Alpe d'Huez Apres Ski Report: 12nd December 2008
With the season just kicking off in Alpe D'Huez and the new seasonnaires slowly starting to settle into resort, the nightlife is certainly starting to kick into gear. Lifts opened on Saturday, and to celebrate 4 days of continuous snow, Smithy's Tavern and DJ Kapich got the official season calendar off to a bang. The windows steamed up, the vodka shots flowed and Planete Surf's Fatbeat got his decks out to round off the evening.
As the sun rose on Sunday and a few sore heads got as much paracetamol and water down them as possible (while eating a Captain Sandwich!), Sphere Bar were gearing up for the acoustic king Geordie Steve and in-house guitar legends Scottish John and Jez to rip up the après scene and cure those with slightly bad hangovers with a few demi peches' and their amazing rendition of Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon.
It's a fine line for seasonnaire's to get the balance between going out and getting up early and fresh for work and they usually fail miserably. This imbalance was no different in the mighty Underground Bar on Monday evening with Gaz and Hands playing a few classics to go hand in hand with the ridiculous amount of vodka slammers being gushed down punters throats to their joy. The same evening O'Bar and resident Tottenham fans Vito and Vicky were celebrating beating West Ham with their brand new Tapas menu now fully operational. They also have fantastic little candles on the tables I might add. Lovely.
More snow, more arrivals and more partying. Alpe D'Huez is proudly known as the ‘island in the sun' but as the sun goes down it is most definitely party central in the moonlight. Sharkey's and L'Etalon kicked off the Skiworld bar crawl in such style that by the time they reached the Igloo Nightclub talking and walking at the same time was definitely proving an issue. Mika and Vince from Zoo Bar have been on particularly good form, yo-yoing between Zoo and Smithy's for a cheeky Fajita and a Jagermeister.
Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday. Oh what a Wednesday. Smithy's threw themselves into the new season with the first official seasonnaire party of the winter. Anyone who's anyone was there, the Danes, Swedes and French joined the English in table dancing, drinks promos and Planete Surf giveaways until the Igloo and Caves de l'Alpe came calling. Christmas is fast approaching and Santa has given us an amazing early present with all this fresh powder, we really do thank you St.Nick. The mountain is now in full swing, buckets of snow and the fresh mountain air have been relieving some of those groggy mornings felt by us all. Oh what fun mountain life is.
Next week should be even bigger and better. First guests arrive for many hotels this weekend. Geordie Steve will be back rocking the Après at Sphere on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Underground have the legendary Torchy Harper playing there on Wednesday. first official bar crawl will be hitting Lily's, Etalon, Sharkey's, the Underground and Smithy's as of Monday, and Dr.Bruce are back in town on Thursday the 18th in Smithy's Tavern of dreams.
Remember, life's a party; you've just got to live it!
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.
