Yee Gan O.
Yelp
My sister and I skied in Alpe d'Huez many years ago and we were very pleased to return there with ski friends this year
Marketed as the Island in the Sun due to its south-facing aspect, my vivid tan confirms that when the sun comes out, you will be enjoying warm sunshine. However, later in the season, it can get slushy on the lower runs in the afternoon
Alpe d'Huez's main asset are its slopes. There's enough to keep to keep the vast majority of skiers of all abilities occupied for a week. The slopes are well laid out with a wealth of green slopes at the base of the main village bowl, allowing beginners to get their confidence up in those early ski weeks near to home.
However, for those who fancy more of a challenge, there's the formidable Tunnel run. Yes, you ski through a long tunnel to emerge onto a ledge with a vertigo-inducing drop on one side encouraging you to make the turn before you drop off the side of the mountain! The other famous run in resort is the Sarenne, which is the longest run in the world at 16km. It's marked as a black run on the piste map but you can miss out the steepest part of the run at the beginning and the rest of the run is really mo more than a red run by gradient
One other feature in the resort is the chairlift taking skiers over from the main Alpe d'Huez ski area over to the Auris ski area. Nicknamed the Scare Chair by locals, it leads under a concrete tunnel which takes you under the main runway for the airport before diving over a precipitous edge into the Sarenne Gorge before climbing up the other side. With runs leading to satellite villages like Montfrais (powder runs galore), Oz (no sign of the wizard!), Vaujany and the original town of Huez, you can put the travel miles in too
We found some fun snow parks and boarder cross courses to have fun in
The village is especially well equipped with off-slope activities. There's an outdoor swimming pool, an ice sakting rink (which turns into an ice go karting track on some evenings), a sports centre with indoor swimming pool, a tobaggan slope and an ice driving circuit. There's also night skiing on Thursday evenings when the Signal slopes are floodlit and stay open late
The prices at the mountain restaurants were reasonable and we found some nice food on the slopes
This is a fantastic resort, which I can highly recommend