Alpe d'Huez Apres Ski Report: 31st December 2010
Christmas week is never one to disappoint in Alpe d'Huez, and this year has been no exception. On Thursday I managed to get up to Sphere Bar for drink after a nice day on the hill. It's had a lick of paint since last year, and a few new sofas, but the combination of friendly chat from the bar staff, good music and a great place to enjoy an après drink or two remains the same. Glen is back this year as bar manager, and there are two new girls behind the bar Sophie & Renya, and you will be seeing Scottish John from time to time, and if your lucky he might even sing you a song or two.
Sphere became a real favourite with the après crowd last year, due to its great location near the slopes and a good terrace outside to soak up some afternoon sun. The happy hour between 17:00 and 19:00 is the best time to go in, but you can rest assured any time is a good time for a trip to Sphere.
Christmas Eve was, as predicted monumental. Smithy's Tavern was busy from the get-go and stayed rocking till the not-so-early hours, when the last few dedicated partiers headed to the Underground bar. After calling time at around 5.30am I headed home and to quickly check my e-mails and then hit the sack. Fist e-mail I read was simply a picture of a newly engagement-ringed hand from my best friends Jamie and Katie, and so it would be rude to not go out and celebrate…
After a couple of hours sleep (literally) I was back in the Tavern for cleaning and our Christmas Day Celebrations. Christmas day in the Alps is quite different to one at home. In England my Christmas Day usually involves a morning round of golf whilst my Mum cooks a menagerie's worth of different animals, before opening a few presents and then a glass of wine in front of a rubbish Christmas movie. Here however has a much more celebratory atmosphere with 20-30 of my closest friends, drinking plenty of wine and Santa comes in to dish out a selection of Alpe d'Huez souvenirs, plastic toys from the Tabac to people who are too old for them and cheap bottles of anonymous booze. More drinking and partying long into the night then follow this. It was a brilliant day and this years Santa was very, very good looking.
Sunday was my day off and so I decided that a bar crawl was well overdue. After going up the hill I stopped off at Rendez-Vous for a quick demi and to watch the football. Rendez-Vous (formerly Lilly Muldoons & La Cordee) was bought over the summer by a couple of seasonnaires and has since undergone a bit of a refurbishment. The layout is similar, but the guys have managed to put their own look to the place but it still retains a lot of it's rustic charm. It's got a great open fireplace and the menu is supposed to be good too. I'll be trying it out soon. Next we headed to Sphere bar to watch the football and to take advantage of the happy hour, before heading down to the Zoo Bar. Zoo has had a busy week and is very popular with the French crowd in Alpe d'Huez. After that I was challenged to a game of beer pong in Smithy's. A challenge that I simply could not turn down. Beer pong is a game where teams have to toss ping-pong balls across a table into cups that the opposing team must then drink the contents of. At least I think that is the aim, to be honest at that point in the night I was beyond caring about rules, but caring more about the drinking. Another trip to Sphere after losing heavily my game of beer pong and that was me done for a very accomplished Sunday.
The rest of the week has been a bit of a blur, with the arrival of around 200 medical students in resort, recovering from Christmas and getting ready for New Years. Two nights need a mention, the first being Tuesday when all of the students were out in their Scrubs and partied hard until the wee hours, and tonight (Thursday) when alpine cover band Dr. Bruce played a brilliant set in Smithy's, look out for them returning next week.
So that is it for the Après reports from 2010. My next one will be coming from the future. This year has been a blast and I'd like to thank everyone who has been a part of my year. Be it on the snow, around town or anywhere else in the world. I'll have all the news from what is going to be one huge event in Smithy's tomorrow for the Heaven & Hell Party, and no doubt I'll be seeing all the action from everywhere else in town.
Hope you all had a successful 2010, see you on the other side!
Remember, we're not here for a long time; we're here for a good time!
Pete
For a full list of this week's events, check out our What's On Calendar. You can also find full Bar and Restaurant listings in the Dining and Going Out section of the site.
