Other than a couple of nights when we all met up in the pub, we were mainly with our smaller group of seven which included ourselves, Wendy, Jason, Angela, Frances and for half the week only, Paula. Cheese, wine and chocolate was the order of the day (every day!) and a fine time was had by all. Or maybe Jason would argue with that  - early in the week he hurt his ribs badly and on the second last day, he broke his arm. It seems beginners snowboarding is not for the faint hearted!

The rest of us are all skiers of various levels, and were able to get on to the higher runs and explore the valleys nearby. Alpe d’Huez is a great resort, with plenty of runs for all levels. I was very proud to complete an 18km black, La Sarenne, on the last day, when Eddie and I covered a lot of ground with the lovely Claire Westbrook as our ski buddy (PJ we missed you!). Many Vin Chauds followed and although the bars were lacking the Apres Ski madness you get in Austria, I actually enjoyed the more chilled out approach to unwinding after a day on the slopes.

I absolutely loved this skiing holiday.  We stayed in an apartment - Pierre & Vacances Ours Blanc Privilege – which was better than we’d expected, the rooms were small (as accommodation in France tends to be) but the living space was big and comfy enough for us all to eat and sit around in comfortably. The lifts were bit of a trek (15 minutes with your ski boots on ain’t easy) but there was a free shuttle bus, thank God.  Having flown with Ryanair and travelled to/from the airport with Ben’s Bus, the trip didn’t cost the earth either. Big thanks to our apartment chef Frances for feeding us well on the nights we ate in, to Meatball for doing the initial legwork and to Jason for sorting out all the gear, transfers and apartment.  Roll on skiing 2011!!!

]]> http://www.lickablewallpaper.com/2010/02/alpe-dhuez-skiing-2010/feed/ 1