Green runs are not green runs!
On my quest to re-learn to ski after losing my left leg, I’ve been searching for the perfect resort with gentle green and blue runs. A resort where I can grow my confidence and enjoy the snow without fear of falling. Well, I can categorically say: Alpe d’Huez is not for beginners!!!
On paper it looks perfect, hence the reason I booked the resort. There are allegedly 41 green and 34 blue runs:
Now I’m pretty proud that I’m back to a fairly good standard of skiing… but the majority of these ‘green runs’ are more like red runs and I didn’t find red runs enjoyable when I had two legs, let alone one! There are no cliff edges as such, so there was no fear of my prosthetic leg failing to turn and me falling off the mountain, but the slopes were steep… really steep… all of them!
I chose to stay at the Hôtel au Chamois d’Or – a gorgeous 5 star spa hotel right at the base of all the green runs. The views were magnificent and I’d definitely recommend the hotel if you need easy access to the slopes.
After a first morning of being totally petrified on Chez Roger – an allegedly fun ‘green run’ – I headed onto the ‘scare chair’ – the Alpuaris chairlift and then the Auris charlift over to Auris En Oisins.
Here I found an actual green run and a genuinely fun Woodcutter run with tunnels to whizz through and bells to ring. Having learnt to ski originally from age 3-10 in Morzine, this area was exactly how I’d describe ‘green runs’ – gentle, safe and fun. Morzine has the Penguin run and the Milka run and the Indian run and this is how I expected Alpe d’Huez to be – full of fun family runs… but it’s not. It’s full of red runs labelled as green!
Anyway, as my confidence grew over at Auris En Oisins, I attempted more of the ‘green runs’ in the main resort in the afternoons and although I didn’t really enjoy them, I mastered them. There are tons of black runs – all of which my brother tried, including The Tunnel – Europe’s steepest run and the Sarennes – the worlds longest black run. But I was proud to simply have completed Chez Roger without having a full-on panic attack!
Maybe Alpe d’Huez was the right choice to progress me on my skiing journey. It certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone and my skiing definitely improved.
What I did like about the resort were the other fun activities you could take part in. The toboggan run was absolutely brilliant:
As was the sledging trail:
Another cool addition were the mini gondolas that moved you around the resort:
Overall I had a really great ski trip, but ideally I want runs where I can just get my skis together and whizz without fear of falling.
I am never going to be the best at parallel turns, my leg won’t allow it, and the steeper the slope, the sharper your turns need to be.
So for now my quest for the perfect ski resort continues.
