snow – @darrens

It is that time of year again..

Alpe D’Huez is a resort based between 1250 / 3330meters. In the central French Western Alps, and forms part of the Isère region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.. and was year’s location for our 1st Snowboarding trip of 2018.

I’ll start off by saying, I really do love France so I’ve always wanted to hit the mountain in winter.. plus following our trip to Morzine last summer.. my mind was made up.

Morzine really convinced me to come back to France in the Winter

Now we had booked this trip before the MAMMOTH snowfall across Europe. We booked with Crystal Ski and got a great deal in the Bergers area of Alpe D’Huez, a board in board out location right next to the base lifts. Hotel Les Bergers was a decent Hotel, half board with excellent food. The location was the key point but I’d recommend staying here. We paid £800 each which included flights, transfer, lift pass and a half board hotel. Not too bad at all!

Map — Link the image for a downloadable piste map link

Let’s talk about the Mountain.. It’s huge. No, it’s on an epic scale. Considering this is a local lift pass.. I’ve been to resorts with an Area Lift pass which are smaller!

131 Pistes
250km/155miles of Piste
Highest point 3330m
41 Greens, 34 Blues, 40 Reds, 16 Blacks
2 Snow Parks
84 lifts (Gondola, Chair, Pomas, Cable Cars)
Cross Country Skiing (if that’s your thing) 50km

Obviously the first thing we did was go straight to the very top of Pic Blanc, 3330m.

The route down from Pic Blanc is via the famous Sarenne, a 16km Black Run. One of the world’s largest. Some would say it isn’t a true black as there are parts which become flat between cross overs but it’s pretty challenging as it can be icy and very narrow.

We hit as much of the mountain as we could. It’s near on impossible to cover every piste/untracked in 6 days but we tried. Mornings are best suited to the Signal de L’Homme over towards Auris en Oisans – grab the Alpauris chairlift. We had some much pow and some of the best of it was here.

Obviously we got to Alpe D’Huez in one of the worst snowfalls in the past 20 years. So most days were spent in low light, be prepared for such as some of the mountain when in the shade is difficult to ride. We opted for Oakley Prizm lenses which made things a lot easier..

Best runs on the mountain?

Sarenne
Cassini
Chateau Noir
Combe Charbonnaire
Olympique (some excellent pow to be had through the pistes)
Col du Cluy
Les Vermettes
Pré Rond (Yep a blue with mega Pow because of it’s position on the mountain
Chamois (excellent under the gondola)

To be honest I could have listed all the Red and Black runs, the resort was decent all round!

We did have some bluebird days.. Only 1.. maybe 1 and a half. Due to the stormy weather.. but when you get this much snow.. It’s worth it..

Yes – that’s a football pitch and the snow is nearly up to the cross bar…

All in all I would come back to Alpe D’Huez. A vast resort, immense snow and beautiful views in every direction.

Some of my favourite shots from the week;

If your hitting the mountain here or have any questions about Alpe D’Huez please get in touch!

@darrens_visuals

As ever all my shots are with GoPro Hero 6 and a couple even shot with my Samsung S8.. epic camera for a Mobile Phone!

Once a year it’s time… TIME TO GET IT DONE. And this was it, Bardo. Bardonecchia, Italy.

Nestled in Piedmont about an hour from Turin. I’d been here before, for my first ever snowboarding experience. This time I was returning with some friends who had never boarded..

After doing lots of travel in 2016 I decide to piece together the holiday myself.. Flights, apartment, lift passes, hire for the others, I arranged it all at a fraction of the cost to a tour operator. After toying with options and prices, it was all booked up, myself Baker, Pledge, and Gaz were ready to go..

Bardonecchia, Melezet, Jafferau.

A real all round gem of a resort, for all skill levels.

23 ski lifts
Over 100km of Runs (5 black, 18 red, 16 blue)
38km equipped with snow cannons
Snowpark
Snowtubing
Cross-country skiing
Ski & snowboard schools
First aid/medical assistance
Bars & restaurants on the slopes
Ski, snowboard & accessory hire
Railway station in the centre

Bardonecchia is ideally placed – the Trenitalia line runs straight into the town, and for €7 one way from Turin central station, it’s an ABSOLUTE BARGAIN. If you need advice on Travel arrangements please contact me.

This isn’t so much a travel guide this time, more photos than info.. I can’t really say much more than it’s an awesome place to learn, with spectacular views. The town of Bardonecchia is best described as sleepy.. Yes it’s very quiet. When the lifts stop running.. So does everything else. The town itself has plenty of restaurants and a couple of mini markets. I remember Tuesday night being absolutely dead at 5pm, the town was silent! Advice would be to stock up on food, bring a laptop and relax in the evening. This isn’t an a massive Aprés scene.. Which suited us because we were knackered after a solid 7-8 hours on the mountain!

I love Bardonecchia. Great place to learn and an even better place to hone your skills. When it dumps it can go from perfect conditions to full on whiteout.. Tons of fun!

I’ll let the photos do the talking..