Rise festival
Rise is a ski festival where the after party is heavily DJs and house music. Held up in Les Deux Alpes in France, this was all very new to me, having never been up in the mountains on a board before. But armed with my pal Emily and my camera, we headed off for the 30 hour coach ride.
We arrived in resort about 7pm on the Saturday and swiftly headed to bed to recover from the long, and boozy, coach journey to prepare us for our first day on the mountains. With it being my first day on real snow, it was only right that I spent 90% of it sliding down on my bum (or face). But we were greeted with a blue bird day and were in good spirits.
Each day was similar; ski all morning, stop for a bit of aprés, and somehow make our way down the bottom half of the slightly intoxicated. Then it was off home for a quick power nap and food, and then off out for the night. Rise fest had brought in DJs like Craig David, Wilkinson, Solardo and the Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club so each night was as exciting as the next. Then with the bars and clubs open after that, it was a miracle anyone made it onto the mountain the next day.
Rise offers loads of extra events and activities, including paragliding, mountain husky rides and Bongo's Bingo, which I'd recommend doing anyway. They host it in most big cities now and it's so much fun, definitely not the bingo you want to take your Nan to.
Our little hotel was situated almost at the bottom of the gondola which took you to the top of the mountain which was perfect, and offered a basic breakfast buffet. In the centre of town it was all we needed for the week.
Would like to say a big thanks to Bradford Uni's snow sport soc for taking us under their wing and letting the pair of us tag along. For those interested, Rise Festival were doing a 2 for 1 offer on 2018 tickets, limited availability. Bring on next year!
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Update: we did go back again winter 2018, and it was just as incredible. This time I went with my own uni society HUSSI, and check out my little trip video to see our antics!
Year 2 trip video
