New Year's Eve 2017/18 in Alpe d'Huez

Afterwards, we decided to head to the Palais des Sports et des Congres (the resort's leisure centre) to check out the great free event with headline DJ Kristoff Tigran and a supporting light show and circus entertainment. A good crowd of all ages was already in the Palais and, after some bag security checks, we were in. Due to the inclement weather, the event was held inside the huge sports hall, unlike last years’ event that was held outside in the car park.

The music was booming and the light show was quite a spectacle. The music was a bit too “Europop” for my taste but good entertainment none the less. Tigran is a well-known name here in France and, with his reputation as a DJ and top producer (France club DJ of the year 2011), it was a coup for the leisure centre. Slovakian circus act Anta Agni put on 3 Cirque-du-Soleil-style performances.

After this, our next port of call was The Underground Bar where Busty and the boys partied on until around 08:30 (well past my bedtime!). Our final stop was at the more chilled out L’Indiana Bar down in the old town.

New Year's day saw a quieter day on the slopes and, at 17:30, we were off to the Signal slope at the top end of town (DMC) for the ESF ski instructor’s torchlight descent and firework display – in a total blizzard! A small but hardy crowd gradually built but the weather really put a damper on it. Due to the very poor weather condition, the torchlight descent was scaled back on safety grounds, so poor was the visibility – this was a real shame for the crowd as the torchlight descents really are true spectacle. The visibility was just about good enough for the fireworks and the hardy group in attendance at least had some great fireworks to watch!

Bon Année from Alpe d’Huez!