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  2 of 5, "Nice place but i wouldn't go back" 23/09/2008 @ 10:42:08 |
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| 1 member has given this review a rating of 3 of 5 |
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| Price Paid |
| £675 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Crystal |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
I went 2 seasons ago and found that it was just too over crowed lots of families and big lift ques full of skiers hacking the tip and tail of your board. there are some really nice off piste runs if you know where to find them.
The big long black run is great when it has the snow but it gets tracked out really quick and full of ruts from crapy skiers trying to do the longest black in europe just so they can brag to their pals
but if you get up there early after a snowfall it's really good and really fast
as for the parks these were full of french ski schools so you can't get a good session going coz you constantly get snaked by kids on skis |
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| Strengths |
| Long black run |
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| Weaknesses |
| over crowed |
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| Reviews: 1 |
| Leicestershire |
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 3.5 of 5, "Alpe D'uez March '08" 22/09/2008 @ 14:11:30 |
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| 1 member has given this review a rating of 2 of 5 |
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| Price Paid |
| £150 4 flights and transfers |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Self |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Went to stay with a friend who was a rep out there last season,
I loved Alpe D'uez its a beatiful place and the lifts run straight through the middle of the town as do the slopes, you get on a lift in the morning theres always 1 near by and ride pretty much to your hotel at the end of the day.
I didn't really do much exploring because everytime i ventured up the mountain i found moguls on every run and therefore couldn't be arsed to waste my time. I was more than happy to stay at the bottom hitting the kickers in the sun for the whole week.
It is very expensive with a pint of coke/sprite costing 6 euro on the slopes in most places and even though i didn't pay 4 accomodation and everywhere shuts at 2 am i still spent about £900 in a week. |
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| Strengths |
Good Parks
Good Snow record
Lots of sun |
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| Hot Spots |
| To many |
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| Weaknesses |
All the good places shut at 2 am
Very Expensive
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
Kaprun
All of Andora
pamporova |
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| Reviews: 1 |
| Inverness-shire |
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 4 of 5, "Alpe D'Huez Mar 07" 12/03/2007 @ 11:44:52 |
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| 3 members have given this review an average rating of 4.33 of 5 |
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| Price Paid |
| 500 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Crystal |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Just back from a week in A D'huez at the begin of March, after a worrying few weeks, when we got there there was loads of snow and i'm pretty sure all the runs were open, with only the run back to the hotel being brown and slushy.
we were a bunch of 7, varying abilities, and found the resort to be pretty good overall. we stayed in the vallee blanche hotel, which is a crystal run hotel staffed by crystal (british) staff, and the food was excellent the best we have had for atleast 5 years, loads of it, good chioce and really tasty. food at lunch time wasn't so great, but there was enough to keep us going.
its not a huge area and you can pretty much cover all you would want to in a week, unless you were going off-piste, we decided against it as we were told it was cat 5 avalanche risk and really dodgy.
the tunnel and famous 16km sarenne runs were good, the sarenne flattens out at the bottom, not so flat that you have to skoot/walk, but flat and hard and you really need your concentration to not catch an edge. the tunnel was amazing the first day we tried it, but by the friday it had become quite mogully and not so great on a board. the heart skips a beat when you come out of the tunnel (its a pretty steep slope), but once we were in it, it wasnt so bad, it was soft so we managed a few turns.
the run over the back (to the left when you are looking up the main run) was really good, in the morning when we had nice grippy fast spring snow, bit softer in the afternoon, and the off piste black run between the two red pisted runs was, a lot steeper than it looked from the chair, few turns and a few more tumbles got us to the bottom. |
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| Strengths |
good food, good resort, lots of live music the underground was close by and well worth a visit, smithy's the sphere o'sharkeys were all good, prob the best nightlife resort we have visited.
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| Hot Spots |
the tunnel
nice little park, not for the big air guys, but fine for us guys new to the park |
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| Weaknesses |
| its not the hugest area, but then again we were only there for a week dont get me wrong you wont be bored in a week and i would defo go back again. |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| pas de las casa, 3 valleys, |
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| 4 of 5, "Great if your focus is boarding and not apres" 30/06/2006 @ 16:10:38 |
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| 2 members have given this review an average rating of 4.5 of 5 |
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| Price Paid |
| £1028 for 14 days |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Neilson |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
I was in Aple D’Huez for the 2 weeks in the middle of January 2006. We stayed in the catered chalet Le Lac Blanc. Capacity 16 and we had 28 people go through over the 2 weeks! As with all the chalet accommodation I’ve seen in France, the rooms tend to the smaller side but unless you’re fairly anti-social you’ll only be in it to sleep. This location can’t be bettered if you want to get going quickly in the morning – it’s right at the top of the resort by the main gondola with the town below – as a result there’s a bit of a walk back up the hill from town in the evenings.
These were my 2nd and 3rd weeks boarding and the easily accessible variety of terrain at Alpe D’Huez was perfect. Enough easy stuff by the centre to build confidence and plenty of more challenging piste and just-off-piste a little further afield.
The more advanced skiers/boarders had pretty much found the limits of the resort in a week but were kept amused by experiments in the park and a decent dump of snow on day 10. This was most welcome as areas were becoming icy (yes, it does get a lot of sun) and rocks/grass were showing through in places. Weather and snow were good enough for me to board 14 days out of 14.
Apres-ski is limited and was pretty quiet. The lack of any bars on the home runs mean there’s no obvious focus. Rumour has it there’s some decent nights out to be had and Neilson’s pub crawl revealed some OK places but they’re spread across the town. Expect to walk up hill a lot. Ice-rink and outdoor pool are there to be used if you want.
Food available in town was OK and not outrageously expensive. Under no circumstances should you allow yourself to leave Alpe D’Huez without lunching at La Cabane du Poutat. Superb food and not over-priced. Take the Marmottes gondola to 2300 and head down Les Vachettes. Stay on the left and watch out for the restaurant appearing behind an outcrop. Food in the chalet was also excellent. That one of our hosts and the rep had also done turns as professional chefs was no doubt helpful
I’d definitely go back for a week as there’s plenty left for me to explore.
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| Strengths |
Good terrain variety
Lift system's good
Some lovely alpine to be had on the runs down to Oz
Runs from 2 sides mean groups can split up but funnel back to meet at the centre |
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| Hot Spots |
La Cabane du Poutat
Underground Bar
Some place in the main town that has about 50 varieties of flavoured rum |
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| Weaknesses |
Not a massive area like 3 valleys
Apres ski very tame |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Tignes |
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 5 of 5, "France Oz en Oisans" 18/04/2006 @ 15:35:32 |
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| 2 members have given this review an average rating of 4.5 of 5 |
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| Revision #1 (Last edited: 18/04/2006 @ 15:40:56) |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| DIY |
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| Times Visited |
| 15 Times + |
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| Review Detail |
Want to share a backdoor secret!!! Spent a couple of seasons in Alpe de Huez and for the freerider this place is the bomb on a powder day and even a week after a big dump you can still find powder if you know the spots - either from being here before or take a guide.
Typically known as Alpe de Huez, the ski domain is called Massif des Grandes Rousses with another 4 resorts linking up into the domain (Oz en Oisans, Vaujany, Auris en Oisans, Villard Reculas). I have stayed 2 weeks in total this season in Oz en Oisans which is the most beautiful resort - very charming (no concrete block hotels) and the restaurants we ate at every night were fantastic (especially le hors piste restaurant).
Apres ski doesn't go off in this resort but could I really complain as I sat outside with a cold beer with an amazing view down into the valley and the mountains opposite with sunset creeping between the mountains? I didn't complain! The other thing I didn't complain about was that for such a big ski terrain, you stay in one of the connecting Alpine towns (Oz en Oisans) and you don't have the ridiculous queues - from leaving my door at 9am I was on the glacier at 3330 metres by 9.35am.
The park is very good for anyone who would class themselves as an intermediate/advanced but if its big ass kickers you want then best to go to Les Deux Alpes. However, the natural terrain for me offers much better and interesting jumps than the parks.
4 days out of 7 we either skied down into Vaujany to use the FREE sports centre (jacuzzi, sauna, steam room etc) or just drove for 15 minutes early evening
Everyone says this resort is good for beginners which it is in the heart of the Alpe de Huez town with very good and wide green runs!! But kid you not the French keep this hidden gem to themselves; le Tunnel, Combe Charbonniere and La Fare amongst other runs will push your snowboarding and the off piste is very challenging (take a guide and do the Glacier du Sablet and get picked up by Helicopter or get dropped into the Pyramides by rope with a guide and experience challenging yet amazing powder) |
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| Strengths |
- Ski terrain is vast, variety, loads of really long runs (Sarenne longest black in France), loads of steep runs on piste (le tunnel), off piste (chimneys, back bowls of the Dome, back bowls of Auris)
- Oz en Oisans offers fantastic restaurants, cool/chilled apres ski, quick access to the above!
- Ski pass includes days at serre chevalier, les deux alpes and free access to sports centre with jacuzzi etc, ice skating, table tennis, climbing wall etc
- Beautiful to look at resort Oz; the resort is increasing in size but all in keeping with previous builds.
- Ski region is one of the biggest in France; but its the variety of the terrain that seperates it from other resorts. |
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| Hot Spots |
- Le Hors Piste restaurant
- Back of Auris on a powder day; goes down to a road and you can walk to nearest town with lifts or get a taxi
- Back of the Dome
- Glacier offers easy access to loads of off piste (but gets tracked after a couple of days in peak periods |
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| Weaknesses |
- Kickers in the park are bigger and better maintained in Les Deux Alpes
- If its nightlife you want go to Les Deux Alpes; if you are here for the snowboarding with some good apres ski and food then Oz is the perfect location. |
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