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?
04-Jan-2011
The start of 2011 has been filled with sunshine in the mountains of the Oisans region, and low-lying cloud in the valleys. The resorts were incredibly busy over New Year and Christmas but are much quieter now. Tour Operators are adjusting this week from a Sunday changeover to their usual Saturday and it seems that the independent travellers are doing the same thing, with far fewer cars in resort too. And it’s just as well, because we really need fresh snow!
04-Dec-2010
Opening days don’t come much finer than this! After a sneaky opener last weekend, Alpe d’Huez opened for the season today, and what a day it was…
The sun shone all day, taking most of the chill out of the air and 0ºC in resort felt much warmer than yesterday’s -8ºC. Above 2700m (top of the DMC) it was pretty windy though and felt closer to -10ºC. But cold weather is good for the snow and today the conditions on and off the piste were amazing.
29-Oct-2010
Category : Featured, Les 2 Alpes, Snowsports, Video
It’s so great to be back in France and I spent this morning on Les 2 Alpes’ glacier. There was plenty of snow, beautiful sunshine and the lift queues were much shorter than in the Summer. So if you’re a keen skier or snowboarder, make sure you remember to book your holiday here for half-term week 2011 and check out today’s video:
14-Jul-2010
Category : Les 2 Alpes, Snowsports
Skiers and snowboarders in Les 2 Alpesreturned disappointed from the Jandri Express this morning, as the lift was closed when winds reached 54km/hr. By late morning the Jandri Express 1 was running, allowing hikers and MTB riders to access the pistes of the front face and the Toura-Cretes section, which are sheltered from the southerly wind. With no snowsports on offer the resort was far more lively this morning and afternoon activities have started earlier than usual, with the climbing wall already busy.
05-Jul-2010
Category : Events, Les 2 Alpes, Snowsports, Video
This year’s freestyle ski and snowboard competition, the Kumi Yama, proved to be a showcase for some epic riding. The eventual winners of the amateur Slopestyle ski competition were Bopcrew, and Bomb Squad on snowboards. In the professional event the winners were Elvis Harsheim, Nicolas Vuigner and Markus Eder on skis, and Matthieu Crepel, Alluar Ricciardi and Arthur Longo. Longo is also a Deux Alpes local and competed at this year’s Olympic Games.
The prize for Best Trick on skis was won by Bapiste Collomb Patton and there were joint winners in the snowboard category: Johan Baisamy and Kazu Kokubo. In the Superpipe, the winners were Nivo Bijonsen on skis and Kazu Kokubo on snowboard. The photography prize, a trip to Japan and a huge goodie bag, was won by David Tchag.
But that’s enough text, here’s the video…
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