Skiing & Snowboarding in Alpe d’Huez

Alpe d’Huez is where French freestyle skier Thomas Krief cut his teeth. And, testament to the quality of his home training ground, he took bronze at the 2013 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships.

The Skiing and Snowboarding

The Alpe d’Huez Grand Domaine links 7 resorts and a total of 250 km of pisted runs. The terrain lends itself well to improving your skiing over the course of your holiday. There’s a roughly equal split of beginner, intermediate and advanced runs and the higher you climb, the steeper and more technical the terrain becomes. The resort sits in the shadows of the imposing Pic Blanc, though the 3,300 m summit is not visible from the village. As a result, the sheer scale of the resort comes as a surprise as you work your way up to the top of the lift system. Conveniently for beginners, the green and blue runs are concentrated near the village where the gradient is shallower, whereas the reds and blacks are mainly higher up.

The best skiers will appreciate the black slopes taking the cable car to the Pic Blanc or Marmotte III. Don’t miss the 13 km Sarenne piste, the longest black run in the French Alps. Sarenne offers something for everyone. The length itself offers an endurance trial while more advanced skiers can opt to hit up the mogul field. Many people consider Sarenne more of a red than a black, so intermediate skiers can get a good challenge here too. The views from the top are spectacular.

Le Tunnel is much steeper, more direct black run from the top of the resort. Emerging from a tight couloir that gives the run its name, you’re faced with one of the most challenging black runs in the Alps. Not for the faint hearted.

Beginners will be delighted to find some of the best nursery slopes in the Alps. There are 42 green runs across the Grand Domaine area and a concentration of 15 or so green runs accessible from 2 draglifts and a chair lift right at the snowline.

Intermediates will enjoy striking out across the Domaine covering huge distances in a day. You could have lunch in a different resort every day of the week. For the best of the red runs, head across to Oz-en-Oisans and Vaujany, and when the snow is good low down, don’t miss the run down to Villard Reculas.

Off-Piste Skiing

Alpe d’Huez isn’t as renowned for its off-piste skiing as Chamonix, Sainte Foy or La Grave, but the steep, high terrain and huge vertical drop means there’s plenty for powder hounds to relish. Don’t miss the epic Grand Sablat from the Pic Blanc, the steep and technical Les Cheminées de Macle or La combe du Loup, an Alpe d’Huez classic. It goes without saying that you need experience off-piste and full avalanche kit when tackling these runs. To stay safe, the best thing to do is employ a qualified guide.

Alpe d’Huez Snowpark

For freestyle skiers and snowboarders, Alpe d’Huez has an excellent snow park that is split into a beginners and advanced section making it accessible to all. 21 hectares of hip jumps, spines, table tops and rails provide enough to keep even experts entertained for a full day.