My Tour of Race Piste Cafés ~ Part 1

As the races haven’t been going so well recently I’ve spent a few too many hours in and around cafes waiting for the others to finish racing so we can head back home. My time in the cafe has become a bit of a running joke of late and I’ve had a few requests off of people to “rate the cafes” 

Hopefully my finishing record will improve and by the end of the season I won't be able to tell you where the best cafe is but for now I can help with a few!

San Pellegrino

A great little cafe but the most boring place on Earth after coming out of a slalom race. Hot chocolate was decent but a bit pricy at 3.50 euro and same goes for the food. The cafe was a good distance away from the race course but in a convenient place being right in the finish area. So convenient that I didn’t bother going round to get my kit after the first run and left Laurie to bring it round for me.

One point deducted just for being in San Pellegrino but still a solid 6/10

Pila Gressan

Surprisingly didn’t hit the cafe in this one, however it looked quite toasty from outside.

Chamonix

Small cafe with good service and cheap snacks. Cookies for 1 euro were lovely and the food was great even if it was a bit pricy. As a little extra you could even watch the race from one of the seats in the cafe which was good until everyone cottoned onto the fact and I lost my seat rather dramatically. After a DNF on the first night the heating was great after a cold couple of nights and I would recommend it for any fellow DNF’ers of the ski world.

This is a great cafe with a great view. A solid 8/10

Morzine

Another well situated cafe right at the bottom of the hill however we never really spent that much time in the cafe other than getting food. A 2^nd run DNF on day one & Ruslan pulling us all out on the second day meant cafe time here was minimal however my pasta carbonara was great and the three-cheese toasted bread was pleasant.

However it is hard to rate this one, just for the lack of time spent in there, so ill give it 5/10.

Champery

Yes. It did hurt.

Two of the finest cafes that you will see around the Alps. After crashing both days me and Laurie spent an accumulated 6 hours in the cafe which left us with plenty of time for non-ski related activities. The hot chocolate was little pricy at 4 francs each, however I suppose that given this is Switzerland we can let that one slip. We had a good little game of pool on both days which was good to laugh at Laurie’s great habit of potting the white after every attempted shot. Once it had all settled down we managed to get a rocking chair next to the fire and even watch the race, or more to the point, the last gate because of the terrible visibility. The large mirror in the toilet that offered selfie opportunities of the gate mark I got across my back earns this alpine gem an extra half point. If you're going to DNF a first run, then we heartily recommend you do it here.

We would definitely recommend this cafe and rate it a good 9/10. Clearly this beauty is going to take some beating this year.