Mon, 10 April 2023
Minimum altitude: 1,910 meters
Distance: 22.3 km
Slope Aspect: South
Vertical Climbed: 603 meters (1,978 feet)
Vertical Descended: 605 meters
l'alpe d'Huez claims around 50km of pistes of various levels. The main cross country ski area is located betweeni 1900 to 2100 meters so is snow sure, well as snow sure as you get these days. It is possible to access the pistes from Allemond via the Eau d'Olle and Alpette lifts or from l'Alpe d'Huez via the Poutran piste. There is also cross country skiing at Auris and occassionally the track between Bourg d'Oisans and Allemond is pisted. At this altitude the skiing is breath taking in more ways than one.
The ski area is not part of Nordic France so only l'Alpe d'Huez ski passes are accepted.
Trip Report
After getting some intel I decided to do some last minute cross country at l'Alpe d'Huez. The conditions are excellent at altitude. I arrived at 10h30, which may seem late for spring but the overnight refreeze is pretty hard and the south facing slopes only begin to transform after 11am. Some of the steeper descents were a bit hairy to be honest. I started at l'Alpette at 2050 meters altitude. Conditions were quick. A pisteur informed me that they would not be preparing the trail again but the tracks would be open on self service. Snow is expected tomorrow. At the lac Besson I did a bit of crust skiing on silky smooth snow, much softer than the jarring diamond hard pistes. Then up to the DMC. I wasn't sure of the route over to the Poutran loops so had to hunt a bit. Very steep zig-zag down. The lower loop was a bit soft and I skied down towards l'Alpe d'Huez. On the way back up a herd of walkers were stamping around on the ski pistes and didn't see any issue with it despite a foot path being available to descend.
The upper Poutran loop was excellent, snow just perfect at 11h30. Safe for descending but hard enough for fast skiing. The climb back to the DMC was tough going but I noticed that it was possible to shunt the last section of climb and rejoin the lake loop directly. It was a bit of a haul back over to l'Alpette as I'd not had breakfast.
Very hard on piste at 10h30, silky smooth on the crust; transformed on sun facing slopes at 12h30 but still ok on other slopes at altitude (Poutran).
