© Rob Wood
Recent snowfall brings great conditions to Alpe d'Huez
Fabulous conditions and thankfully much milder than last week
The “Beast from the East” has thankfully passed through now and temperatures have risen from last weeks’ Siberian lows of around -15ºC & -20ºC to around -3ºC. The upside to last week's cold weather was some great, and very welcome, fresh snowfall – around 50cm has fallen in resort over the past few days. We had snowfall on Wednesday night and again on Thursday into Friday.
Saturday was a largely snowy day until the clouds cleared late in the afternoon to give us a lovely sunny end to the day. Sunday started without a cloud in the sky and after the recent snowfall it really was one of the best days of the season up on the hill, however, it did cloud up as the afternoon went on, so the early bird really did catch the worm here today!
Last week was the last of the Parisian school holidays and it was surprisingly busy – resort seemed to be full of “75” number plated Paris zone registered cars and these all seemed to head out of resort yesterday – the road down the mountain was busy all day yesterday.
This week's weather looks fairly settled with some light snowfall, around 25cm may fall in total this week. As you would expect after the recent snowfall the avalanche risk has risen over the past few days. It currently stands at 3/5 across most of the ski area, with the only exceptions being the lower slopes in Auris and Villard Reculas where it remains at 2/5. Over the next couple of days, the risk should return down to 2 across the whole area but, in the meantime, be careful up on the hill.
After the recent good snow fall on-piste snow cover currently stands, impressively for March, at:
| Alpe d’Huez resort 1850m | 244cm |
| Pic Blanc 3300m | 375cm |
| Auris village 1650m | 120cm |
| Auris Signal 2176m | 130cm |
| Villard Reculas 1500m | 135cm |
| Vaujany 1250m | 110cm |
| Oz-en Oisans 1350m | 110cm |
| Montfrais 1650m | 150cm |
| Dome des Rousses 2800m | 250cm |
Off piste snow cover now stands at:
| Elevation | North | South |
| 2500m | 360cm | 310cm |
| 2000m | 235cm | 190cm |
| 1500m | 130cm | 80cm |
| 1000m | 25cm | 20cm |
Thanks to the recent snowfall off-piste conditions are now much improved and have a lovely soft top as opposed to the crunchy icy top surface that had been the case for the past couple of weeks, but obviously the avalanche risk has risen.
Snow cover still extends all the way down to around 900m, so every slope within the Grande Domain ski area has plenty of snow cover and thanks to recent snowfall the slopes really are in fabulous condition. The French school holidays are still ongoing for one final week, although the “peak” has now well and truly passed and thankfully the Parisian schools have finished their holidays now. This week, up to Saturday 10th March, only sees one zone on holiday so it will be much quieter in resort as the busy holiday period draws to a close.
We had the luxury today of every lift and piste being open, 69 lifts were serving 103 pistes across the Grande Domain ski area. Of these 103 pistes - 27 are green, 31 are blue, 28 are red and 17 are black. So there continues to be something for everybody with plenty of choice at all elevations, as has been the case all season thanks to the great snow cover.
A few of the runs here in the Grande Domaine continue to be recommended for “bon skieurs uniquement” – good skiers only, in the main because of their mogully terrain, these are the black runs Balcons, Tunnel and Balme here in Alpe d’Huez and Red run Dome over in Vaujany as well as Black runs Col de Cluy and Fuma in Auris. These warnings are in place for a reason – so please bear the warnings in mind – know your limits and don’t be a hero!
We continue to have 100% of the cross-country ski trails open, with 39km of lovely groomed trails open and they really are in great condition. In addition to these XC trails, there are 37km of walking trails open (out of 37km = 100%) and after the recent snowfall, these will be in great condition in a day or so. It often takes a couple of days for the pisteurs to fully prepare the trails after significant snowfall.
As spring fast approaches the days continue to stretch here now. With sunrise this morning at 07:09 and sunset at 18:25 – we get 11 hours and 16 minutes of daylight today.
This Wednesday sees the final ESF ski show for this season up at the Signal slope at the top end of town, getting underway at 19:00. A ski show/freestyle demonstration is followed by a torchlight descent and a great firework display and is well worth checking out if you are in resort this week.
