Alpe d'Huez Snow Report: 6th March 2011

This week has been spent with a friend of mine from 5 seasons ago; We worked together for one of the larger tour operators in Les Deux Alpes when we were both very young and very, very foolish.

So in the spirit of being foolish we decided to head up to the glacier to tackle the longest black run in Europe – La Sarenne.

The reason this was a bit foolish is because La Sarenne has not been open since December due to the snow conditions. 16km's is it's length and starts at 3330m at the very top of Pic Blanc. The run then winds it's way down the glacier and into the Gorges De Sarenne and then finishes at 1510m.

Due to it's length and location and how low it finishes, La Sarenne is only open when the snow natural conditions are very good, as there is no snow cannons anywhere on the run. As you may know, this season has not been the best in terms of snowfall, but Alpe d'Huez has certainly been one of the better resorts in France.

Now I certainly don't condone going down any piste which is closed by SATA, as it is obviously in their interest to keep runs open if possible. Not a season goes by where someone in the Alps goes down a closed run and get themselves in all sorts of bother by missing a lift, falling off a cliff, getting injured or just plain and simple, good old fashioned getting lost. Just to put things in perspective, (and this is written on your piste map), getting rescued from zone 4, which means a long way from the piste, to get carried off the mountain by pisteurs costs 654€, helicopter rescue starts at 620€ and can easily go well into the thousands.

I do have the advantages of having spent 6 seasons in Alpe d'Huez, I'm insured up to my eyeballs and I do know La Sarenne like the back of my hand. This doesn't however excuse what I did and please don't mistake my confidence for complacency. I made it very clear to my boarding partners the risks of what we were letting ourselves into. Under no circumstances were we going off piste with the avalanche risk so high, and I was going first to pick the best route. I already knew that the snow would be rubbish, but they were insistent that they wanted to tick it off the list.

We met at the DMC at 11:30 to make the trip up to Pic Blanc, the queues were there, but nothing too unmanageable, and we were at the top of the mountain in about 30mins. The glacier is spectacular, on a clear day it is said you can see 1/5th of France. There was a bit of cloud when we arrived but it quickly cleared so we could take in the view.

The wind had picked up, so we quickly made our way down the first section to try and get some cover from the mountain. Although the Sarrenne is currently closed, you can still ski at the top of the mountain, there is one chairlift and up on the glacier you will find a small selection of black, red and blue runs. It is quite a bit colder up there however so make sure you dress warm.

After tackling the inevitable moguls we got onto the Sarrene which was surprisingly serene. The first section was quite icy so we gingerly made our way as we knew our boards were likely to face something a little more treacherous then ice before the end of the day.

When you get to the chairlift, you will see an assortment of warning signs, tapes and barriers all letting you know that this is the point of no return. After here it is just you and the mountain until you reach the end. In my opinion this is the main reason why the run is a black. There are fairly steep parts and the snow conditions are never brilliant for the full 16km, but it is the fact that once you have started, you have to finish.

The three of us nonchalantly ducked under the ropes and bravely headed in to no-mans land. And my word, what a land it was. The snow obviously had not been pisted for a couple of months, so we had to tackle moguls, rocks, ice and avalanches but it was worth it just to be out their on our own with nothing but mountain to play with. The views are spectacular and the feeling of doing that run with no one else in sight is amazing.

After another 6-7kms however, things started to get ropey and we found out why the run was still shut. First we hit ice, a lot of ice and then came the rocks.

Tiny pebbles first started littering the piste, and they gradually got bigger and bigger until we had no other choice but to admit defeat and take our boards off and walk. Fortunately we were all riding our own equipment, all of which had seen better days so we weren't too fussed about the odd ding here and there but if you are planning on doing it with hire equipment, then be prepared to replace it at the end of the run.

Once we got in the valley, the snow returned as it gets a lot of shelter here and therefore remains much longer, the piste however does get very flat so we had a couple of occasions which called for us to un-strap and scoot along.

We finally reached the mid point of the scare chair and made our way up to Les Bergers for lunch and a victory beer.

To summarise I can say that the Sarrenne could be shut for some time so don't get your hopes up as it is only going to get worse before it gets better, I certainly won't be trying it again until the pisteurs give it the go-ahead.

It's an amazing run, but by no means is it the only thing Alpe d'Huez has to offer, anyone desperate to test the limits of their skiing should head for La Tunnel which is supposedly the second hardest run in France.

Enjoy the mountain and I'll see you on the slopes (but only if they are open!)

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!