Chamonix Apres Ski Report: 1st February 2012

With this in mind I extended my vin chaud research this week; after a long snowy dog walk through the woods on Friday we called into La Terrasse and sat upstairs with a mulled wine. The upstairs bar is much cosier than downstairs and has great views over the centre of Chamonix and along the river. Good for people-watching!

From there we took a wander through town and checked out the sales before calling into a bar that I have never been in before, the 180 on the terrace of Restaurant Le Dru. The restaurant is very traditional looking, typical chalet-style with lots of dark wood, but the bar that they have installed out front is the complete opposite - funky neon plastic and glowing retro Christmas trees. It sounds horrible but actually looks really cool; the comfy sofas, live music and friendly barman all added to the atmosphere and, most importantly, the vin chaud was very nice.

One of the busiest corners of Chamonix during the early evening is down by the train station; a few of us headed down there for drinks last Thursday evening after a beautiful bluebird day on the hill. We started in Elevation, which was packed out but we managed to get a table by the window. The plan was just to have a quiet glass of wine and an early night, but things don't always go according to plan... The atmosphere in Elevation was buzzing and from our window table we had a good view of the hoards of people who were cramming themselves into Chambre 9. Sure enough, the tractor beam drew us in and before we knew it we were dancing on the tables with the rest of them. How does this keep happening?

The plan on Monday was to go to Comedy Night at the Jekyll, always a good night out and only €10 entry for some top quality UK comedians. However, we kind of got into the swing of things at South Bar and lost track of time at the fantastically named Wargasm Wargasmik Rec with DJ Manuel Moskavic. Manu has to be one of the happiest guys in Chamonix as he is never seen without a beaming smile on his face and takes great delight in getting everyone dancing; tech house isn't normally my thing but I had a great time partying with a mixed crowd of locals and tourists. Hopefully it will become a regular night at South Bar, keep an eye on the What's On Calendar for details of the next one.

The big event this coming weekend is the Khandahar Men's Alpine Skiing World Cup in Les Houches. The races take place on the 3rd, 4th and 5th February on the Verte piste by the Bellevue cable car; access to the event is free and you can either grab a spot by the finish line or hike up the side of the piste and watch the racers as they whizz past at scarily high speeds; it has been scientifically proven that enthusiastic cowbell ringing makes them go faster so get down there and join in, you might even end up on Ski Sunday!

The weekend is forecast to be colder than a penguin's bum, so it's a good job that the Kitsch Inn is on hand and located right next to the action in the carpark of the Bellevue cable car. They'll be serving food and drinks all day as well as featuring live music from 5pm onwards.

There is also going to be plenty of Kandahar related fun in Chamonix, starting on Thursday in the Place du Mont Blanc. Entertainment and Kandahar highlights on the big screen from 4:30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, followed by live music and DJs each night from 7pm with an outdoor bar and a giant tartiflette. No event in Chamonix is ever complete without a giant tartiflette.

If that's not enough excitement for you then all the usual live music, DJs, parties, etc will be doing their thing in the usual places - check out the What's On Calendar for details and have fun!