I must apologise for the delay in this week's report…I have been recovering from the absolute carnage that we all experienced as a result of BUSC (the British Universities Snowsports Council) coming to town!
What a mental week! I have pretty much spent the last five days in bed as a result. For those of you desperate to read my review on the week, once again, please accept my apologies, but it's here now!
The way the week worked was BUSC brought with them between 2000-3000 students to resort. Previously organised with the committee, Smithy's,L'Etalon, O'Sharkey's, The Underground, Zoo Bar, Lily's, L'Igloo and Les Caves were all 'Official' BUSC bars for the week! Due to the sheer number of students around and with the biggest bar Smithy's having a capacity of 250-300, there obviously wouldn't be enough room for them all to fit!
As a result, BUSC assigned each bar a University for each night. It's important to add at this point that any normal punters/seasonnaires hoping to go out for a quiet beer were confined to their hotel bars for the week! Unfortunately for them, (or fortunately depending on how you look it), there simply wasn't enough room to mix them in with the hundreds of sweaty, loud, and excitable students.
The week started with the huge open-air opening party, located in the Les Berges area of Alpe D'Huez, which accommodated nearly all of the students. It was big and very successful, as Ministry of Sound and some start-studded guests were all part of the line up. Apparently it went off a storm – I couldn't tell you as I was at work in a very quiet Smithy's! After all the hype it was a very quiet opening evening for the bars anyway, maybe not the residents!
Monday was a themed night for the all the bars; a ‘Where's Wally' night to be precise. So with hundreds of students all dressed up like Wally, I could tell you exactly where Wally was! Unlike previous weeks, there is little to tell in terms of specific organised evenings. It literally was just a case of cram as many students into Alpe D'Huez as possible, watch them all get exceedingly drunk, run naked down streets, try to steal various objects from various bars and generally, just laugh!
I think I was a little frustrated during that week because deep down I wish I still was a student! (running up to the bar and screaming ‘Alright mate! What can I get for 50 cents?)…
The other themed night was Tuesday, where each University group was given a country and had to dress up as that country! I only figured this was what was happening half way through the night, which I why I was slightly bemused to find a guy stood at the bar asking for a beer with a giant ‘Eiffel Tower' stuck on his head!
Tuesday was a real blast in Smithy's, with Dr.Bruce making their last season appearance in the bar. The place was rocking - and dripping with sweat! Those of you who have been before will understand what I mean when I say Smithy's literally did turn in to Sweaty's!
Wednesday was just another night of carnage and Thursday saw the closing ceremony, held at the Palais des Sports, and again Dr.Bruce playing. All of the staff in all of the bars wiped a huge sense of relief and sweat from them when Friday arrived and the huge escort of coaches headed back to the UK. The thought of being ridiculously hungover and getting a 24 hour coach journey home really doesn't appeal to me, so congratulations to all of those who just about made it!
My week was made complete when three girls from the University of Aberdeen strolled into Smithy's with ‘I LOVE DUNCAN painted on their very short shorts. Good for the old ego!
I'm guessing you've got the general picture to how BUSC went now… for those in any doubt, I can sum it up for you in three words. ‘Very. Very. Drunk!'
I will be back in a couple of days to report on how Alpe D'Huez got back to normal...well, kind of!
Love, peace and hair grease
DR10
