Alpe d’Huez Grand Domain Ski Resort: This is Not High Season Yet

Did you know that there is traffic in the Alps as well?

The loooong queue to get to the top of the mountain at Le Signal lift in Alpe d’Huez. Take note, this is the 4th week of January on a Thursday, not high season yet!

And I mean long lift queues and irritating skiers and snowboarders traffic on the slopes! Not a very encouraging sight at all, believe me.

This is one of the many the reasons why Dutchman and I take our wintersport holiday during the low season, just a week or two before high season starts when school the holidays kick in. In Alpe d’Huez we witnessed these queues and it really turned us off a lot.

So in Alpe d’Huez last January, which is, by the way, a more popular skiing resort than the usual we have been to, we witnessed what traffic is like on the slopes. These pictures were taken on a Thursday, and Thursdays to Saturdays/Sundays are popular long ski weekends for the locals in the alpine region of France. And in places such as Alpe d’Huez, you can imagine that it is busier than other smaller and less popular resorts.

I personally do not like it when it gets very busy on the slopes. I guess no one really. Especially when I see kids. These energised little munchkins go fast, zipping through the slopes and past other skiers and snowboarders. They pop up like mushrooms, coming from your left and your right, and for someone like me who is far from being very advanced, it’s nervewracking. They give me a heart attack!

Anyway, Dutchman and I took these photos in Alpe d’Huez by the main grounds where the Le Signal lift is located. Our ski resort is in Vaujany which is a few mountains further in the Grand Domain Ski terrain, so coming here is a little journey in itself. When Dutchman and I took these photos we were sitting on a bench eating our little pack lunch whilst watching the long queue of ski- and snowboard goers waiting for their turn at the Le Signal lift.

In most of our wintersport holidays, we never see this kind of queue. I guess this day was an exemption? I mean, this is not even high season yet? Can you imagine what high season is like here at Alpe d’Huez! *cringe*

Well, the best times to ski and snowboard is during the low season, in the months of January and April… and well, between Monday and Wednesday, to avoid local tourists =)

Here are the pictures:

The big village of Alpe d’Huez in the distance.

The highest peak is Pic Blanc (White Peak) at 3,330 meters. I didn’t go up because the only way to get down is through a black slope. I don’t do blacks. Dutchman did go.