Alpe d’Huez FR : 27/12/1992 – Anarchy in the French Alps

Happy New Year everyone...

Hope everyone is enjoying the Holidays, maybe get some skiing in. Hopefully its not to crazy. Not that everyone has the choice to choose when to go skiing (ie. Holidays vs time-off elsewhere in the Winter). The same logic applies to the Alps and Andes...try to avoid the Holidays. Not convinced? Here is a TR that I've just written from a ski day 20 years ago...I know that Marc C doesn't care if its not recent, anyway, I thought it would be funny putting it up here. I have other old posts that I've been making, but not bothering posting them on FTO.

If you think crowds are bad during these Holidays or you're having a bad day, checkout the TR.

Never…never saw anything like it: A ski day that would become unforgettable twenty years later. As we are during the Holidays, a time of the year where the slopes are the busiest.

Click link on pictures to access the rest of the TR:

Alpe d’Huez : 27 décembre 1992 – Holiday Anarchy in the French Alps
http://madpatski.wordpress.com/2012...mbre-1992-holiday-anarchy-in-the-french-alps/

Patrick":51exwgnz said:

Lessons of the day:
- eat a good breakfast,
- try to acclimatize yourself to the altitude
- drink plenty of water

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I had a lot of dizziness my first day at Taos in 1984. It came from arriving after midnight, sleeping in town, driving up to the hill and taking the 2 lifts up to 11,800 without having breakfast first. It was Saturday of President's weekend so I was trying to get away from the base before crowds built up.

In terms of the chaotic liftlines in France, my only experience with that was 45 minutes trying to get off the mountain at Brevant at the end of the day. Brevant/Flegere face south so the lower runs into Chamonix are rarely covered.

Tony Crocker":1nku79ox said:

I had a lot of dizziness the first day at Taos once.

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In my case, it was the first time above 3000 meters...but I'm not the one that passed out. My wife, girlfriend at that time, wasn't, but she never was a big breakfast fan. Driving the 2 hours plus that road is more than enough to make people sick if the conditions are right (fatigue, etc). I didn't feel, or anyone that was with me, to great about the drive back down from El Colorado/Valle Nevado last summer.

Tony Crocker":1nku79ox said:

In terms of the chaotic liftlines in France, my only experience with that was 45 minutes trying to get off the mountain at Brevant at the end of the day. Brevant/Flegere face south so the lower runs into Chamonix are rarely covered.

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I've had a few chaotic lineup moments in Europe, some during that trip, but that day at Alpe d'Huez was the worst. Lineup for the second stage elevator at the Eiffel Tower in Paris maybe two days after that ski day was also pretty bad. :roll: Chaos at touristy sites or skiing during the Christmas week was almost a sure thing.