ALPE D’HUEZ  (GRANDES ROUSSES)

Resort Overview
The snowsports ‘Island in the Sun’, floating high above the sea of clouds on the Grandes Rousses Massif in the Oisans region of Isère [France].

Introduction
The French national weather service records an average of 300 sunny days per annum in Alpe d’Huez: with an average of seven and a half hours of sunshine per day in December, stretching to eleven hours per day in April.
Centred on a glacial peak with high-altitude slopes, this privileged climate results in snowsports’ consummate combination of vibrant blue skies, perfect visibility and snow-sure conditions; often for the majority of the winter season.

Character
This is the biggest and most important ski area in the Isère département: consisting of a large modern resort surrounded by five small traditional villages linked into the core ski domain. The area primarily appeals to, and is ideally suited to, beginners to good intermediates; but, with the huge variety of accessible terrain, there’s plenty here to keep all abilities content.

Alpe d’Huez is a sprawling town with a substantial year-round population and strong commercial links with the Ile-de-France region around Paris (less than five hours away by car), so its infrastructure is extensive and its ambiance vibrant and cosmopolitan. It offers a wide range of accommodation, a good selection of shops and a plethora of bars and restaurants. The excellent municipal sports and leisure facilities can be accessed free-of-charge by all holders of a current full-area ‘VisAlp’ lift pass, and the resort has plenty of attractions and distractions for non-skiing visitors, making this an excellent resort choice for families and mixed-ability groups.

Satellite Station Villages
As well as the buzzing main resort, there are also five more tranquil satellite-station villages: Auris-en-Oisans, Huez, Villard-Reculas, Oz-en-Oisans and Vaujany. Spread out around the base of the Grandes Rousses Massif, these offer a more laid-back holiday experience, where the pace of life is slower and the welcome is warm and homely. All are lift-linked into the core ski area, and all have home-run pistes allowing for end-of-day descents back to the heart of your chosen village (although a final short gondola ride is required to reach Vaujany).

Huez, Villard-Reculas and Vaujany offer the most authentic Oisans mountain-village atmosphere and surroundings; the latter being quite a classy little micro-resort in its own right, with fast modern cable cars linking directly into the upper Alpe d’Huez ski area almost as quickly as the main resort’s lifts.