Chamonix Apres Ski Report: 15th December 2010
We are now just a week away from being back in full season swing, and Chamonix's après and nightlife is picking up speed.
This week has seen the switching on of the Christmas lights with some wicked new additions, a personal favourite being the life size white light reindeer near McDonalds.
Town is feeling festive and with it getting busier every day the string of bar opening parties have begun.
La Terrasse kicked off their opening night with some banging tunes from Joe Volpeliere and Corin. €1 toffee vodkas were a great hit and probably had a lot to answer for the next day. Following up their great start they have DJ Irk (Solid Steel Records) playing tonight from 10pm. For those of you new to town La Terrasse is on the main square, it's a good place to hit for cheap jugs and excellent live après bands.
Friday the 10th December saw The Pub opening and to start the season they had international megastar DJ Kes Sick Note Clarke, just back from sell out dates in South Africa. It seemed the whole of Chamonix turned out for it; it was a squeeze getting in and there were plenty of faces popping up from inter-season hibernation, along with plenty of new ones too. A few new additions to the bar staff this year, a round of applause to them for surviving the onslaught, don't think the Fernet did as well!
We are gonna have a busy week ahead of ourselves. Tomorrow night Mix Bar on Rue des Moulins launches its MINIBOOM party. Creative, festive fun they are mixing the craziness of Ibiza with electronic beats from DJ Stephane Lando and friends.
Wednesday sees the re-opening of Monkey Bar's fantastic kitchen; they have a new improved menu with lots of different burgers to try! Combine that with €1.50 pints for 15 minutes starting at 16:45, follow that with 2:1 on beer and wine, it makes for a good start to any après session.
It'll be worth the short walk across the square to Munster Bar who are opening the same day and will have DJ Danny Barry playing some tunes. All this will make a great lead up to the first (of many) legendary nights in La Cantina. Get there early for the free apero from 8:00pm, then prepare for some funk hip-hop breakbeats from DJ Suspect whose playing alongside the real fake MC. Make sure you know where you're headed, Cantina is any easy one to miss being tucked down a side street near SuperU.
Thursday is another one not to be missed with Le Vert and Finger Lickin' Records! Soul of Man is providing the tunes for this year's opening party. It's a short walk from town but well worth it. You can always stop in Le Vagabond to warm up in front of the best (and maybe the only) open fireplace in town. Keep an eye out for the free shuttles to get you on down to the Vert.
Make sure you keep something saved for Friday night which sees the re-launch of The South Bar. Under new management this year, a mix of French and English should make for some excellent nights, with €4 jaeger bombs you can't go wrong.
My advice is to then recover over the weekend and prepare for the return of the Winter Sessions, get your dancing shoes ready for some winter madness. Le Podium is back and the first Winter Sessions is kicking off with THE NEXTMEN headlining. With two rooms of musical genius get ready to keep going into the early hours of the morning.
If I can make it through all that, and still manage to make it to work then hopefully I'll have some great reviews for next week – welcome to Chamonix!
Don't forget to keep an eye on the What's On Calendar for a full list of events over the winter season. You can also find full Bar and Restaurant listings in the Dining and Going Out section of the site.
