Après Ski

After a day of skiing down the slopes, going up the chair lift, bracing the cold as it hits your face whilst you speed down, there is only one thing that will warm you back up.

Après-ski.

Which is French for ‘After Ski’ in case you were wondering. 

It's basically a big party that takes place on the last run down the slopes for the day. You ski down and stop halfway, unclip your skis and mark your poles so you know where to find them later on. (trust me, you will need a little assistance!)

It’s easy to spot where the best Après-ski bars are by seeing how many skis are outside!

The Hennu Stall is rated as one of the best Après-ski bars in Zermatt.
Imagine your favorite club opening at 4pm, with the best songs you can think of playing at the loudest they can, whilst you drink away in your ski clothes.

Let's get inside!

Everyone is in such a great mood after skiing for the day, talking about which slopes they conquered, where they fell, what speed they were going and the imminent snowfall expected.

Anyone for a Ski of Toffee Vodka shots?

These are the sweetest things ever! You can't taste the vodka, just the toffee so they go down a storm with everyone!

Time for another, though this time it was caramel vodka...

With the music going, it feels like it's 2am in the morning.

When actually, its 5pm and everyone is partying into the evening.

Après-ski is all about drinking, dancing and having a good time after a long day on the slopes. 

Being at such a high altitude, your don't feel the affects of the alcohol as much as you should. Everyone is there to have a great time, and will chat away to one another whilst drinking Glühwein or beer.

Or in our case, more Ski shots!

And even more...

Until it was time to show some of our dance moves! 

You'll have to excuse the photos a little, I left my camera in my pocket and used my iPhone instead.

Ski boots are surprisingly easy to dance in after a couple of drinks!

Like any night, you keeping partying till the lights come up, or the music ends!

In this case that was at 7:30pm, when everyone makes their way drunkenly out of the bar a little bit lighter in the pockets, and spends the next 10 minutes trying to find their skis with fuzzy vision!

The lifts are closed, and the only way down is to ski.

Which takes a little longer than usual, and a few drunken falls on the way down too!
I won't go into too much detail, but one broken ski binding and a lot of walking was involved too!

Once we finally made it to the bottom of the slope, we nipped back to the hotel to change and eat before going out to the local bars and clubs.

Until we realised it was 3am, we had to be up for breakfast in 4 hours, so made our way through the snow showers back to the hotel to grab a bit of shut eye.

See you tomorrow Après Ski! 
Same time, same place!