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

It’s out with the old and in with the new

featured in Events reviews Author Rob Wood, Alpe d'Huez Reporter Updated

New Years’ Eve is always a big night here in Alpe d’Huez and this year was no exception. The weather wasn’t great for a “pub crawl” but, hey, it’s NYE, so we braved the conditions and headed out – out out!

There are so many bars in town it’s impossible to visit them all, so we started up at the Sphere Bar, at the top end of resort, where a good crowd was already in attendance. The thing you notice most on NYE here in France is the number of people heading to parties around town with bottles in hand. It seems to be the trend that the French hold family parties and see the New Year in together before the younger revellers head out in the early hours to sample the resort's nightlife until well into New Year's day.

I also made my usual visits to L’Etalon and the FreeRide Bar to wish friends a happy new year. Then to Smithy's Tavern where the atmosphere was already ramping up and the “jungle” theme was roaring. Resident DJ Sam was belting the tunes out in his usual style (18 years and counting I think!). The party in Smithy's went on until 04:30 and was a huge success.

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.

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

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 Eve 2017/18 in Alpe d'Huez

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!

Location

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