Meribel Apres Ski Report: 18th December 2011

Dick’s Tea Bar had their first big name DJ on Thursday night. Meribel local, DJ Danz, opened proceedings with a hip hop laden set and some old school classics thrown in for good measure. This was the perfect opening for the main event, ‘Freestylers’, who kicked off with their signature set starter, the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dick’s was packed to capacity and ‘Freestylers’ didn’t let the punters down with a big pumping break beat set, ending in the early hours of Friday morning.

The big name acts look set to continue rolling into Meribel with Ed Solo hitting Le Pub on Tuesday. This is a free event and Le Pub has been granted a special late licence so I would recommend heading down early to avoid disappointment. Seasonnaires will be pleased to hear that Pub is reintroducing their ‘Seasonnaire Hour’ with dangerously low prices between 9.30 and 10.30pm. There are events all week long at Le Pub, a full weekly events list can be found on Facebook, just search for ‘Doron Pub’.

Not only is the Meribel events calendar filling up fast, people looking to find somewhere new to eat will be pleased to hear that many of the town’s restaurants are now reopening for the season with Chez Kiki now open and Aux Petits Oignons opening its doors on Wednesday. Both of these bar/restaurants are highly recommended and can be found further up in town in the Morel area.

Some bad news now, that I am saddened to be delivering to you. Those of you who logged on to Merinet.com last week may recall seeing a photograph of this year’s wooden sculpture outside the Meribel tourism office. It was a beautifully carved wooden sleigh being drawn by a huge moose, complete with Santa, a young passenger with a slightly deranged face and some presents. Unfortunately the mountain air and the free flowing alcohol affects some people in resort more than others and on Monday night a drunken imbecile decided to play monkey bars on the moose’s antlers. Two days later I stood and watched as the poor antlerless moose was loaded onto a truck and taken away. I hear he is in good hands and is set to make a full recovery but whether he will make it back this season is a mystery. I’ll be sure to keep you posted!

If you have to pick one night of the week to go out and party then Sunday is as good a choice as any. Start your night with a quiet drink in Evolution bar to ease yourself into the festivities before popping next door to Jack’s. If you are feeling lucky, this is the day of Jack’s Bars ‘Toss the Boss’ promotion. Beat the boss’s roll of the dice and your round (no matter the size) is on the house. Hopefully your wallet will not have lost too much weight by this point and you can head up the road to Le Pub to check out their DJs and, often, live music. If you are still in the mood at 2am when Pub shuts, Dick’s Tea Bar is a short walk and remains open until around 5am.

Clearer skies and lighter snow are expected for the next couple of days with the heavy stuff returning on Tuesday, so it looks like the resort is now back to normal. More bars and restaurants are set to open over the next week including a brand new bar in the centre of Meribel called ‘Le Savoy’. It has a late licence so this might become an alternative for those who don’t wish to head down to the caves of Dick’s Tea Bar. I’ll be back next week with my verdict on ‘The Savoy’ which claims to be the new bar for ‘funky’ people in Meribel. I shall do my best to find out exactly what that means and let you know!