ChrisC
Well-known member
Serre Chevalier is likely the best authentically French megaresort in the country. There are no Brutalist high-alpine apartment blocks, but instead, it is composed of charming, traditional villages such as Briançon and Le Monêtier-les-Bains.
As discussed, Serre Chevalier has a much higher treeline compared to most of the Alps, and its forest is primarily composed of Larch trees, which lose their pine needles in winter. These trees provide a clear line of sight and are not as dense as New England hardwoods, but not as widely spaced as West Coast pines. Other areas in the Southern Alps also possess this characteristic, such as La Grave, Montgenevre, Sauze, and Sestriere, among others.
Therefore, you have the option of either high alpine bowls and faces or lower, tree-lined slopes or glades. It is somewhat similar to how Summit County, Colorado resorts ski (i.e., Copper Mountain or Breckenridge) without the crowds: north-facing (Copper Mt), trails, or alpine, and long laterally. However, Serre Chevalier is nearly 10 miles across and takes 20 minutes by car to get from Biancon to Le Monêtier-les-Bains.
Also, this is one of the best intermediate resorts in the Alps. Nothing is too steep or overly extreme (unless you seek it out), and there are vast swathes of manageable alpine terrain (groomed or off-piste) that you are not going to get into any trouble. I have not seen that many friendly mountains outside of Arosa-Lenzerheide, Grand Massif/Flaine, Crans-Montana, and Trois Vallées.
Serre Chevalier skis like four highly interconnected resorts that correspond to the various villages at their bases (from left to right):
I generally try to review a top map of a European resort to get a more accurate sense of scale; too often, aspects, lifts, and piste lengths are shrunk or elongated to fit everything on a piece of paper.
The only issue with Serre Chevalier in the Spring is altitude. Serre Chevalier is a little low compared to other Southern French Alps or Italian ski resorts. Previously, I had only skied here in mid-winter with snow everywhere! Very snowy villages. However, its lack of elevation becomes apparent in early April, following a warm March but decent early winter snowfall.
The result was a snowline/base at approximately 1800m. This did not impact Montgenevre, Alpe d'Huez, or Les 2 Alpes, but Serre Chevalier was mostly dependent on snowmaking below the alpine level. Also, most of the trees were not skiable since they extend to only about 2000m
Comparison of some ski areas I visited.
Additionally, I had high expectations for new snow in Serre Chevalier's alpine region, given that Les Deux Alpes had received about 10-20cm/4-8 inches the previous day, and the Col du Lautaret had been closed for almost 18 hours. The storm appeared to be strengthening again as I left 2 Alpes, tuning into a proper Retour d'East.
However, my expectations of snow did not quite materialize for Serre Chevalier. Maybe its lower elevation and geographic location caused it to miss out?
Top Map with 1800m Snow Line
The same lodging company that owns the Pic Blanc in Alpe d'Huez owns the Grand Aigle in Serre Chevalier and was offering a similar half nightly deal if booked through the website for 125 Euros midweek. It was a no brainer to choose it - especially since the Villeneuve resort replaced 2 old gondolas with a new 10-passenger model that extends up into the alpine. I believe Tony stayed there.
I had previously stayed in Biancon which is almost a small city - like Chamonix - and has many reasonable option and an old town/histoic core to boot.
Another lodging company that had many good deals in Southern Alps locations was: https://www.langleyhotels.eu/en/our-hotels/
For the ski day, I decided to head over to the eastern facing Briancon slopes after ascending the Pontillas. The snow report indicated Serre Chevalier only recieved 1-3 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours. What happened?
Col Du Prorel area from the Prorel lift. Cossing to Briancon from Chantemerle
Backside/south of Prorel
Nice refuge at the Prorel Gondola summit overlooking Briancon and eastward to Montgenevre & Italy
After a quick run to the Briancon base and another lap to midstation, I decided to return the more north facing center areas of Chantemerle and Villeneuve since the sun was rapdily warming the eastern slopes. They were starting to get mushy on the mid-to-lower mountain.
View to Serre Chevalier (2450m) peak proper. Again, lots of rolling open intermediate terrain punctuated by pistes/groomers. Still a few surface lifts in this upper sector (3) that were not running midweek.
Now skiing from Serre Chevalier peak - looking eastward to Rocher Blanc (2550m) right - and Sommet du Prorel (2566m) left.
Note: the snow here was barely 1-2 inches, not meaningful.
I am early enough to take a photo of the required Euro/#Insta sign before it's mobbed by Influencers, Content Creators, Travel Nomads and Social Media mavens all day.
Looking from Sere Chevalier peak westward to Villeneuve sector - L'Eychauda summit (2640m) is the highpoint in the near ground. Snow looks more promising in this direction.
However, I decided to check out the steeper return to base pistes before they turned to mush. At about 1030am-ish, barely anyone else had skied the black piste Champella to the Chatemerle base and it was perfect spring corn, similar to the east-facing Briancon pistes.
Decided to make my way to the L'Eychauda summit via the Clot Gauthier HS 6-pack. Moe interesting terrain off this lift.
L'Eychauda summit and surface lift/poma. This lift faces due north and reaches almost 9,000 ft - promising tracks.
Zoomed out to get the scale of this area
Not too bad at the top. Pretty nice in a few places, a little thin in others.
This Downhill Kite Skiing phenomena is so Euro - like the 1980s Monski or Ski Ballet.
View off the backside
If you could get into some of the gulleys or lee side/west side of an object, there was about 10cm/4inches of new snow to ski. Not bad, but not great. Other thinner areas skied a bit like dust on crust/hard-packed. The poma lift was quick to lap to explore the various open faces/broad chutes.
I took about 4 runs off the Eychauda lift before before trying the longe Isolee piste (left below). Thanfully, this skied more like an off-piste itinerary with a lot of terrain to explore.
Decided to quickly do a run to the base of the Villeneuve sector while surfaces were still good and relatively unskied.
Off to the further east sector of Monetier. This is an overview of the Vallons 6-pack that sevices some really playful, fun, non-threatening terrain - open slopes, drainages, etc. One can hike either to the right or left to access untouched freeride terrain.
The top of the new Pontillas Gondola giving access to the Clot Gauthier lift and Mia sector. There is a plan to replace the 4 remaning surface lift in this Mia area with a HS 6-pack. Serre Chevalier is steadily making progress to a very modern lift system.
Vallons lift. Unfortunately, this area faces east and did not not quite have the softer more pwdery surfaces of the Euchausa peak llift.
I am at the top of the Vallons lift at the Col De La Cucumelle (2500m). This is the area to looke's left/skier's right fo the chair - Tete De La Balme (2625m)/Roche Gauthier (see both names on maps). This is one of the top freeride areas at Serre Chevalier! It's a nice leisurely hike along a gradual, wide ridge to terrain that curves around to be north-facing. I was nto sure what the conditioins would be like in those chutes (worthwhile?), and was anxoius to get over to the Monetier sector so skipped it.
To be continued.
As discussed, Serre Chevalier has a much higher treeline compared to most of the Alps, and its forest is primarily composed of Larch trees, which lose their pine needles in winter. These trees provide a clear line of sight and are not as dense as New England hardwoods, but not as widely spaced as West Coast pines. Other areas in the Southern Alps also possess this characteristic, such as La Grave, Montgenevre, Sauze, and Sestriere, among others.
Therefore, you have the option of either high alpine bowls and faces or lower, tree-lined slopes or glades. It is somewhat similar to how Summit County, Colorado resorts ski (i.e., Copper Mountain or Breckenridge) without the crowds: north-facing (Copper Mt), trails, or alpine, and long laterally. However, Serre Chevalier is nearly 10 miles across and takes 20 minutes by car to get from Biancon to Le Monêtier-les-Bains.
Also, this is one of the best intermediate resorts in the Alps. Nothing is too steep or overly extreme (unless you seek it out), and there are vast swathes of manageable alpine terrain (groomed or off-piste) that you are not going to get into any trouble. I have not seen that many friendly mountains outside of Arosa-Lenzerheide, Grand Massif/Flaine, Crans-Montana, and Trois Vallées.
Serre Chevalier skis like four highly interconnected resorts that correspond to the various villages at their bases (from left to right):
- Briancon
- Chantermerle
- Villeneuve
- Monetier Les Bains
I generally try to review a top map of a European resort to get a more accurate sense of scale; too often, aspects, lifts, and piste lengths are shrunk or elongated to fit everything on a piece of paper.
The only issue with Serre Chevalier in the Spring is altitude. Serre Chevalier is a little low compared to other Southern French Alps or Italian ski resorts. Previously, I had only skied here in mid-winter with snow everywhere! Very snowy villages. However, its lack of elevation becomes apparent in early April, following a warm March but decent early winter snowfall.
The result was a snowline/base at approximately 1800m. This did not impact Montgenevre, Alpe d'Huez, or Les 2 Alpes, but Serre Chevalier was mostly dependent on snowmaking below the alpine level. Also, most of the trees were not skiable since they extend to only about 2000m
Comparison of some ski areas I visited.
Additionally, I had high expectations for new snow in Serre Chevalier's alpine region, given that Les Deux Alpes had received about 10-20cm/4-8 inches the previous day, and the Col du Lautaret had been closed for almost 18 hours. The storm appeared to be strengthening again as I left 2 Alpes, tuning into a proper Retour d'East.
However, my expectations of snow did not quite materialize for Serre Chevalier. Maybe its lower elevation and geographic location caused it to miss out?
Top Map with 1800m Snow Line
The same lodging company that owns the Pic Blanc in Alpe d'Huez owns the Grand Aigle in Serre Chevalier and was offering a similar half nightly deal if booked through the website for 125 Euros midweek. It was a no brainer to choose it - especially since the Villeneuve resort replaced 2 old gondolas with a new 10-passenger model that extends up into the alpine. I believe Tony stayed there.
I had previously stayed in Biancon which is almost a small city - like Chamonix - and has many reasonable option and an old town/histoic core to boot.
Another lodging company that had many good deals in Southern Alps locations was: https://www.langleyhotels.eu/en/our-hotels/
For the ski day, I decided to head over to the eastern facing Briancon slopes after ascending the Pontillas. The snow report indicated Serre Chevalier only recieved 1-3 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours. What happened?
Col Du Prorel area from the Prorel lift. Cossing to Briancon from Chantemerle
Backside/south of Prorel
Nice refuge at the Prorel Gondola summit overlooking Briancon and eastward to Montgenevre & Italy
After a quick run to the Briancon base and another lap to midstation, I decided to return the more north facing center areas of Chantemerle and Villeneuve since the sun was rapdily warming the eastern slopes. They were starting to get mushy on the mid-to-lower mountain.
View to Serre Chevalier (2450m) peak proper. Again, lots of rolling open intermediate terrain punctuated by pistes/groomers. Still a few surface lifts in this upper sector (3) that were not running midweek.
Now skiing from Serre Chevalier peak - looking eastward to Rocher Blanc (2550m) right - and Sommet du Prorel (2566m) left.
Note: the snow here was barely 1-2 inches, not meaningful.
I am early enough to take a photo of the required Euro/#Insta sign before it's mobbed by Influencers, Content Creators, Travel Nomads and Social Media mavens all day.
Looking from Sere Chevalier peak westward to Villeneuve sector - L'Eychauda summit (2640m) is the highpoint in the near ground. Snow looks more promising in this direction.
However, I decided to check out the steeper return to base pistes before they turned to mush. At about 1030am-ish, barely anyone else had skied the black piste Champella to the Chatemerle base and it was perfect spring corn, similar to the east-facing Briancon pistes.
Decided to make my way to the L'Eychauda summit via the Clot Gauthier HS 6-pack. Moe interesting terrain off this lift.
L'Eychauda summit and surface lift/poma. This lift faces due north and reaches almost 9,000 ft - promising tracks.
Zoomed out to get the scale of this area
Not too bad at the top. Pretty nice in a few places, a little thin in others.
This Downhill Kite Skiing phenomena is so Euro - like the 1980s Monski or Ski Ballet.
View off the backside
If you could get into some of the gulleys or lee side/west side of an object, there was about 10cm/4inches of new snow to ski. Not bad, but not great. Other thinner areas skied a bit like dust on crust/hard-packed. The poma lift was quick to lap to explore the various open faces/broad chutes.
I took about 4 runs off the Eychauda lift before before trying the longe Isolee piste (left below). Thanfully, this skied more like an off-piste itinerary with a lot of terrain to explore.
Decided to quickly do a run to the base of the Villeneuve sector while surfaces were still good and relatively unskied.
Off to the further east sector of Monetier. This is an overview of the Vallons 6-pack that sevices some really playful, fun, non-threatening terrain - open slopes, drainages, etc. One can hike either to the right or left to access untouched freeride terrain.
The top of the new Pontillas Gondola giving access to the Clot Gauthier lift and Mia sector. There is a plan to replace the 4 remaning surface lift in this Mia area with a HS 6-pack. Serre Chevalier is steadily making progress to a very modern lift system.
Vallons lift. Unfortunately, this area faces east and did not not quite have the softer more pwdery surfaces of the Euchausa peak llift.
I am at the top of the Vallons lift at the Col De La Cucumelle (2500m). This is the area to looke's left/skier's right fo the chair - Tete De La Balme (2625m)/Roche Gauthier (see both names on maps). This is one of the top freeride areas at Serre Chevalier! It's a nice leisurely hike along a gradual, wide ridge to terrain that curves around to be north-facing. I was nto sure what the conditioins would be like in those chutes (worthwhile?), and was anxoius to get over to the Monetier sector so skipped it.
To be continued.
