Snow Activities - Vaujany, Alpe d'Huez, French Alps.

Alpe d’Huez, Isere, Dauphiné Alps, France

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What makes a world class skiing resort?

Simple - there is great skiing for EVERYONE.
With more than 250kms of pistes, a vast off-piste area, our friendly ski leaders, a great ski school, fantastic private tuition and great mountain guides, there is no level of skiing we can’t satisfy. Find your level below and see what we mean...

Expert Skiers
With uninterrupted service, next to no queues and fast lifts, it takes little more than 30 minutes from getting on the superb Vaujany 160-man cable car at 1300m before you step out ‘on top of the world’ on the Pic Blanc Glacier at 3300m. The view is breathtaking (it is claimed on a clear day you can see a fifth of France!) and the options for challenging skiing plenty. The Sarenne and Chateau Noir, the longest black runs in Europe, offer wild unspoilt scenery and isolation. The famous ‘Tunnel’ which runs straight down the front face is very steep and always a challenge and together with Les Rousses and La Fare makes up part of the 2,200m Ski Peak Champagne Run, the greatest on-piste vertical descent linked into a lift system in the world!
The off-piste possibilities are vast and varied. For a sense of remote mountain wilderness try the Glacier du Grand Sablat or Combe du Loup. The descent to Vaujany via the awesome Pyramide and Couloir Perrin is always memorable with glacier seracs, turqoise ice fall and hidden bowls.

The Grand Rousses Domain at a glance...

Resort Height:
1300m (Vaujany) and 1400m (La Villette)

Ski Range:
3300m-1100m (including four 2000m+ descents)

Ski Area:
10.000 hectares of wide open mountains

Pistes:
120 Alpine runs (250kms)
38 green runs
32 blue runs
34 red runs
16 black runs

Bonus:
The Sarenne – at 16kms the WORLDS LONGEST PISTED RUN
8000m Everest Challenge
The Ski Peak Champagen Run

Lifts:
85 ski lifts (cable cars, gondolas, chair lifts and ski drags)
900+ snow canons

Other:
2 snowparks, 1 boarder cross, protected areas for novice skiers, 1 ice cave at 2700m,
50 kms of cross-country tracks and 30kms of hiking trails.

And an average of 300 SUNSHINE DAYS a year!

Piste Map

Intermediate Skiers
The vast ski area of Alpe d'Huez strikes the perfect balance for intermediates with steep technique-testing runs and long sweeping wide pistes through stunning mountain scenery. The signal de l'Homme at the far side of the Sarenne Gorge offers open slopes with good gradients. The slopes above Villard-Reculas are also popular and the descents in the upper part of the Alpe d'Huez bowl are plentiful. The cruise down the Chamois from 2,700m to Oz Station via the Poutran can be a challenge, or for a true sense of achievement try the Sarenne, which is perhaps only graded black due to its length and isolation. You’ll be able to claim you’ve done the longest run in the world – not bad for ‘intermediate’ eh?
Another of our recommendations is the descent from the Dome des Petites Rousses (2,800m) down to Enversin (1,100m) via Les Rousses and La Fare. L'Alpette and Lievre Blanc are also interesting.
Our Ski Peak Ski Leaders are on stand-by 5 mornings to offer free, fabulous days out for the intermediate skier. Join them for a whole week and you’ll ski the same runs rarely and probably just about cover every blue and red there is!

Beginners
We love Montfrais! Perhaps because this is where many of us learned to ski? For beginners there is no better place than Vaujany’s own intimate ski area (2050m – 1650m) for gentle blues and greens, cosy mountain restaurants, hot chocolate pit stops and post genepi bravado red pistes. Without skiing back down to La Villette, the NEW EXTENDED chair (no more drag!) on the scenic slopes above Vaujany link you back up with the chair lift to Alpette where there are two mountain restaurants. For those who want to branch out you can use the lift system to access the substantial wide beginner slopes around Alpe d'Huez. At the end of the day cruise down a gorgeous blue and you’re back to La Villette.

Non Skiers
Non skiers are well catered for in Vaujany. Try a guided snow walk on raquettes and later in the season a tramp through verdant flower filled meadows on the extensive network of summer walking tracks. Visit the museum in the tourist office or the display of local flora and fauna. There is also the outdoor ice skating rink and the well equipped sports centre with its 25m swimming pool, gym, sauna and jacuzzi.

Pieton (walker) Passes for the week are great value and include access to the excellent swimming pool. Get one of these and you too can enjoy the stunning views of Mont Blanc at 3300m or you can jump on the cable car to the nearby mountain restaurants and enjoy lunch with the family. Day tickets are also available.Alternatively when in Vaujany do as the French do and linger over a lengthy lunch at one of the excellent restaurants in the village.
For a memorable day out there are scenic plane rides from Alpe d'Huez where you can soar over the mountain ridges and swoop through the deep valleys.

New for 2010

Ours is a constantly evolving resort where not a season goes past without some sort of improvement. Three we particularly like new for this season are:

1. Montfrais – La Fare link.
This was not cheap to make apparently, but the 200m extended piste from the top of the Montfrais Chair across the Chalet piste and onto La fare is well worth it! It is great to be able to whizz down from the top of Montfrais to Enversin below Vaujany and has given the experienced skier a great new option locally.

2. The new modernised first section of the Marmotte chair.
Wow, what a difference! You now shoot back up out of Alpe d’Huez on a fast, 6 seater Poma chair lift with weather protective shields - luxury!

Resort Map

3. The new Les Ancolies blue 1,8km piste.
The new Les Ancolies blue 1,8km piste linking the arrival of the Marmotte lift at 2300m to the arrival of the first stage of the DMC 2100m.
There is always something going on up there above us - so for 2011, watch this space!

Staying in touch with Ski Peak

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Our guests say...
“We have thoroughly enjoyed our week. The food was outstanding and well balanced menu for all dinners. All leaders very well informed about the area and made the ski leading most interesting”.
Chris and Pamela Hutt,
The Rissiou,
February 2009.

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