Alpe d'Huez Snow Report: 9th December 2010

I made my way over to Les Bergers and jumped on the Marmottes lift and rode it all the way to the Clocher De Macle at 2800m. All the way up I could feel the wind buffeting against the gondola, but at least the mud and rocks showing through the piste remained only on the lower slopes. 2800m is currently the highest point you can get to by lift, and from the looks of the tunnel run, will remain so until we get another heavy snowfall. The Clocher De Macle run usually is quite icy as it gets little protection from the wind, and as it is a black run, it doesn't take long for any fresh snow to turn into moguls. Today however, was a change. The wind was blowing powder from the rest of the mountain onto the piste, and there were so few people around it remained flat. Halfway down I spotted a friend and my day of solo touring was over and we joined up for the day.

“Spenny” is an intriguing chap who had ventured out on his brand new set of telemark skis, which, in his own words are “the future of snow sports”. So off we headed onto the red Deversoir and then Poutat to get on the DMC at the first station. The majority of the lifts are still closed, meaning the villages of Vaujany and Oz are still out of bounds, but we decided to take Les Rousses down to L'Alpette. I found the run a little icy, and with the long flat section it was not pleasant snowboarding. The small lake on the right hand side of the piste had almost completely thawed out, but there was still a good covering on the slopes. The thing that struck me about the mountain today was the amount of Avalanches that had fallen. Through pisteur bombing and natural avalanche, there would be almost nowhere to venture off piste, for anyone foolish enough to avoid the warnings. The entire Tunnel run and north-facing slope of Oz were both bare and the slides were everywhere. I think it will be a little while before the glacier is open.

After taking the James Bond lift to the Dome, we go a phone call to meet Spenny's girlfriend Meg (a skier) at the Plat Des Marmottes, but as we are both foolishly competitive, we decided to take a flyer and try to beat her to the bottom of the lift. Probably not the wisest move to travel a thousand vertical metres, entirely on ice and mud, as fast a possible, on only my 4th day on the hill this season but we gave it a go.

When we caught up with Meg at the Plat Des Marmottes, after she had boarded the lift and then waited for us to come back up the mountain, we decided to give the Clocher De Macle another go, but it didn't seem nearly as nice the second time. This time we headed to the Lievre Blanc, which involves carrying enough speed to get up a 40-yard peak, which somehow I managed to fall at the bottom of. The board came off, I walked to the top, and we were ready to go again.

I decided one more run would be enough for me and we headed down the red Lievre Blanc and onto the Couloir where I left my “snow-cially” diverse friends and headed home.

I think I can summarise my thoughts in some handy bullet points:

- The higher slopes have a good covering of snow, although it's quite hard at the moment, it should make for a good base.

- Off Piste is out of the question until the Pisteurs decide to lower the avalanche risk.

- Telemark skiers are people too.

- The nursery slopes probably aren't much fun if you are planning on falling over a lot.

- Early season rain can ruin your fun, but isn't the end of the world.

- A good day can be had no-matter what the conditions are like.

See you on the slopes, Pete

(Didn't mean it Telemarkers!)

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