Alpe d'Huez Snow Report: 16th December 2015
21 pistes open currently as we wait for more snow
With high pressure dominating the whole of the Southern Alps for the last week or so the current weather is very settled, with no recent snow fall to report and none in the forecast for the next few days. The last reportable snow fall was on the 5th December.
Indeed temperature in town today is a balmy 8C with temperatures of 0°C up on the mountain and its gloriously sunny, with very light cloud cover and light winds (5kph), so make sure you put on sun cream and wear your sunglasses. It genuinely is a lovely day.
There are currently 21 runs open in resort being served by 14 lifts, mainly a mix of greens, blues and reds with the odd black run. These runs are all very well linked and offer great continuity of skiing. Snow cover on the upper slopes is 60cm and the lower slopes currently have 25cm of hard packed snow.
When temperatures allow the snow cannons are in operation, but given the warm temperatures their use has been somewhat limited to date, that said, the pistes that are open really are in fantastic condition and real kudos must be given to Sataski and their team of intrepid pisteurs, the piste condition given the limited depth of snow really is to their credit.
The Sarenne black run is still fully open and is accessed from the Marmottes3 lift (from Les Bergers) and is in very good condition, its just a bit icy on the bottom section in the valley. There’s no access to the Sarenne from the Pic Blanc lift which is not operating at the moment. The black runs at the top of the Pic Blanc (Chateau Noir/Tunnel/Glacier) are currently closed.
Avalanche risk is very low at the moment, and looks set to stay that way.
The whole of the Auris section is currently closed and the Auris “scare chair” is operating only to bring skiers back up from the valley at the end of the Sarenne black run.
From the top of the Signal the runs down to Villard are in pretty good condition and both Vaujany and Oz are accessible on well-groomed hard packed pistes, with only the odd icy patch to be aware of (north facing shady bits).
Whilst not the most demanding of pistes the best conditions without doubt are to found on the DMC 2700m (the top end of town), in particular the blue run “Couloir” is in great condition and offers fantastic views of town as you ski down past the Lake. Around town both the “yoghurt pots” and the L’Eclose chair lift are fully operational to make around town transit really easy.
The snowparks in both Vaujany (Mont Frais) and Alpe d’Huez (DMC) aren't open at the moment due to a lack of snow.
The beginners slopes of the DMC and the RifNel are open and in lovely condition. I personally found the lower slopes around Les Bergers (Marmottes1 lift) a bit patchier than their DMC counterparts. At the top of the Mamottes1 lift La Folie Douce bar/restaurant is beginning to get into full swing at around 3pm in the afternoon, the student groups from Marjons (Plymouth) and BathSpa certainly seem to have been enjoying it!
As previously reported resort is still fairly quiet and lift queues really are very short, on two occasions yesterday I took the DMC gondola car on my own – it was like being a millionaire with my own gondola car!!!
The longer term weather forecast is for falling temperatures after the weekend with the prospect of some fresh sow fall at the weekend/early next week. This weekend sees the “Trophee Andros” ice racing series in town, with races on both Friday and Saturday.
