January 31 was a one day general strike protest in France against raising of Social Security normal retirement age from 62 to 64. In 1983 the US Social Security normal retirement was raised from 65 to 66 for the core of the baby boomers and to 67 for those born after 1960.
The first general strike day was Jan. 19, and the Grand Aigle Hotel said Serre Chevalier had been split into 3 sectors due to closed lifts. On Jan. 31 six Serre Chevalier lifts were closed, including Yret, though no sector split.
We thought it was an easy call to ski a day with James at Puy St. Vincent half an hour south of Briancon, then ski our final day at Serre Chevalier in full operation. Puy St. Vincent was on James’ way south to the Queyras areas. All of us thought a “mom and pop” place would be less impacted by the general strike than a big complex like Serre Chevalier.
Liz and I arrived about 10:15 at Station 1,400.
The top of the mountain is 4,500 feet higher and a long distance behind Liz.
Yes this is “mom and pop” as far as lift tickets are concerned. Liz and I combined were 74 Euros, comparable to Turner and Maverick in Montana.
But after we ascended the Les Pres and La Bergerie lifts, we saw that the strike impact was more severe than at Serre Chevalier. The top La Pendine lift was closed.
That lift goes to 9,000 feet and only Les Lauzes to 8,000 was open higher when we arrived at the top of Bergerie. With no lifts to the upper north facing ridgeline we debated asking for a refund. But while skiing our first lap on Lauzes, Rocher Noir (also 8,000 at the top) started spinning. View from Lauzes of Rocher Noir lift and terrain:
We skied the 2,700 vertical Bois Des Coqs from Lauzes to Station 1,600, Liz and James below me on that.
Snow was machine groomed hardpack, similar to comparable elevations at Serre Chevalier. Puy St. Vincent was not crowded, but it was far from being empty like the Queyras places James visited later in the week. Lauzes and Rocher Noir had lift lines but less than 5 minutes, and James gave up on getting lunch at the restaurant at 2,100 as that line looked to be half an hour. I’m guessing the F&B operations were also missing people due to the strike.
The Rocher Noir lift had good chalky off piste skiing.
The Lauzes groomers were in direct sun and skied nicely in early afternoon.
We returned to Rocher Noir. Here’s Liz about to drop in to some off piste skier’s right.
I explored farther skier’s left of the lift.
The last time up we skied Cretes along the skier’s right boundary. We passed this snowmaking reservoir with a group of hikers on the other side.
Puy St. Vincent has a typical French 70’s/80’s lodging complex at Station 1600.
We covered fairly well what was open with 15,100 vertical. We needed an easy day with 3 more coming without a break plus considerable driving.
The first general strike day was Jan. 19, and the Grand Aigle Hotel said Serre Chevalier had been split into 3 sectors due to closed lifts. On Jan. 31 six Serre Chevalier lifts were closed, including Yret, though no sector split.
We thought it was an easy call to ski a day with James at Puy St. Vincent half an hour south of Briancon, then ski our final day at Serre Chevalier in full operation. Puy St. Vincent was on James’ way south to the Queyras areas. All of us thought a “mom and pop” place would be less impacted by the general strike than a big complex like Serre Chevalier.
Liz and I arrived about 10:15 at Station 1,400.
The top of the mountain is 4,500 feet higher and a long distance behind Liz.
Yes this is “mom and pop” as far as lift tickets are concerned. Liz and I combined were 74 Euros, comparable to Turner and Maverick in Montana.
But after we ascended the Les Pres and La Bergerie lifts, we saw that the strike impact was more severe than at Serre Chevalier. The top La Pendine lift was closed.
That lift goes to 9,000 feet and only Les Lauzes to 8,000 was open higher when we arrived at the top of Bergerie. With no lifts to the upper north facing ridgeline we debated asking for a refund. But while skiing our first lap on Lauzes, Rocher Noir (also 8,000 at the top) started spinning. View from Lauzes of Rocher Noir lift and terrain:
We skied the 2,700 vertical Bois Des Coqs from Lauzes to Station 1,600, Liz and James below me on that.
Snow was machine groomed hardpack, similar to comparable elevations at Serre Chevalier. Puy St. Vincent was not crowded, but it was far from being empty like the Queyras places James visited later in the week. Lauzes and Rocher Noir had lift lines but less than 5 minutes, and James gave up on getting lunch at the restaurant at 2,100 as that line looked to be half an hour. I’m guessing the F&B operations were also missing people due to the strike.
The Rocher Noir lift had good chalky off piste skiing.
The Lauzes groomers were in direct sun and skied nicely in early afternoon.
We returned to Rocher Noir. Here’s Liz about to drop in to some off piste skier’s right.
I explored farther skier’s left of the lift.
The last time up we skied Cretes along the skier’s right boundary. We passed this snowmaking reservoir with a group of hikers on the other side.
Puy St. Vincent has a typical French 70’s/80’s lodging complex at Station 1600.
We covered fairly well what was open with 15,100 vertical. We needed an easy day with 3 more coming without a break plus considerable driving.
Last edited: