Has anyone been to St Gervais before?

Hi Everyone

This is my first post so please be kind to me! I have been offered a chalet in St. Gervais Mont Blanc from 7th April for a week and having been to Chamonix before I guess they are quite similar regarding mountain runs and Nightlife although I have absolutely no idea to be fair?

Has anyone ever been before? can you tell me a bit about it like:

Will there be any snow on the mountain, real or man-made in April?

Is the nightlife ok for two 30 year olds?

Is Chamonix within easy driving distance?

Also - any reccomendations when hiring a car? Winter tyres? Snow Chains? is it worth getting these?

Thanks
Richard

The sking in St gervais is nothing like chamonix .St Gervais connects with Megeve and has about 359km of sking most of which is wide flattering pistes good for intermediates and beginers.It has also not had a good year for snow. If conditions are not good les contamines which has got good snow at the moment is only 8km up the road and chamonix is about 20 mins away.It is an extremely pleasant town along with la fayet and its spa baths and also boasts a casino.It is possible to acess Les Houches ski area using the Train Mont Blanc from the station in st Gervais.If you have a car it gives you all kinds of alternetives as regards places to ski and things to do.Hope you have a good time but be prepared to travell unless there is a lot more snow. If you have any further questions please contact me.

We like St Gervais.
It is very close to the Chamonix valley and Les Houches (say 20- 30 mins drive from Chamonix centre and at the end of the autoroute blanc).
We stayed in Chamonix and drove to Megeve for the day and you pass through St Gervais. The lift in the village goes up to Bettex station on the way up to the Megeve slopes.
We ski'd in April this year and there was plenty snow after the first lift station and loads over Megeve (despite the reports), not perfect snow but much better than Les Houches which was struggling to be skiable the same week.
St Gervais appears like an English spa town and did not seem to have any loud apres ski and is very French in that respect, a bit like Harrogate or Bath but half way up a french mountain.

Overall, great accessible base to ski tour all the Chamonix valley etc, but not very good for takeaways and dancing on tables.

Rob.

I have skied St Gervais over several weeks. The skiing is great if the snow is plentiful. Lots of variation in terrain, tree lined runs and steep open slopes. The town is quite pretty with lots of old buildings. I'm not too sure if it will have exciting nightlife though.
One part of St Gervais links in with Megeve. The other side of town goes up to Prarion, which links in with Les Houches IIRC, as a train comes up from Le Fayet. If you have a car, you go where the conditions are best on the day.
I was in Les Houches in April this year, and this is how it was looking....
http://picasaweb.google.com/bandit2106/SkiApril2007/photo#5054472477732432146
Conditions on the upper slopes were quite good really :D

If you rent a car from the Swiss side of Geneva airport, it will already have snow tyres, and a Swiss Motorway vignette. Some of the hire companies include chains, some don't. The road up to St Gervais is a main road, and in April it's unlikely that you will need chains to get up the hill. If the place you are offered is in one of the hamlets above St Gervais then you should err on the side of caution.

Chamonix is very like St Gervais in as much as both resorts have pistes with snow on them :D
Seriously they are very, very different ski destinations !