by Few resorts in the Alps match Alpe d’Huez for its suitability for skiers and snowboarders at both ends of the skill graph, as well as in the middle. The terrain here is as suitable for experts as it is for beginners, and confident intermediates will have a ball.
Alpe d’Huez has grown tremendously since Polish engineer Jean Pomagalski installed the first traction lift in France here in the 1930s, powered by a Perkins Engine from an American World War I truck. Pomagalski founded the international lift company Poma, and Alpe d’Huez now has the fifth largest ski area in France with 250km of slopes that include the slopes of the outlying villages of Auris, Villard Reculas, Oz en Oisans and Vaujany.
Stay on track with the essential facts from the resort below, and scroll down for our insider’s guide to a day on the piste, expert ratings and advice. For more Alpe d’Huez inspiration, check out our guides to the resort’s best accommodation, restaurants and après ski.
In this guide:
Inside the resort
Alpe d’Huez has great pistes for all levels, a large 250km ski area and reliable snow cover. The slopes go from 1,135m up to a heady 3,330m, and the Sarenne glacier helps the resort at the Pic Blanc high point to ensure adequate snow cover for a long season that runs from late December to late April. Plus it’s easy to get to, as it’s a 90-minute drive southeast of Grenoble, the nearest airport.
The village is located at 1,860m on a sunny plateau above the valley town of Bourg d’Oisans, and over the years it has developed randomly, resulting in an architectural hotchpotch divided into eight small districts or quarters.
There is a strong campaign with financial incentives from the town council to restore some of the old buildings, but there is no denying that the village still has examples of the worst mountain excess of the 1960s – concrete blocks and A-frame buildings – and without it. an ordinary blanket of softened snow that hardly falls on ugly.
The best places to stay are at the top of town, near the main ski-access lifts at the Rond Point des Pistes, or in the Bergers ski-in/ski-out area, a chalet suburb in the eastern corner of the. resort close to nursery slopes and a couple of chairlifts to the center of the mountain. The slow lift that looks like a yogurt pot provides Télécentre people access to Rond Point from the lower quarter of the village; the Grandes Rousses gondola leaves two huge steps, also known as the DMC, from Rond Point to the center of the mountain.
Alternatively, there is a 10-person gondola from the lower quarter to Bergers. The Télévillage bucket lift connects it to the lower village of Huez. The latest Alp’ Express lift goes from the Vieil Alpe quarter (next to the tourist office) and the Bergers including a stop in the l’Eclose quarter.
There are plenty of other activities available in Alpe d’Huez, including ice driving, climbing (there is an indoor climbing wall), swimming (outdoor and indoor heated pools), skating (outdoor ice rink), dog sledding. , aerial activities such as paragliding, helicopter and airplane flights, and snowshoeing. The sports center offers more than 30 activities.
On the slopes
Alpe d’Huez is situated on a sunny plateau, with various slopes leading to the corners of this extensive ski area in all directions to the slopes of the linked villages of Auris, Villard Reculas, Oz en Oisans and Vaujany. The resort village is located at the foot of the dominant Pic Blanc, although the 3,330m summit itself is not visible from the village. As a result, the range and intensity of the higher slopes is surprising.
The summit of Pic Blanc is most accessible via the DMC two-stage jumbo gondola from the resort, also known as the Télépherique des Grandes Rousses, followed by a cable car. Pic Blanc is the starting point of the Sarenne run, which at 16km is the longest black run in the Alps. However, it is renowned for endurance rather than difficulty, as although it is far down, there are no particularly butterfly-inducing pitches and half of its long run is a smooth run down a riverside path through the valley of the same name.
Much scarier is Le Tunnel, a much more direct black run, also from the summit of Pic Blanc. After leaving the rock corridor that gives the run its name, one of the most forbidding black runs in the Alps begins – an often icy mogul pitch where a fall can result in a slide of 100m or worse. In addition to these black pistes, a short climb from the top of the Pic Blanc cable car gives access to some truly spectacular off-piste.
At the other end of the scale, Alpe d’Huez has some of the most extensive nursery slopes in the Alps. The two main beginner areas, at the Bergers end of the village and the slopes served by the first stage of the DMC gondola, are also accessible by traction lifts, chair lifts and a gondola (gondola/chair hybrid). such as the DMC. The two areas are linked by an easy piste, and a dozen green ranges offer a variety of terrain for beginners to progress until few other venues can match.
Between these two extremes, the ski area is also very suitable for strong intermediates who like the feeling of going somewhere every day, well beyond the often crowded central runs just above the resort . The linked resorts of Oz and Vaujany on one side of Alpe d’Huez, and Auris on the other, have impressive ski areas, and when the snow permits the runs down to the farming hamlet of Villard Reculas are some of the most pleasant in the country. region.
Alpe d’Huez also has a huge terrain park suitable for all abilities with a full range of jumps and obstacles as well as a cross-country ski course. The Vaujany ski area also has a smaller park better suited to beginners and intermediates.
Who should go?
Beginners will thrive here on some of the most extensive nursery slopes in the Alps, with plenty of opportunities to progress to more challenging terrain. The opportunity to ski to the linked resorts of Oz and Vaujany on one side of Alpe d’Huez, and Auris on the other, will please intermediates who like to rack up the miles and experts can find enough to challenge them too. And, everyone will be happy with the resort’s snow record and quick transfer time from Grenoble.
Know before you go
Essential information
-
British Embassy/Consulate: (ukinfrance.fco.gov.uk)
-
ambulance: dial 15
-
Police: dial 17
-
Fire (popiers): dial 18
-
Emergency services from a mobile phone for free: dial 112
-
Tourist office: See alpedhuez.com, the website of the Alpe d’Huez Tourist Board, for weather reports, lift status, webcams, traffic data and local event listings. Pick up maps, leaflets and other information from the office in the center of the resort’s main square.
The basics
-
Currency: Euro
-
Telephone code: from abroad, dial 00 33, then leave the zero at the beginning of the number.
-
Time difference: +1 hour
Local laws & etiquette
-
When greeting people, formal titles (Monsieur, Madame and Mademoiselle) are used much more in French than in English.
-
It takes years to master the laws of vouvoiement (which version of “you” to use). When in doubt – except when talking to children or animals – always use the formal form vous (second person plural) rather than the more casual tu.
-
When driving, it is mandatory to keep fluorescent bibs and a hazard triangle in the car in case of a breakdown. From 2021, it is also compulsory to have snow chains in your car or winter tires from the beginning of November until March.
