Alpe d'Huez Snow Report: 24th February 2011

It was an interesting day up on the slopes yesterday; on waking up I looked out the window to see clear skies and bright sunshine. I headed over to Les Bergers with the dread that comes of going up the hill during holidays. Dread that the queues would be so big that it might be quicker to walk up the mountain and today I was not wrong. Luckily I had a video report to film and did so as the ski schools set of to their various destinations and by the time I had finished, the lift was clear.

Boarding the lift, I noticed the info board saying the glacier was closed due to high winds. “Surely not” I thought looking around at the sunbathers and parents frantically slapping sun cream on any child that walked past. By the time we got to the station I was considering trading my snowboard for a kite. The wind was ferociously chilly and my priorities changed to getting down to the DMC as soon as possible, and back into the sun.

The run to DMC 1 was quite nice, there were a couple of icy sections but in general it was good. We headed down through the park to meet some friends at the Gaufferie to the sight of more sunbathers dotted around the lift station. After a trip up the DMC to the second station we saw that both the James Bond and Pic Blanc cable cars were closed because of the wind and decided to stay over in Alpe d'Huez. We set off down the Couloir with a couple of stops en route to take a few photos. The Couloir was not as busy or as mogully as I expected with all of the February traffic and there was even a fair bit of powder around.

We got back on the gondola at mid station and headed back up to 2700m and this time decided on the alternate route back down, the Chamois. It's a red piste but is usually a bit quieter. Today however it was the exact opposite to the Couloir, icy, mogully and quite a few stones lying around. The flat bit at the bottom proved tricky for a couple of the snowboarders in the group, but my freshly waxed board didn't struggle. Back at DMC 1 chef Tom commented that he really enjoyed that one, so maybe I was just unlucky and managed to hit every dodgy bit of piste around.

The time was getting on and so Jack and I decided to call it a day, besides we had a BBQ pool party to get to at the Grotte Du Yeti and so did a quick run down through the Board Park.

We did take 15 minutes out to sit and watch the freestyle competition on the enormous Signal kicker. There was all sorts of crazy tricks going on, none of which I can do or name but take it from me it was incredible.

There is a large amount of snow forecast for the weekend, but it is due to get quite windy before then. But the mountain is skiing well and there is plenty of blue sky and sunshine to enjoy.

See you on the slopes.

Pete

Check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Alpe d'Huez!