It is still ridiculously cold here in Alpe d'Huez. It's also the first weekend of high season and the weekend before Christmas so the resort is busy for the first time this winter. Tourists are braving the arctic temperatures and seaonnaires are also out on the hill, making the most of the fresh snow that fell on Friday night. We had around 5cm in town and up to about 7cm on the hill, so not a huge dump but enough to liven the pistes a little.
As the season has now fully started and the resort is fully open, I thought I'd head over to the Auris side of Alpe d'Huez. Only a fraction of the resort's 71 lifts have been open during the past two weeks and I have to admit to being a little bored of the limited pistes already. I love Auris as it has some great tree runs, some wide rolling pistes and is generally pretty quiet. The area – and the satellite village – can be accessed by the Alpauris chairlift, our very own 'scare chair' which descends into the Sarenne valley and up the other side. It's possible to jump on at the mid-station at the base of the valley, which serves the base of Green run Le Gua.
Once you reach the hill, you connect towards the villages of Auris or La Garde using the Louvets chair lift. From here it seems obvious to jump onto the Auris Express lift, but this is actually only for those returning from the village in the direction of Alpe d'Huez. The piste map of this area is deceptive and your route to Auris is via Blue run Col. The snow here was in good condition and well groomed. The snow cannons have been supplementing our natural snow and so coverage here is good.
I took the Sures chair out of Auris and returned via Gentianes as Corniche is currently closed. Although the snow on this Blue was good, the base is very thin and there were areas where the grooming machine has churned mud from the hillside into the base. The camber on this piste is also unusual and the piste machines seem to have had a hard time smoothing it, leaving ruts in the piste. This is no problem if you're in control or going slowly, but if you fly down this run you could get a nasty surprise. And it is a beautiful run for screaming along... you have been warned!
I then took a left and headed down to La Garde. The runs down here are tree-lined and low, serviced by an old-school two-person chairlift. It's retro and I love it! I opted for Farcis as it was the only piste officially open, despite a noticeboard stating that the snow wasn't great. Despite dodging the muddy bits and a few loose rocks, it's a fun piste and I remain a fan. The snow cannon just before the lift was on, so I did manage to ride a little on-piste powder.
From the top of Maronne I linked back to the front face, using the Auris Express and opted for a quick final run under the Font Froide chairlift. The two pistes below the chair are notorious mogul fields for most of the season, but as this is the second day of access to the pistes I enjoyed the smooth run. The fresh snow has mainly been blown off, leaving the pistes hard-packed and making it essential to use your edges. Both Vernettes and Font Froide are long, steep runs, great for practicing short turns and improving stamina. You can access them both via either the Font Froide chairlift or the drag lift which runs underneath and isn't marked on the piste map. The drag is significantly quicker but it's a long haul so it's sometimes more pleasant to take the chair. As I said, both pistes are running very fast and are currently mogul-free.
To return to Alpe d'Huez you can ski or snowboard down to the mid-station of the Alpauris or jump on at the base of Font Froide and Louvet. As the snow lower down is still pretty sketchy, I opted for the lazy route and rode the chair lift. On return to the resort around midday I saw my first queue of the season, as weekend and holiday tourists made their way up the mountain via the Marmottes I chairlift.
This morning I skied under sunny skies but the clouds have blown into town and the temperatures are falling as I write. It's been around -10°C on the lower slopes today and as low as -30°C at the top of the hill, with wind-chill included. The outlook for the week is interesting. We're expecting the extremely cold temperatures to remain with snowfalls on Monday night, Tuesday night, Thursday and Friday. The official forecast states a total of 52cm by Friday but a source in the Tourist Office predicts 1m. We'll just have to wait and see!
Vickie will be reporting on the snow conditions in Alpe d'Huez on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, throughout the season.
