Chamonix Apres Ski Report: 14th December 2011

I had a great night last Friday at the opening night of the Kitsch Inn in Les Houches. A group of us turned up early evening for a private party and Katy proved herself to be the hostess with the mostest by welcoming us with cocktails, making sure everyone enjoyed their meal and then taking to the stage to belt out a few songs with the band. The doors were thrown open to the masses at 10pm and there was a great turn-out; some of the locals looked a bit puzzled though, I'm not sure whether they were warned in advance that our party was fancy dress...

More peculiar still was the Silent Disco on Saturday night at the Jekyll. The idea is that 4 DJs all play completely different music at once, on entry you get given a headset which allows you to choose who you want to dance the night away to; you can choose just one, or chop and change. The reality is a lot of people dancing completely out of synch with each other in a silent bar... hilarious to watch and even funnier to join in with! Hopefully there'll be more of these to come.

I am very pleased to announce that I have (in the line of duty) sampled the goods at Pie, the new coffee shop on Avenue Ravanel Le Rouge. Unfortunately I will have to return as I don't feel I can give a full appraisal until I have tried at least 3 more cakes; that's true commitment to front line investigative journalism that is.

If you're out and about tonight, take a little wander over to Chamonix Sud. Monkey Bar have their first Ladies Night of the winter with cheap drinks for the girls; get dressed up as 80's-tastic neon lycra will be all the rage with music to match from DJ Willy Smalls. Just next door South Bar is reopening under new management; it has a brand new team behind the bar and Happy Hour is 4-6pm, so pop in and say hello!

Also opening this week is The Pub, which throws open it's doors on Friday - one of the best bars on the high street for relaxed drinking and a friendly atmosphere. Plenty of seating and a real British "pub" feel to it, probably hence the name...

However, the night we've all been waiting for is nearly upon us... this Sunday is the first apres gig of the winter at Chambre Neuf! I am not over-hyping it at all when I say that it is the biggest, the best and the LOUDEST apres party in Chamonix. No Limits rocked the joint last winter and are back again to get us dancing on the tables, falling off the tables, spilling more beer than we're managing to drink, bellowing along to rock classics, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture. Get there early as the band start at 5pm and despite being standing room only, you will still struggle to squeeze in if you are late. If you don't get prime position under the moose's head or by the window you can console yourself afterwards with 2-4-1 cocktails from 8-10pm.

There are loads of great nights lined up in the coming weeks so keep an eye on the What's On calendar for more details, especially in the run-up to Christmas and New Year when there will be parties left, right and centre.

Click here for details of all Chamonix bars, cafes and clubs