
The start of March is always greeted with relief in the mountains. The Half-Term rush over and Easter weeks away, we can return to a steady rhythm safe in the knowledge that there’s still plenty of snow to come and the season is far from over. In fact, there’s more hope of snow at the moment than there has been for the past two months, with cloudy skies and a northerly wind battering the higher pistes.
22-Feb-2011
Category : Alpe d'Huez, Featured, Hiking
Here in Alpe d’Huez we’re in the midst of the Half-Term holidays. Despite the usual paranoia in resort that nobody would come, the resort is as busy as ever.
In a town where nearly every business relies on the five-month winter season to carry them through the year, it’s no wonder that worrying about the weather and the number of tourists has become a popular pastime.
12-Feb-2011
Is Alpe d’Huez well-suited to beginners? It’s not something I’d given much thought to until The Best Friend arrived in resort and asked me to show her the slopes.
Her first day in resort clashed with my work timetable so we booked her into a private lesson with an English-speaking instructor at the French ski school, the ESF (Ecole du Ski Français). New to skiing and with just a little experience on real snow (no, the snow dome in Dubai doesn’t count!), she spent her 90 minute lesson with Dom Marquis on the green slopes below 2100m.
07-Feb-2011
It may not have snowed since 11.01.11, but you’d never guess by looking at the pistes…
Alpe d’Huez has over 900 snow cannons, more than any other resort in France. And really it’s just as well, as so many of the pistes here are south-facing. So the fact that it’s not snowed for nearly a month doesn’t matter too much; the cannons are blasting water into the air each night, creating piles of new snow that’s being spread around the resort to keep the pistes topped-up. This technique is all well and good when the weather’s cold enough for the cannons, but if it starts warming-up at night we could be in trouble…
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