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Resort: Vaujany
Country: France
Domain: Grandes Rousses (Alpe d'Huez)
Author: Paul-B
Date: 19-23 Dec 2009
Our holiday: Group of 4 experienced skiers and 2 boarders.
Website : http://www.vaujany.com
Basics : Directions and travel as per Alpe d'Huez, except using a different road from the valley up to resort. We drove down from Calais, but it's possible to arrange transfers from Grenoble using coach+prearranged taxi.
Lift system : The Vaujany cable car links in two sections into the Alpe d'Huez system.
The terrain : The main village does not have any nursery slope, but the local area can be reached by gondola, which also links into the main system via chairlift. See Alpe d'Huez reports for information on the larger ski area. At this time of year it's necessary to get a pass which covers the entire area, otherwise the skiing would be very limited.
The snow : Variable. We had one day of good weather, then high winds and rain/snow for our short trip. I hit a hidden rock on the Couloir blue run on the first day, went over the front, and broke my shoulder, so my personal experience was very limited! Although the ski conditions were good on the first day (which was Christmas week), only about 1/2 of the overall area was open, and it wasn't possible to ski down to the lift in Enversin which would normally take you back to the village, so it was necessary to descend via the lifts. (Recommend the Medical Centre at the end of the Telecentre lift in AdH centre for prompt attention and good humour!).
Off-piste : n/a
The resort : Very charming and sensitively developed village with modern apartments and a neat escalator system to make getting around the village easy. There is also plenty of parking, including free covered parking in resort. It is towards the end of the alpine road which has some steep sections before reaching the village itself, and not much traffic away from busy times. It was necessary for us to use snow chains on occasions to reach the resort. There is free wi-fi availability in resort, though this could not be reached from our accommodation. It can be reached from bars within the village, and there is also an indoor picnic area next to the tourist information hall, which has power sockets and good reception (as well as somewhere to wash you picnic stuff).
Food : We self-catered and did not eat out in restaurants, which looked expensive by our Sterling-clobbered standards, but no more so than elsewhere in French ski resorts.
Accommodation : We stayed at the Valmonts de Vaujany apartments booked through the operator www.snowtrex.co.uk. Reasonable costs, pretty well equipped, clean and comfortable though not enough seating in the lounge and no TV reception (even though TV supplied).
Costs: See Vaujany site for lift pass prices, the usual ski hire outfits have shops here, see snowtrex or residhotel for accommodation costs.
Conclusion: As a more picturesque place to stay within the AdH area it has an advantage over the main resort, however it's too far for beginners to travel to nursery slopes. You also need to be very careful about getting back over the lift system before the links close, so it would suit folks who are organised enough to get and have a good ski early on so you are back over towards Oz and Vaujany as the afternoon progresses. One one occasion we had to collect stranded members of our part from Oz by car, which takes about 20 mins each way: to to do round trip to AdH takes about an hour if the roads are clear. It's a nice place if you know what to expect and are prepared.
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