Alp d'Huez Off Piste Ski Safari: 17th March, 2012

Off Piste from a base in Vaujany

Ski from La Grave, les Deux Alpes as well as Alp d'Huez

Come to Alpe d’Huez and experience some of the best guided off piste skiing there is to be had anywhere in the world. Led by UIAGM guide Richard Dupont, this week will see you skiing up to 4,000 metres of descent a day including some great steep stuff so you need to be a good, experienced off piste skier to enjoy it. We will take a maximum of five only on this trip.

We base our week in the village of Vaujany. The reason for this choice is that it’s a location that allows easy access every day to a variety of great routes on the massif des Grande Rousses but also the famous runs in La Grave and Les Deux Alpes are only half an hour’d drive away. This means we can use our minibus to head for where the skiing is best. Vajany is a centre lively enough for some après ski but small enough to still feel like an Alpine village rather than a ‘tourist trap’ and, at most times of the winter, we can ski right back to the level of the village.

DAY 1 - Fly to Geneva
We pick you up in our minibus and drive to Vaujany where we spend the night in a small hotel or pension. At this point you will meet your guide for a full briefing for the tour.

DAY 2 - 7
The idea this week is to get the maximum amount of top notch off piste skiing into every day. This means using the lift system (so you will need to buy a ticket each day) but on some days we may add in an hour or so of climbing on skins to access higher and wilder routes. We will have the minibus all week so the guide can choose the best routes according to the weather. However none of the local transfers are long – 20 minutes max to access the lifts up to, or very near to, the start of the chosen descent.

The choice of routes will vary according to the guide’s advice and the prevailing conditions but we will certainly try to include the classic ‘Le Grand Sablat’ using lifts to get to the Pic de Lac Blanc (3323m.) From there it’s a long ski down to Clavans and lunch at the Auberge de Savel in Auris en Oisans. Then a ten minute taxi ride back up to the lifts for an afternoon off skiing. Also on the Alpe d’Huez side we will head for the ‘Pyramide’ route. This means half an hour climbing on skins to access a run down from the Pic du lac Blanc all the way back to Vaujany – a descent of 2000 metres.

If we head over to Les Deux Alpes for the day we can use the lifts to get to the Dome de la Lauze (3568m). This leads to a classic and steep descent (40 degrees) down the Couloir de la Selle and, if the group wants to, on down to Saint Christophe en Oisins, a drop of 1,400 metres.  This village is ten minutes drive away from La Berade and is also home to the excellent restaurant La Cordee. From here the family of the owner Marie-Claude Turc have been serving simple, well cooked, local food for as long as anyone can remember. She will run the group back to Venose to the start of the afternoon’s skiing.


DAY 8 - Fly back to UK
Today you head back to the airport to meet your return flight home.


Please Note: This itinerary may be altered if conditions, weather forecasts or the overall fitness of the group are judged to put the safety of the group at risk. Pyrenean Mountain Tour guides and instructors reserve the right to make changes to the itinerary without notice. These changes will be explained to the group if they occur.

EQUIPMENT AND CLOTHING NEEDED FOR THIS TREK
We recommend that people joining this trek are equipped with the following:

Technical equipment
Ski Touring Skis with Touring Bindings
Ski Poles
Skins (with good glue!)
Ski Crampons
Crampons
Ski Strap (for tying top of the skis together when carrying on rucksack)
Avalanche Transceiver
Climbing Harness
Snow Shovel

Clothing suggestions
Thermal underwear- 1 set as a base layer
Fleece
Waterproof jacket
Waterproof over trousers
Warm hat
Warm gloves
Warm walking socks
Sun hat or peaked cap
Sunglasses/Goggles

Other useful items
40-60 litre rucksack (needs side straps so that you can carry skis)
Head torch and batteries
Sun block for face and lips
Personal First Aid kit (plasters,compede, paracetamol)
Water bottle or Platypus
Penknife

Optional items
Change of clothing to include: underwear,tracksuit bottoms/ long-johns,dry shirt, spare socks.
Camera and film
Paperback novel
Maps
Ear plugs(there is always one snorer)
Snack bars/dried fruit/chocolate
Sheet sleeping bag (if you like them...)

Ski Touring Equipment Hire
Pyrenean Mountain Tours offer a full equipment hire pack. You can hire everything you need for this tour or individual items at the costs shown in the table below. Costs shown are per week. We are unable to provide equipment "last minute" so you need to book what you need well in advance.

Please remember to carry as little gear as possible. A heavy rucksack will make the trip hard work and less fun.