Chamonix Apres-Ski Report: 30th January 2013

The actual competition took place on Saturday but the excitement had been building up all week, with earlier tour stages taking place just through the Mont Blanc tunnel in the Italian resort of Courmayeur on Friday and a Freeride "village" being set up in the centre of Chamonix with sponsor stalls, big screens, live entertainment - even scantily clad dancing ladies on the roof, bet they were loving the -15°c temperatures...

The main event took place on an off-piste face "L'Aiguille Pourrie" at Flegere, a last minute change of plan from the usual "L'Hotel" face at the Brevent, with men's and women's ski and snowboard categories. The aim is not to scream down as fast as you can but to pick the most impressive line and carry it off with style, hopefully throwing in a few big jumps and drops along the way. Awe-inspiring to watch, particularly on such a bright bluebird day - click here to see photos of the event on the Chamonet.com Facebook page. Winners in the men's events were local Chamonix boy Jonathan Charlet (snowboard) and Drew Tabke from USA (ski) with fellow American Laura Dewey (snowboard) and Swedish Christine Hagrin (ski) bagging the top spots in the women's events - congratulations all! Celebrations continued late into the night at White Hub on the Rue des Moulins.

There's been a fair bit of patriotic pride flying around town this week what with Burns Night on Friday followed by Australia Day on Saturday, two nations renowned worldwide for their drinking prowess... The Pub put on a good old shindig for the Scots with a bagpiper, highland dancer, haggis and plenty of whisky - Burns Night is a bit like St Patrick's Day in that it's incredible how many people suddenly lay claim to Celtic ancestry. The antics continued on Saturday with Australia Day being celebrated in Le Vert and Bar'd Up. Le Vert had a fancy dress competition (won by an Aussie chick in an impressive Kylie outfit), a free BBQ, iPod battle and general partying; whereas Bar'd Up filled the bar with tonnes of sand and had a beach party! Free shots for anyone brave enough to turn up in swimmers, live music and a limbo competition - as you do in January in the Alps.

There is plenty more lined up for this week; tomorrow night I strongly suggest you get yourselves down to MOO Bar for the return of the Blind Poets - they'll rock your world, or at least get you dancing around for a couple of hours. There's a reason why they keep getting invited back to play in Chamonix, they're putting in guest appearances for 4 nights at MOO starting from Thursday - go and check them out.

We're all loving the fantastic snow conditions at the moment but in order to make the most of the powder it's important to stay safe. Qualified high mountain guide Stuart MacDonald gives FREE avalanche safety lectures every Monday night at La Terrasse at 6:15pm, they last around an hour and explain the basics of what you should be aware of to stay out of danger - particularly important this week with the avalanche risk increasing to 4 out of 5. If you do want to venture off-piste and are unsure of where you should and shouldn't be going, there are plenty of qualified mountain guides working in the valley who can show you the best of what the mountains have to offer without taking unnecessary risks.

L'Impossible is offering something a bit different on Sunday night with a special live jazz concert and buffet from 10:30pm. This restaurant is one of the oldest buildings in Chamonix and is absolutely beautiful inside; run by an Italian family with a passion for organic local produce, the food here is fantastic so a buffet should be a good way to sample a range of their delights. Although the emphasis is on local produce it is not at all typical Savoyard cuisine, the ever-changing menu is inventive and full of flavours that you may well not have tried before with vegetarians and vegans being exceptionally well catered for. Tickets are just 10€ for concert and buffet so it's definitely worth giving it a whirl!

Other than that there is plenty of regular gigs and one-off parties taking place this week, have a look at our What's On calendar for inspiration.