Alpe d'Huez Snow Report: 9th February 2012

L'ile au soleil or ‘island in the sun'. Alpe D'Huez boasts more than 300 days of sunshine a year - from the time I've spent here this season I can tell you that's no lie. Since our last heavy snowfall of around 25cms on the 1st of Feb the resort has enjoyed settled weather with wall to wall sunshine, low winds, and even lower temperatures. Perfect firm pistes combined with sub-zero temperatures keeping the powder off piste fresh and dry. A warning to wrap up warm as earlier this week the maximum temperature one afternoon was a chilly -16 degrees Celsius.

Today seemed like a particularly nice day so I decided to take a spin up to Pic Blanc, the highest lift served point in resort sitting at 3300 meters above sea level. The ride up on the DMC lifts to stage one and two was pleasant with short queues, something which will no doubt change with the upcoming public holidays from 11th Feb to 12th March. A tip to avoid the longest queues is to ski at lunch time - as an unemployed seasonnaire aka ski bum I often don’t make it up the slopes until around 12pm - usually the most pleasant time of the day as the midday sun is out and most people have stopped for lunch. Try eating earlier, or later, or packing a lunch and snacking on the lifts to make the most of people’s midday down-time.

The final stage of ascent to the summit is a cable car which does not depart until full. Try and position yourself to be one of the last into the lift to be one of the first out if you want to beat the crowd down the slopes. Stepping off the cable car onto the deck I felt no wind, result! As I was alone on this part of the trip I took the opportunity to take a few snaps and generally relax and enjoy the view, a spectacular array of mountains as far as the eye can see. Although there were some clouds in the sky the view at 3300m was as breathtaking as ever, I’m told that on a clear day up to one third of France can be seen. A few yards through the lift station takes you out onto the snow and into the wind! The initial area where you disembark from the cable car is deceptively sheltered so the wind came as a bit of an unpleasant surprise, my advice would be use this first area to take a few pics as I did and cover up all those exposed areas of skin before stepping out onto the snowy plateau of the summit.

Today I chose to take La Sarenne as my route down the mountain. Coined as ‘the longest black run in Europe’ at 16km long this is definitely a must-do in Alpe D’Huez along with The Tunnel, also accessible from Pic Blanc. Initially expect high winds and icy moguls but as you descend the wind gradually softens making the remainder of the run even more enjoyable. At the bottom of the initial mogul field there is a fork in the road, left for La Sarenne and right for The Tunnel. Hanging left there is another longish mogul field but thankfully less icy as this area is slightly more sheltered. The next section is less demanding and more like a red run – slightly narrow and potential moguls in parts but easily conquered. Following this the run starts to flatten out further turning into a cruisy-blue and my favourite part. A little tip here is DON’T STOP. Keep your speed up as once you enter the shadow-covered valley the run is a flat cat-track where snowboarders unclip a foot and skiers poll and skate to try and gain the momentum they wish they han’t lost! There are two options to end this run, a chair on the left called Lombards which takes you to Signal De L’Homme point above the Auris En Oisans area, and further on the Alpauris chair aka ‘Scare chair’ which takes you back to the Les Bergers area of Alpe D’Huez.

Snow conditions over most of mountain are excellent, dry and soft snow off-piste and machine packed powder on. The forecast for the rest of the week is bright and mostly settled weather with wind increasing until Thursday then dying away towards the weekend. Maximum daytime temperatures range between -8 and -14 degrees with the potential at night to go as low as -25, so remember those layers!