Tip-top conditions now after the recent epic snowfall

The downside to the huge snowfall was the very high winds that accompanied it. Winds were gusting at around 60mph up high and was even windy at the very lowest of elevations of the Grande Domaine ski area. These winds led to widespread lift disruption and on Monday the whole area ground to a halt with virtually every lift in resort being closed in the afternoon, only a couple of beginners slopes “magic carpets” managed to stay open.

These winds have pretty much dropped off now and look to further recede over the next few days.

The snow clouds cleared overnight and we had a bit of sunshine today which in the fresh conditions was truly wonderful, especially this morning when it was really nice, however a cloud cover increased at altitude as the day went on.

Barometric pressure currently stands at around 1020mb and it look set to remain at this level for the next few days and with the isobars widening the winds definitely look set to drop right off.

An approaching Atlantic weather front looks like arriving here on Sunday and with it may well come more fresh snowfall, there’s a potential of a further 30/40cm on Sunday afternoon and evening, but that’s a little way off yet.

The recent snowfall has obviously given the pisteurs of SATASKI a heck of a lot of work to do in order to secure the whole area given the depths of fresh snow throughout. By lunchtime today (Wednesday) most of the lifts and pistes were back in operation (the Sarenne opened at around 1pm today).

Many of the higher pistes (Cristaux, Tunnel, Glacier, etc) have continued to be worked upon but everything should be back to normal by Thursday lunchtime.

After the snowfall avalanche risk immediately rose to 4 – HIGH but thankfully that’s now dropped back to 3 – CONSIDERABLE, but that’s still pretty high so be careful up there. Be particularly careful if you are thinking of heading off piste over the next few whilst everything settles down a bit after the recent dumps. If you have any concerns simply seek the advice of the nearest SATA “liftie”, ski instructor or mountain rescue guys (black and orange outfits), BE CAREFUL.

By lunchtime today (Wednesday) 62 of the lifts in the Grande Domaine ski area were in operation (out of 69) and these are currently serving 111 (out of 116) pistes.

These pistes are:

• Green – 40/40
• Blue 29/29
• Red 29/31
• Black 13/16

After the snowfall of the past few days, snow cover now stands at:

• Alpe d’Huez resort 1850 metres – 160cm
• PicBlanc 3300 metres – 270cm
• Auris village 1650 metres – 80cm
• Auris signal 2176 metres – 120cm
• Villard village 1500 metres – 80cm
• Vaujany village 1250 metres – 45cm
• Oz village 1350 metres – 90cm
• Montfrais 1650 metres – 130cm
• Dome des Rousses 2800 metres – 145cm

Off-piste depths now stand at super impressive:

• 2500 metres North facing – 250cm
• 2500 metres South facing – 170cm
• 1500 metres North facing – 100cm
• 1500 metres South facing – 80cm

Snow cover extends down to around 900 metres which is way below the level of even the very lowest pistes in resort (around 1400 metres), so everything really does have great snow cover now.

There are currently 40km of cross country ski trails open (out of 50km) and 39km of walking trails (out of 42km), however their preparation works do tend to go on hold a bit after big snowfall as the SATA team look to secure the steeper skiable areas as an obvious priority, but this should return to normal by Friday.

Now that the school holidays are well and truly finished it’s much quieter in resort now and this is reflected on the pistes and in the lift queues, which are nice and short now.

Morning temperatures in resort are around 0degC and today rose to around +5degC, but afternoon temperatures over the weekend look set to climb to around +8/9degC and it looks set to be gloriously sunny which will be fantastic.

Obviously after the recent snowfall the whole ski area is in fantastic condition and the next few days are set to be the best of the season so far, and with such good snow depths there really is no need to hunt around for the best of the snow, so just get out there and really enjoy all that Alpe d’Huez and the surrounding ski area has to offer.

The fresh snow and its whooping depths really should ensure cracking conditions right through to the end of the season now (23rd April 2107).