Busy Ski Slopes for New Year Week

Hoping you all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to an excellent New Year?

I don’t know about you, but I always find this week a bit of a funny one. I never know what day it is or what meal we are about to enjoy - anything with turkey, right?! But it doesn’t matter in the mountains what day it is, it’s always a ski day!

And whilst the Brits might not be visiting in force this December, Alpe d'Huez is full to bursting - almost like a regular season. But we seem to have a LOT more Dutch, German and French skiers than in previous seasons. And it is really great to see the lifts moving, bars and restaurants open and the mountains alive with people again.

Snow Report
Well, this week has brought us a complete mix of weather conditions! First, Christmas Day saw a nice dusting of snow across Alpe d'Huez, with about 6cms topping the slopes up nicely. Then you might have seen our Dump Alert email that popped out on Monday this week as the snow forecast shot up to 30+ cms! Sadly, the temperature has also risen, so the anticipated snow has turned to rain in the lower resort levels.

Honestly, I’m not too sure about the conditions on the pistes right now as right now, as I write this, it’s sadly raining throughout the resort - finger’s crossed it’s snowing up higher! But, the freezing level is about 2800m, and the main resort is around 2225m, so most of the resort is being rained on. But the clouds are clearing tomorrow, so we can get out there and check on the snow conditions for ourselves!

Snow Forecast
Currently, the freezing level is 2500m, and it is set to rise to + 3000m from Thursday. BUT the sun is also making a reappearance from Thursday, so no more rain/snow. Hopefully, the skies will stay blue and sunny throughout the rest of the week and into the weekend. New Year’s Eve looks very mild at about 4℃, but with clear skies and no clouds.

Right now, on the forecast, the clouds are rolling back in from Sunday night/Monday morning and possibly bringing some snow with them. But air temperatures are staging well above freezing, so let’s hope either the temps drop or the snow *rain* doesn’t arrive.

Jen’s Top Tips

• Take a variety of layers and goggle lenses with you. The weather is swinging dramatically from overcast and white-outs early week to clear sunny and warm skies later in the week. As a result, you will want totally different clothing and gear with you.
• If you have a car in Alpe d'Huez, get out and clear it now! Don’t let the snow freeze overnight into ice, as it’s twice as difficult to remove.
• If you are heading out to celebrate New Year’s Eve - BOOK NOW! With bars and restaurants limited on space and how many people they can admit, you will find it impossible to get into places if you haven’t booked in advance.

Updates
If you head to the bottom of this page, you can see the day by day forecast of what to expect in your resort. But, we will also be updating this snow report page every Wednesday, so check back in with us next week to see how the pistes are doing and what you can expect from the snow forecast for the next 7 days.

We need you!
If you're in Alpe d'Huez this week, we want to see your images, especially videos, of what you've been up to. So when you post to Facebook or Instagram, tag us. Every week, we'll be posting our favourite and top videos here to share, along with our weekly resort snow report.

Bon Ski & we'll see you on the pistes!
Jen