Serre Chevalier

I'm back and already wish I was there again!! Tony H - give me a shout if ya need any info!

You're in for a treat!!

souldrive wrote:I'm back and already wish I was there again!! Tony H - give me a shout if ya need any info!

You're in for a treat!!

So, tell all then, how did you get on? :D

souldrive wrote:I'm back and already wish I was there again!! Tony H - give me a shout if ya need any info!

You're in for a treat!!

Pics and a full report please!!!!!!!!!!

Pics / vids to follow - my gf did all the photography

Full report below:

Place:

L'Alpaga Appartments, Vielneuve - Serre Chevalier. Ample size with all the necessary provisions for cooking of food, opening of beer, and sleeping a drunken carcas.

Town itself, very picturesque in the middle of a valley at about 1200 metres (IIRC). Not very many restaurants / bars (don't be fooled by the SC website which lists about 30 - all spread across neighbouring villages and not that easy to find) which was surprising considering the towns size compared with smaller resorts i've been to.

Supermarket was very well stocked and even had a "British Section" which sold oreo's, (if you like that kinda thing) Ribena and Hellmans mayonaise??

I went to a local patisserie every morning and bought a couple of croissants for breaky and a baguette for lunch which was only about 4euros for the lot.

People:

There was a group of 9 of us that went we are all friends so got on fine, except when one friend insisted the best way to get my drunken carcass out of bed was to put his finger in my ear several times.

I will say it is difficult skiing with a mixed ability group - there was a lot of time wasted on the first couple of days but they soon caught up.

The French:

Absolutely brilliant. I would like to dispell all the myths about the french attitudes I had no problems whatsoever. I think it helps if you try and speak to them in their native tongue first and then they quite happily speak back in english.

Don't do what I did - "avez vous un sac?" Thinking it meant "have you a bag?" when outside the shop (after some strange looks) I realised it actually translates as "are you a bag?" "as tu un sac?" would be the correct approach.


Pistes

Excellent - Lots to chose from and several of them to cater for all abilities. Lots of snow on the first 3 days so the pistes were good all week. Didn't see a single snow cannon on.

Depending on your ability i'd recommend the Casse du boef black run as my fav of the week. Me and my mate raced down it trying to get quicker each time I think we did it in 3 and a half minutes at best, not recorded with a stop watch but nobody overtook us ;)

Try and get up to Yret lift in Monetier, takes you to the highest point on the map and gives some great views. The Grand Serre lift was also pretty impresive.

Go to the Melezone for some bumps and jumps and also a few little boxes etc...

Snow park was pretty decent too, Bivouac restaurant near snow park was pretty good to sit outside and chill out.

I was disappointed to find that some of the lifts and runs on the map were not actually there??? Le Clot Gauthier name was applied to 2 lifts on the map but only actually one was really there - this eliminated about 5 runs. We also searched out a black near the Cucumelle, which should have branched off the blue but there was never any sign of it?? When I looked at the map yesterday I found we had been given a map which was drawn in 2006 - these were the maps I saw all round the resort so they must need updating. Haven't compared it to the websites yet but will do at some point.

Briancon's pistes were isolated there just wasn't enough of them to challenge me unfortunately.

Don't plan to go to Les Deux alpes with the pass - there's no public transport to get there. Montgenevre is about 30 mins away and should be easy to get to. TBH, there's enough to do in Serre Che.



Prices

£5.50 for a pint in La Grotte - Cool English bar between chantemerle and Vileneuve (Under the Aravet Lift), £8.50 for an english breakfast £12 for a "grande" english breakfast, £6.50 for a cheese burger and chips not too bad really. At the end of the day, I got a weeks holiday for £200 and spent £350 on lift pass food and drink and other bits and bobs. I never expected to bring money back with me - I'm not complaining. We did eat in most nights and drank some cheap stubbies before going out which helped though.

Summary

GO TO SERRE CHEVALIER!!

Nice one bud. Looking forward to it already.

andyhull wrote:I've only skied there for a day, we were there of a day trip from Alpe D'Huez I think. A couple of Ski Miguel reps hosted us for the day, they were brilliant.
As much as I enjoyed it and would happily go back, it wouldn't be anywhere near the top of my list of French resorts to visit.
Don't let this be the limit of your exploration of french skiing, because you'll miss some of the best skiing in the world if you do.
As for the rudest skiers, that would have to be Germans in St Anton. (My favourite area, I think)
I can't say I've ever had a particularly bad experience in France, I tend to ski during quieter weeks, perhaps that makes a difference?

Funny isnt it, but when I was in St Anton in January, we had no problems with anyone anywhere in terms of rudeness. German speaking people were in fact quite fascinated with us English speakers. Mind you, this was again during quieter weeks in January.

Change of plan now, and instead of going 20th March and stopping in Chantmerle, I am going 1st March and stopping in Villeneuve.
A big plus is that we are now flying from Stansted not Manchester (1 hour instead of 2.5) and flying into Turin and not Grenoble (easier transfer and more organised airport).

Looking forward to it immensely, especially with the current snow coverage.

I have PM's a couple of people for tips on Serre Che. Hope I get replies in, thanks in advance.

Tony_H wrote:Change of plan now, and instead of going 20th March and stopping in Chantmerle, I am going 1st March and stopping in Villeneuve.
A big plus is that we are now flying from Stansted not Manchester (1 hour instead of 2.5) and flying into Turin and not Grenoble (easier transfer and more organised airport).

You'll now be there the same time as us. We fly out to Turin from Stansted on the 26th (evening flight after work) and return on the 2nd (after a full day's skiing). We found a place in Briancon to stay quite close to the lift. I think we are past the worst of the school holidays so hopefully it won't be too crowded. Skis waxed and ready to go.

Let's hope we have excellent weather, a fresh dump would be nice but seems unlikely. Failing that some good sunshine would be great.

I'm looking forward to a nice nighttime drive across the col de Montgenevre.

Have fun!