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Trip Reports: Oz en Oisans and Les Deux Alpes

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I got a lot of help organising both ski weeks this year, so I said I would post trip reports for anyone doing searches in future. I spent the week after Christmas in Oz en Oisans (linked to Alpes d'Huez) in a self-catering apartment and the week following that in Les Deux Alpes in the UCPA.

Oz en Oisans

We chose Oz en Oisans as it was a cheaper alternative to Alpes d'Huez, while still providing easy access every morning to the whole domain. We were able to find a self-catering apartment suitable for 6 people for around 600euro for that week, located perfectly between the two lifts giving access to the domain, so we were pretty happy with that. The village was very picturesque I thought and when I arrived at Alpes d'Huez I was kind of happier we were somewhere else, as the latter is a bit too commercial and sterile going on first impressions imo.

Access was something of a nightmare due to the great snowfall that had taken place just before we arrived. I made the error of getting a link with Bensbus from the airport to Rochetaillée, as it was indicated that you could get a public bus/taxi from here – due to the horrible conditions, I arrived far too late for public buses to be running and was lucky enough to be able to share a taxi with a lovely Scottish family. The whole thing was pretty stressful and was something I'd try to avoid in future. Bensbus is normally a great service, but I really wouldn't recommend the hassle of getting a connecting bus/taxi unless you can afford the taxi easily enough (30-40euro). A friend of mine got a direct bus from the Grenoble train station to Oz en Oisans and this is definitely what I would be doing in future, as you just need to get the connecting navette from the airport to the train station first. A lot less hassle and she arrived the first out of all our group (the others were coming by car). Transaltitude run the public bus and it's a good bit cheaper too if I remember correctly.

Once arrived, skiing was very pleasant due to the snowfall – the people skiing the week before us had had a particularly awful week, so we ended up being quite lucky. I took classes with the local ESF as it was only my second week of skiing and I found both instructors I had to be very pleasant, although class sizes were rather large (10 people or so, which isn't conductive to learning much if there's a difference in skill levels within the group). Both instructors were teaching primarily in English for anyone worrying about that – the second had a few difficulties, but it was more amusing than anything else and everyone enjoyed his teaching. In the future I'd probably take private lessons instead, as I found these to be much more beneficial (also took private lessons twice with one of my instructors).

Access to the Grande Domaine was simple and there was a wide variety of slopes available. As I was still only something of a beginner, I didn't get to benefit from everything but I did enjoy a number of slopes, particularly the reds returning in the direction of Oz (Poutran 1, I believe) in the beginning of the week (less icy) and the Sarenne was also very enjoyable. I wasn't a huge fan of the big bowl in Alpes d'Huez proper as it was filled with people and the slopes were in bits quite quickly. If I was to return again I'd probably spend more time exploring the side of Auris en Oisans and the Glacier des Rousses as these seemed quite interesting. My friends were quite advanced and explored more of the domain, but they seemed a bit disappointed with it in the end, saying it didn't provide as much variety as they expected. I can't really comment on that myself, but I probably would be more inclined to try out other resorts before returning, just as I didn't feel a huge attachment to the place. At the beginning of the week, you couldn't return to Oz by ski due to the lack of snow, but the slopes eventually opened up later in the week (and earlier many people ignored the warnings). Once open the return home was quite icy and I saw the pisteurs taking someone away during the period when the runs were closed, indicating that it was still quite dangerous (although I just found it to be icy).

Regarding nightlife opportunities (for fellow students and others) my first week was more ski-orientated due to the group of friends that I was skiing with. As such, the lack of choice in going out destinations in Oz en Oisans didn't pose a problem as we ended up amusing ourselves in the apartment most nights. I do believe there is a Grotte du Yeti (nightclub) in the village for those who are seeking a night out, but going on my previous experience of that particular chain, I wouldn't be expecting anything phenomenal! We did end up going out for crepes and drinks some evenings, which was pretty expensive despite being in a smaller resort, so we didn't really make a habit of it.

Other things to note…rented my skis with skimium and had no particular problems, although I did return my skis as I didn't really like them and they had no problem giving me a better pair, which was nice. There's one shop where you buy everything called Sherpa, which is ironically a play on the words "pas cher" meaning "not expensive". As you might imagine, the name wasn't entirely appropriate. It had an alright selection, but the lads had happily picked up goods in Grenoble on the way, which saved us a lot of money. The shop also lacked certain basics like chicken fillets.

In summary, a pleasant week that helped my skiing a lot due to the combination of group and private lessons. My instructor knew my problems already from the group lessons, so the private lessons were especially beneficial. Nice village, nicer than Alpes d'Huez itself I would say, but naturally more limited in many senses. Good selection of slopes too, but I wouldn't really be rushing back all the same.
snow report
 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Oh I forgot to add that I injured myself in a fall during the first week in Oz, cutting my face and hurting my ribs. The cut needed stitches, which I got quickly in the medical centre in Alpes d'Huez. I was surprised at the speed until I saw the bill of 275€ for the 5 stitches…the centre didn't accept any form of insurance or the like as payment, so it made quite a dent in my budget. Something perhaps to be aware of and remember that insurance definitely is necessary…very happy that I'll be able to claim that back now that I'm home. Had to take it easy over the next few days, and my ribs were in a good bit of pain, but was fine other than that.
ski holidays
 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Les Deux Alpes

Second week was spent with a different group of friends in Les Deux Alpes, with the UCPA, booked through action outdoors. Cost us about 400 for the week each (group student deal!), including ski passes, food, accommodation and lessons, so it was a really excellent deal (especially since flights were cheap that week). Action Outdoors were a bit difficult to get various things organised with and I had to have several email back-and-forths with them over various queries, but the mild hassle is worth it for the excellent prices, and they were very pleasant to deal with as a whole.

I got a lift from Oz to Bourg d'Oisans with my friends, where we said our goodbyes and I waited for a bus that should theoretically appear and take me to Les Deux Alpes. Appear it did, surprisingly enough, and the bus driver didn't seem to want to be paid for the trip, so that was a happy beginning! Everyone else arrived by Bens Bus and despite getting off on the wrong stop, everything seemed to run smoothly (although I believe there was a bit of a delay).

UCPA didn't allow us to check in until 6, so we happily went and had a meal, and places seemed decently priced with pleasant food. Check-in was something of a disaster as the UCPA insisted it hadn't received room lists from Action Outdoors, so we were all split up. After a bit of back and forth, we were able to talk our way into getting put back together, although some people still ended up being split off from the group. It was a bit haphazard and quite stressful, but not the biggest problem at the end of the day. It's useful to have someone with you who speaks French as this helped me get things changed about, although the receptionists did speak pretty good English too. There was a big army group and a few lads' trips from Wales and Ireland there at the same time, causing a few people to note the distinct lack of women about the place. Not really a problem for me, but it did become a source of amusement, as it seemed to be reflected around the whole resort that week!

UCPA provided dinner that evening and I'd read that the food provided was of high quality, and we were not disappointed! Large selection, self-service, you can return for as much as you'd like – it was excellent. This continued throughout the week, although I think there was one dinner menu I decided to skip out on with a friend as I wasn't too tempted. Breakfast and a packed lunch are also provided, but you can return for a hot lunch if you wish. We only availed of this once (late start that day) and it was excellent. In summary, food there is excellent, and some people were remarking that they were almost trying to spend money by the end of the trip as we had little reason to spend money elsewhere.

Regarding the actual conditions, snow hadn't fallen since the horrible transfer day on the previous week when I first arrived, so slopes near the resort itself looked horrible. We took a friend on one of the beginner slopes near the station and there were grass and pebbles peaking through the snow, so we decided to go higher. During the week, we saw one unfortunate group on the diable run home, under the chairlift, surrounded by grass and knew that we'd be returning by lift every evening that week. However, once you got higher, conditions got very enjoyable!

We started off by skiing on the Cretes side of things in order to try and teach our beginner friend a bit, and this was quite enjoyable for everyone involved, although the slopes became a bit simple after a while. Later that day, a friend of ours dropped his baton under the Super Diable chairlift, so a group of us decided to take the black down in order to retrieve it, which was excellent fun. Later that week, the Super Diable black got quite icy and groups of people in the nearby restaurant (with perfect vantage) treated it as something of a spectator sport as they watched people fall down its entirety (something that happened quite a bit).

We weren't sure what to expect of lessons. There were 5 levels available (beginner, intermediate, mastery, confirmed and then perfection or something like that). Since most my friends were taking the confirmed group lessons, they convinced me to join them, which seemed a bit of a push since it was the level above 'mastery'. Thankfully, we had an absolutely wonderful instructor called Olivier who took a fairly pleasant pace, and I didn't really have a problem keeping up with everyone (although my technique left something to be desired). At that level, it was more so guiding than anything else, with Olivier asking us what we wanted do ourselves. It was a large enough group (around 10, with 8 of us knowing each other). We spent most of our time on the glacier or doing reds, with the occasional black, bits of off-piste and some time in the snow park, which was perfect for us! Another friend took the complete beginner lessons and found them good, but was very tired at the end of it. Another three friends of ours were in a smaller group of intermediates as they had only skied once before and they found the week beneficial as well, as they spent a lot of time working on their technique on easier blues and reds. Overall, lessons seemed to be of good quality, and the larger group didn't hinder us as the focus was less on technique and more on guiding at this point.

The glacier at Les Deux Alpes was fantastic, an absolutely beautiful experience, with the Signal slopes being especially beautiful and enjoyable. The snow park was very cool and in better condition compared to the one in Alpes d'Huez, so that was really interesting as regards trying out jumps and the like. I think my favourite runs were perhaps Fée 3/4/5 which we did on our second last day. I've never skied faster in my life! Our instructor brought us to a section where we'd pick up speed, scaring us a bit when he told us his own young daughter had reached around 120km/hr on that particular section. I'm not really sure whether it was due to me being at a better level than the week before, but I really loved the skiing in Les Deux Alpes in comparison to Alpes d'Huez, despite it seeming to have a smaller selection of things to do. I'd love to go back and do the Bellecombes black which was closed that week and see the Diable runs while they were open.

We spent one day in Alpes d'Huez as my friends wanted to experience it themselves, splashing out on the helicopter transfer over, which was a very cool experience for a fair price (70 euro). Didn't do anything of note myself as one of our friends had a problem with her leg, so only got to ski the Sarenne before going to spend time with her, but it was a very pleasant day and I'd definitely recommend it as an experience. We did this on a Wednesday as lessons don't run on Wednedays (they run Monday and Tuesday in the morning, Thursday and Friday in the evening).

Final day of skiing had very poor visibility so we packed it in quite early, although Olivier encouraged us to do a few reds before this, which we were happy to have done. Overall, it was an excellent week of skiing, with lots of different things to do and excellent guiding on the part of the instructor.

Regarding nightlife, L2A does have more of a selection, although they tend to get busier a bit later than people would be used to. Smithys and Avalanche are probably where we spent most of our nights, since the local Grotte du Yeti wasn't really doing it for us. Skip the ski jacket and you can sneak into Avalanche without paying the coat fee if you're clever. The Red Frog provides a good place to pop into before heading out into the resort itself, although I wouldn't spend too long there!

A few places to recommend: crepes a gogo do lovely crepes, despite the tacky exterior! And it's lovely on the inside. The staff were a mixture of very pleasant and a bit distant, but the food was excellent and fairly reasonable for a ski resort! We went out for dinner two nights, once just me and a friend, and another as a group…both to the same place, Le Passe Montagne, which we thought was excellent and very reasonably priced. You can get all the classic mountain food there and everyone enjoyed it a lot!

In summary, really enjoyed L2A due to the wonderful skiing and the excellent UCPA. Considering going there next year on a season, but the town seemed a little bit dead despite the places mentioned above, and I'm wondering if I'll be annoyed to have restricted myself to a place with relatively few slopes in comparison to other larger areas. UCPA is an excellent deal for students and others on a budget, fantastic initiative and I'd recommend it wholeheartedly. The lessons are also definitely worth a go too, as the instructors were lovely and very relaxed!
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