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Bars and Clubs
St. Martin has quite a number of
bars for a resort of its size, though no official nightclub. The
Joker bar often hosts discotheque nights in the Tardis-like Salle
de Fete which can be a pretty intense party if you are up for it!
Brewskis
- The hub of St. Martin's nightlife, this British/NZ run pub (and
apartments) has events all week from Sumo wrestling and Kareoke
to Pillow fighting and hedonistic drinking games, the staff are
always a riot (and quite fit too!). Also has a pool table, Sky TV,
Internet Access and a very nice restaurant.
Pourquoi Pas? (The Piano Bar) - Old wine cellar type building,
Friendly staff, Karaeoke and rock evenings, chilled out atmosphere.
Le Joker - Tiny Locals bar run by Eric, a Russian with a
permanent grin on his face, serves up lethal concoctions of drinks
usually consisting of vast amounts of Picon, Gin or Whisky! (Warning-you
will leave here very drunk!) no official opening or closing times!
Pool table and pub games machine.
Yukon (Hotel Le Altitude) - Relaxed family bar atmosphere
with Guinness on tap and British staff, pool table, log fire and
bar snacks. Kareoke, Pub Quiz, Bar crawl and Movie nights most weeks.
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Off-piste
This seasons snow wasn't great for a lot of off piste
routes though most were undertaken.
Pylon 14 - Take the St Martin 2 Chair to the top, go left along
the ridge between Pramint and Jerusalem find your way to pylon 14
and drop the gulley straight below it, take care with the rocks
at the bottom.
Allamands - From the very slow Allamands (orange) chairlift go far
right towards Les Menuires then drop down back towards the chair,
usually quite untracked due to the steep gradient of the start.
There are litterally hundreds of off-piste itinaries in the Three
Valleys so you are best buying the Three Valleys off-piste guide
with maps, photos and route finding.
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Moguls
Try Le Face (meribel sector) after every monkey in
Meribel has got their 'I skied le face' badge for the day!
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Speed
The Pramint run is probably any St.
Martin seasonaires usual speed run, and if you can't flatline it
by the end of your second week you're really not trying.
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Snowparks
St Martin has no park but neighbouring Les Menuires,
Meribel, Mottaret and Val Thorens do. The Mottaret one is probably
the best kept (due to its high altitude and sun direction) and usually
contains a billy killer black jump with 20ft of flat before the
downslope
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Events
St. Martin has open night time slalom
comps for all (weekly) and torch lit descents (also weekly) and
other resorts in the area have big air comps, freeride events, racing
and skier/boarder -X.
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Famous People
Ian Hislop was there last season, as was ITV filming a holiday programme.
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Away Days
Moutiers is just a hitch hike away down the hill,
and Albertville is not much further. Both have the usual Casino
supermarkets and other warehouse style retailers as well as swimming
pools, cinemas and train links (should you REALLY want to escape!).
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Shopping
Twinner has a nice selection of Rip Curl, T & C and your usual
boarder attire as well as Palmer boards and K2 skis. Jean Sport
stocks Quiksilver and most of the usual ski brands, limited board
selection though. Sport 1600 doesnt have a lot to offer, just gloves
and things for forgetful billies. Ski Set doesn't really sell anything
of use!
Most of the good shops are in VT, Les Menuires and Meribel try your
luck with the 'seasonaires price?' line but be prepared to have
a spanish inquisition as to who you work for!
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Internet
Cafés
The Internet is available at Brewskis,
The Tourist office and The Town Hall. All of which accept TeleCarte
phonecards.
More
Info
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Eating
Out
When you're tired of eatin' staff food and left overs
here's where you can munch some real food:
Le Voute - Pizza's and Steak good value for money, tasty food,
a seasonaires favorite!
Le Etoile De Neige -Expensive but quite tasty Savoiyarde Fayre.
Le Eterlou - Fairly reasonably priced average food, handy for the
slopes.
Le Alp Hotel - Slow service and boring food, expensive.
L'achenal - Expensive limited menu with garnishing that looks worryingly
like rats testes.
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Mountain
Restaurants
When hunger strikes prematurely and
you have to eat up there, these are your
options:
Le Loy (halfway down from 1st lift) - Decent food, decent price,
gets the last of the day's sun.
Le Chardon Blanche (first on left) - Cool Staff, good food, ask
for the Genepi Fire extinguisher!
Les Marmottes (just up from sm2 chair) - Popular with tourists,
watch out for snowball bombing raids from above chair!
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McDonalds
The closest Macca's is in Albertville
(and you can play inside a giant Ronald Mcdonald too!)
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Shopping
Day
Moutiers or Albertville
have the best supermarkets. You can bump into all the
chalet shoppers in the 3V on Wednesday and Thursdays.
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Transfer
Day
Changeover day usually goes
pretty smooth here, with Geneva, Chambery and Lyon all quite close
by and rail and bus links too.
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Living
If you are doing a season here you will almost certainly
living in an apartment or chalet, most of which are reasonably comfortable.
Just remember people live here so not everyone wants to listen to
Rage Against The Machine at 4am, you may find an angry rake-bearing
farmer waiting for you come morning.
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Links
www.brewskis.fr
www.stmartindebelleville.com
www.boozydo.net (St Martin
workers site)
CdS
Search
If you’re thinking of doing a season in St Martin then why
not search through the Club
des Saisonniers to see who else has worked there and what advice
they may be able to offer.
Join
Anyone who has done a season or has a firm offer from a tour operator
may join the Club des Saisonniers.
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[Thanks to Dan Loots for putting this Guide together]
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