Where to Ski And Snowboard -

Good groomers in St-Gervais

7th February 2011, by Chris Gill

The slopes above St-Gervais on Saturday 5 February - from Mt Joux with Mt Joly (top right)

Five weeks without any significant snowfall said taxi driver Olivier. Now that sounded bad news for a French resort with most of its terrain under 2000m. But I have just spent a whistle-stop weekend in St-Gervais, and enjoyed good skiing – albeit with weather reminiscent of late March, not early February. You know it’s a weird winter when the locals are busy putting out a forest fire on the hillside across the valley!

Our small press group arrived in St-Gervais on Friday night, a largely overlooked spa town sandwiched between the good and the greats of Chamonix (shush!) and Megève (shush!) – with which St-Gervais shares its slopes – but steeped in history and tradition too.

The weather had warmed up, even at Le Bettex 1400m where we were staying. So, we were not expecting great things from the slopes on Saturday. But I must say that the pisteurs had worked wonders: we cruised around on lovely well-groomed runs beneath stunning scenery – Mont Blanc dominates the view across the valley and Mt Joly (the ski area high point is 2355m) looked pretty handsome under blue skies.

Many of the shadier pistes gave good, grippy snow that softened nicely through the morning. Others were firmer, but with less of the nasty ice that I was expecting. Conditions are distinctly best on the St-Gervais side of the broad Mont d’Arbois and Mont Joux ridges.

On Saturday, we explored the network of blues and easy reds that highlight this area for relaxed, non-challenging skiing and boarding, out towards the pretty village of St Nicolas and back. The Mont Joux terrain park was in great shape too. On the sunnier Mégeve side of Mont d’Arbois, things are less impressive but holding up. One of the best runs of the weekend though was the deserted, wooded blue from Mt d’Arbois towards La Princess in the valley, where we found good, soft snow and no ice.

Saturday’s slopes were shared with lots of local junior slalom teams, fearlessly zipping past everyone; but otherwise the area wasn’t crowded. We lunched at Sous Les Freddy’s – a tiny, traditional hut, where the owners Janine and Olivier brought out a veritable feast of hearty Alpine food (meats, cheeses, potato cakes, salad …), followed by delicious home made desserts, mugs of hot tea and glasses of gnole (the after-meal tipple). The plat du jour (excluding desserts) was 15 euros per person – St-Gervais prices are a bit lower than its better-known neighbours. A small beer in the area averages 2.60 to more typically 4 euros (25cl).

The cute lunch stop, even cuter inside.

Le Bettex has a small collection of chalets, hotels and restaurants beside the slopes and Bettex-Arbois gondola, although a fair way up the mountain from St-Gervais itself. You stay here for the quiet nights, early ski starts. Our hotel, the Bettex-Arbois, is a popular family choice and has a pool. The ski school and nursery area are right outside.

We were taken down to the valley to experience the thermal spa treatments. It all felt rather clinical sat in a waiting room then whisked off to various ‘chambers’ to be cleansed – especially when faced with what looks like an operating table, with a series of shower heads above it. But an Indian massage, water body massage and stimulating hose down later leaves you fully refreshed for another day on the slopes.

We enjoyed good evening meals in traditional style, which included lots of cheese but also a fabulous venison dish in red wine gravy. Sunday morning was another sunny, bluebird day. The views from Mt Joly were incredible as we skied off along the red run from the top lift, accompanied by our mountain guide Roland. We left for Geneva again after lunch. A short but rewarding visit.

More on St-Gervais and its skiing to follow.

These upper slopes and park are in fine shape right now

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