 Poster: A snowHead
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If you've been to St. G before, probably no need to read further. But here's a quick summary of our trip last week. the tl;dr version is: Great town, excellent food, good slopes, OK infrastructure, lousy weather.
Town: St. G is in indeed more of a "real" town than most, being at 850-900 m and having only one (rarely used, from what I can tell) home run. The center is nicely spiffed up, with a number of good restaurants, two grocery stores, friendly butcher and a couple of bakeries, and a community center, plus an ice palace/pool complex. We can recommend L'Eterle for pizza/burgers etc and La Galeta for fondue (save room for galettes fait maison ). There's a weekly market on Thursday mornings. Parking in the center is a bit tricky -- there's a decent sized underground garage but not for under-confident drivers...it was pleasant to walk around taking in the views and popping into the church etc. We stayed in an airbnb near the Mt. Blanc cog railway. A few other notes: Les Contamines is about 10 minutes up the road; Megeve is 15 minutes; as is Les Houches; Chamonix is about 25 minutes, so you have lots of options.
Skiing (logistics): The main Bettex gondola has parking for 700 cars, but you can walk to it in about 10-15 from most places in town. We opted to rent gear at Claude Penz, which has lockers at the midway station, there are lockers at the base too. So probably the most comfortable option is to keep gear in locker and walk/drive to Bettex, though we saw lots of people booting up in the parking log. There's a shuttle bus system that we didn't need to try. Once you're up to the top of Bettex, at 1400 m or so, there's a second telecabine up to where the skiing begins. (there are about 4-5 runs down to Bettex, but you'll want to be on the main bowl facing Megeve). You can cross to Megeve at the base of the Mont d'Arbois lift via a very jammed gondola. I'd recommend planning to spend a full day or two over at Megeve. Not that many new lifts and more drags than I'd like, but I'm told there is a plan to replace one lift a year. Once that's done it should eliminate a few bottlenecks, especially at Ideal and Mont Joly high speed quad/sixes. There's also a bit of a scrum to get down the Bettex gondola at the end of the day.
Skiing (terrain): Lots of blues/reds, not all that difficult, unless it's icy, with stunning views. Plenty of sidepiste. Conditions aside, we (me: aspiring advanced intermediate; kids gold and bronz stars, wife mostly nonskier) liked the broad sunny slopes facing Megeve, as well as the Megeve slopes facing St. G. (and the Cote 2000 area of Megeve, which had the best snow) The St. Nicolas trails are narrower. We were limited by last week's unpleasant rain around Dec. 22 and then a freeze/thaw cycle that left everything boilerplate until noon. Still, I'd say if the conditions are good it compares favorably to most lower-altitude resorts in France, and with Megeve (both sides) and Les Contamines you'd have more than enough to do in a week. However, the low altitude doesn't bode well in an era of global warming. But on the other, other hand, most runs are tree-lined which helps in flat light.
Food: Expensive on the mountain but a very nice salle hors sac at Freddy's, with hooks to stash bags during the day. Unless you've got money to burn that's the way to go. If you want a "real" mountain restaurant it 'will be hard to get out of there for less than 100 euros for a family of four.
Other stuff to do: The spa / sauna/ hammam/ pools at the new Megeve sports complex are a must do, though not cheap. It was 80-something euros for a family of 4, but it was well worth it. We spent the last weekend in Chamonix poking around, and also took a morning drive up to Les Contamines to hike around.
Would I ski it again: Yes, but I might wait until later in the season. The potential for very-goodness (not quite greatness) was there, but better weather (ie. more snow) and some newer lifts would have transformed the place.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thanks for posting @Pasigal, some useful tips for our own trip next month!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@denfinella, ask away if you have any specific questions. There are some St. G. experts here, of course, but it was our first time...I didn't really talk about the skiing a lot because the conditions were...sub-optimal...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Nice writing, & for you to come away with positive thoughts after your poor conditions is a plus.
I would add a couple of things if you wouldn’t mind.
For spa the parc thermal in la fayet just below StG is a must, Mrs J says it’s up with any she’s been to & there are a few top end ones on that list.
For ski hire, I always point friends towards Nerry Glisse just over the old bridge, they have a separate heated storage room 100 meters from gondola, so allowing you to walk in shoes.
Hope you do give it another go, all my friends have commented at the lack of crowds compared to the usual suspects they go to
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Pasigal, do you know if the underground parking in the town centre is free? I believe it used to be, but not sure if things have changed. We have our own parking space at the apartment, but it's up quite a steep hill.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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double post
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Mon 31-12-18 17:34; edited 2 times in total
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@denfinella, I don’t think it’s free & it is certainly not intended for multiple days parking, the village rarely gets enough snow to stop apartment parking
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@denfinella, @Jonny996, Yes, it's free, but it's a real pain to maneuver, and you probably wouldn't want to park there for skiing. There were plenty of spaces around Bettex gondola.
Regarding the parc thermal in Le Fayet, they only allow kids for 2 hours on Saturday morning, hence the trip to Megeve. It did look excellent, reminded me a bit of Baden Baden spa.
I would definitely give St. G. another go -- could see the potential for near-greatness, but I do think some lift upgrades and more snow guns would help. Also, proximity to Megeve may or may not be a good thing, depending on how you feel about Folie Douce, Russian fertilizer princesses, Porsche Panameras and Moncler Gamme Bleu ski outfits...
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