Event - Ski Trip to Alpe d'Huez
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Day 3 - Monday 28th January
Jon had not been happy with the skis he had yesterday, and had changed them that evening for an upgraded pair of Rossignol Bandits last night. The day started well with Jon finding his new hired skis had been nicked, so he had to go back to the ski shop (once more!) to get another pair. He was hoping it was a mistake by someone in the hotel! He hadn't even had chance to try them yet!
Today we took the "scare chair" - one that you take from Alpe d'Huez and takes you DOWN into the valley and UP the other side. It even goes under the end of the Altiport runway through a tunnel so we had aeroplanes landing on top of us.
From this chair we crossed the tennis court where there was some artwork on display! (see below)
This time we went across to the right hand end of piste map, with all the group.
We had Andy down for fall of the day, as he ended up tree hugging on an unpisted black run (La Fuma)
There are a couple more pictures awaited from other group members, so do check here for updates!
Then, in the evening we were subjected to 88 mins of boring football, before a fluke goal settled it. Well, it was Leicester v Palace, and as there were some Leicester supporters in the group we had to suffer it.
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| ... we crossed the tennis court where there was some artwork on display! | This is taken in the "scare chair", where you ride DOWN almost vertically, and then UP the other side ... |
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Having traversed the "scare chair" across to the other side of the valley, there is this view of Alpe d'Huez itself. Our hotel is roughly in the middle of the bottom end of town |
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| We all skied together as a group ... | ... and eventually found a good place for a quick hot chocolate stop. We liked it so much ... |
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| ... that after some further skiing ... | ... we returned to our chocolate stop for lunch. |
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| Of course, as the close of play becomes imminent, a vin chaud stop is called for. This became a popular stop most evenings as we could ski straight back to our hotel from here ... | ... and have our inevitable tea and cake ... |
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Day 4 - Tuesday 29th January
Just for a change, Jon visited the ski shop ONCE MORE as he had found the original pair (thought to be stolen) and they had been taken in error by another guest.
We all went up and did the Sarenne, the longest run in Europe or possibly the world, depending which books you read, at 16 km it goes on a LONG WAY!
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| From the top of the Sarenne cable car the view is magnificent! You can just see Alpe d'Huez town on the far left of this panoramic view. The Sarenne runs in a separate valley just behind me, and eventually finishes at the bottom of the valley below the town, and you have to catch the chairlift back up into town. | |
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| The view from the start of the Sarenne (at 3330 metres high) is majestic ... | ... and here's Coops skiing on the Sarenne ... except ... he's missing something ... ah! That's it, his skis ... |
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| Eventually we reached our preferred lunch stop, and recounted tales of our adventures on the longest run in Europe/the World ... | Later that afternoon the 'A Team' found our way to our (now regular) late afternoon stop for a GRANDE BEER, before heading home ... |
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| ... the view over the town into the soon to be setting sun is excellent from here ... | ... and we eventually headed home for tea and cake. |
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| That evening our chalet/hotel staff had the night off, so we headed off to a local restaurant for a splendid meal. Fondue (cheese and meat), seafood, and duck all seem to be a speciality. An excellent meal all round, and only (ahem!) cost us (just over) 500 euros!! (but it was for 12 of us - it must have been all that wine!) | |
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