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Alpe d'Huez ski write up

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Well just got back from ADH, out there for a week and it was again amazing. Flew in 27/1/18 post small snowfall few days previously. Great snow coverage compared to how things were last year.


Sunday: Soft pistes, had a day generally blasting down empty pisted runs with bits of side piste for soft bumps.

Monday - Wednesday: Bluebird with cold nights and sunny afternoons made things start to become firm on piste and nice fast conditions in the mornings. Brilliant runs in the Montfrais area. Nice and empty and able to get some speed going. Decent length run to the bottom. La Fare also skied very well. Towards Wednesday PM soft, spring corn / sugar by mid afternoon making for some fun off Signal in down to Huez and Villard Reculas.

Thursday: ~20cm overnight. Bonded well with the wettish snow from the previous day made for hero powder with good base and no hard layer. Good ground coverage from snow throughout the season. Foggy / overcast in the AM, managed to get a full day of freshies around Auris. Lifted after lunch for an overall amazing day of skiing.

Friday: Clear morning, cool overnight. Amazing skiing in and around the top of the hill under the Glacier chair off the sides. Chilled last day, with lots of potential for still getting frest turns in.

Overall had some great skiing with varied conditions and routes. A lot of fun, terrain in the 20-35 degree range able to be scouted from below / lift with options for more challenging descents that I lacked a guide + gear for therefore passed on this time.

Large range of pisted runs to cater for all levels of skier. Offers good safe terrain for those wanting to practice on unpisted snow.

Small park with some decent sized kickers well maintained and a mix of rails. No half pipe.

Mostly uncrowded (although last week of Jan probably is everywhere).

Fresh baked goodies in the morning also makes for an amazing start to the morning.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Just out of cure@MoonfireSpam, what is the appeal of ADH over other stations? I've read lots of posts on various forums trashing the place. I'm honestly asking as we almost went there over Xmas this year, and would consider it in the future.
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 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?
Some bias comes that having been there twice now (both times last week of Jan outside of holiday season) we were blessed with 20cm+ days both times. I think a lot of the critism comes from the main ADH area, which I agree can get jammed up pretty bad and crowded, but I found enough stuff to do out of this area.

My own appeal came from there being decent lift accessible "off piste" (technically inter / side piste) with half to full days of getting fresh tracks in midweek. None of this stuff is say, Kicking Horse, Revelstoke or Chamonix gnarly, but then again a full day of easy fresh tracks in low risk, interesting enough terrain with no queue is it's own appeal. There are tree runs and small drops in the Vaujany / Montfrais region and open powder bowls around Auris and toward Huez and Villard Reculas.

There are more challenging lines off off Dome des Rousses, Pic Blanc and beyond that I did not try (but would if had more time in the area + a guide) and probably options for ski touring.

France wise, haven't really been anywhere else to compare it to apart from Chamonix when I was not nearly as strong a skier as I am now.
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Too steep for me ...
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I too have just returned from Alpe d'Huez the same week.
We had a great time and loved the skiing. For a ski holiday where anything can happen weather wise I thought the conditions were just about perfect.
We loved being able to ski over from Alpe d'Huez to Auris En Oisans do a few runs over there then back over and up Marmottes 1.
From there we would use the reds down to Oz En Oisans and up the gondola to L'Alpette. From there onto Montfraise. This gave you a great sense of distance travelled. We then would use various lifts/pistes to get back to Alpe d'Huez.
This was obviously mixed in on different days doing all the other runs except "The tunnel". Not up to that quite yet Very Happy

I would deffo return here but there are, for the time being far too many other resorts to visit.

Bars (among others)

Underground
O'Sharkeys
L'Etalon (try Edelweiss beer)
Lounge 21 (try Mont Blanc beer)
Smithy's (try Proper Job beer) Food amazing here too, but be careful, portions are huge.

Thanks for a great week Alpe d'Huez
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i've skied there 3 or 4 times. A good range of skiing. Very good resort for a mixed group of skiers including beginners. Some seriously very challenging slopes also and one or two that cause me trepidation. I learnt to ski there. Lovely skiing around Vaujany and Oz. Resort can suffer from the Sun due to being predominantly south facing. Last year Auris was green by Easter. Problems can be getting up to the peak from the main area due to (1) crowds (2) the lifts being closed by winds. I have felt on some occasions that the pisted runs aren't as well pisted as other resorts. It snot my favourite resort but its one I would go back to.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
It didn't float my boat when we did a trip there. I think there are better places too choose from the vast selection of European offerings out there. Each their own I suppose.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
alp dhuez is on my list of resorts to do, not because of the skiing, but because i want to go up the legendary tour de france road, the transfer from airport to resort would be the highlight of my week
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
compostcorner wrote:
alp dhuez is on my list of resorts to do, not because of the skiing, but because i want to go up the legendary tour de france road, the transfer from airport to resort would be the highlight of my week


Could be right Very Happy
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Planning something for next year / March, where would you hit up in Europe for untracked / uncrowded lift accessible off piste with fairly easy route finding / scoutable from below / above from lifts?
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@compostcorner,
Although we had a fantastic weeks skiing etc in Alpe d'Huez, the highlight of my trip was the bus trip up the mountain.
I have always thought that (clean) professional cyclists must be among the best athletes in the world and after that climb I was left in absolute awe of them. To ride 100k plus and then not just climb up Alpe d'Huez but to race up is breath taking, literally.

I doubt very much I would take on that climb in my Mazda CX5 never mind pedal power................

Best regards

DJ
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
The road up is great, but really not too steep; to put it in perspective my 9yo rode up it with me last summer with just a couple of stops to take in the scenery.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Downshift wrote:
The road up is great, but really not too steep; to put it in perspective my 9yo rode up it with me last summer with just a couple of stops to take in the scenery.


i"d get him in the sky cycling academy
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