Family Ski Fun
We flew into Grenoble and it’s a 2 hour coach journey up to the resort. Flights also go into Chambery or Geneva. You travel up the ’21 bends’ famous in the Tour De France.
We travelled with a group of friends and stayed in a Chalet Hotel which is my personal favourite when skiing. This one also had an outdoor hot tub overlooking the piste. The cooked breakfast of your choice is served to you each morning before you head down to the boot room to get kitted up for the day. Our chalet was just a very short ski down to a lift to whisk you to the bottom of the slopes.
I dropped my twins off at Ski School at 9am and then went off to ski with our friends before returning to collect them at midday. They had a blast and picked up skiing so easily (as often kids do!) and then we headed off to ski the nice family friendly ‘Marcels Farm ski area’. With some coaching from us, the children were flying down the slopes! When the slopes close around 4/430pm we often sit and have a drink at the bottom of the slopes before skiing back to our chalet. Then its time for afternoon tea and a rest before canapes and dinner around 8pm.
Alpe D’Huez is called the I’isle Du Soleil as it has a reputation for having the most days of sunshine on the ski slopes and that's one reason I love it! It’s a snowsure resort as its high so we have never had an issue with lack of snow even skiing into mid April. We had a huge snowfall one day where it began skiing one morning and snowed all night! Then we went on to have lovely sunny ‘bluebird’ days.
Its part of the Grand Domain ski area and has excellent terrain for all capabilities. It offers the longest black run in Europe, The Sarenne 16km from top to bottom! It also has the ski lift voted the scariest, and known as the Scare Chair which links two mountains and certainly makes my stomach drop every time I go on it!
There are numerous mountain restaurants serving delicious food, stopping for a refuel break at lunchtime is a must for me! We often ski down to other villages such as Oz en Oisans, Vaujany and Aris en Oisans for lunch or coffee.
The apres ski nightlife here is fantastic and this year the chalet we chose was right opposite our favourite bar called The Underground. Another must is the Wednesday afternoon party at Folie Douce – a restaurant/club at the top of one of the lifts where live Dj’s, singers and dancers party until the last lift descends around 5pm. We always choose to ski down and this year were the last people on the slopes being ushered down by the ski patrol! All great fun!
Our arrival day was my birthday and the chalet staff presented me with a delicious cake at dinner which was a lovely touch. My twins had their 14th birthday in the middle of the week and the chalet staff kindly made them a birthday cake and we surprised them with a husky dog ride which they absolutely loved! They picked up skiing effortlessly and enjoyed every minute of the holiday!