Serre Chevalier March 2013 - in words and pictures

I was curious about 'Tabuc' as we found it totally different to the rest of the runs in Serre Chevalier. Prior to skiing 'Tabuc' we had been bombing about on the area's great selection of blue, red and black runs thinking we were the dog's....
'Tabuc' reminded us that we weren't. :-D.

I think it is left un-groomed for long periods of time and the result is an uneven, constantly changing and, for us at the time, quite a challenging piste. I think the French call that type of piste 'ski naturel'.I seem to recall that it went through woodland/forest so it was also very scenic. I was a little pre-occupied in trying to keep it all 'shiny side up' to appreciate the views but I would love another crack at it now.

They call them "Brut de neige" in SC. Theres a few of them, including the 2 unpisted blacks of Eychuada which we did, but Tabus was closed because of the Avalanche risk. It is unpisted, youre right.

Hi Tony, great report.
I skied in Serre Che once a week for the whole season and absolutely loved it, better than Les Deux Alpes where I was based. But I have never actually stayed in Serre che there and my impression was that the village/s was/were very spread out and not too good for après ski although I don't do much of that these days, so what is the truth about this and also are there any good hotels that you know of please?

idkwia wrote:Hi Tony, great report.
I skied in Serre Che once a week for the whole season and absolutely loved it, better than Les Deux Alpes where I was based. But I have never actually stayed in Serre che there and my impression was that the village/s was/were very spread out and not too good for après ski although I don't do much of that these days, so what is the truth about this and also are there any good hotels that you know of please?

Well, as you'll know to made up of 4 main areas to stay in:
Monetier is the highest and a traditional old ski village
Villeneuve, also known as la salle les Alpes is my favourite as its has a quaint old village spread out along a mile or so by the river, with a newer area the other side where the lift statins are
Chantmerle is perhaps the most commercial and built up area with the greatest collections of hotels and apartments
Then down the bottom is briancon, an old town with a unesco works heritage centre old part as well as the newer working town which you wouldn't really know walking around was linked to a huge ski area.

There's apartments in all the areas, briancon has some high rise blocks which aren't pretty but are cheap and well positioned next to the Prorel lift.

Chantmerle boasts the higher number of hotels including the newly renovated Grand. Hotel serre rather is up the Montaigne and would be a great place to stay.

Villeneuve has chalets and old style buildings which all look nicely rustic and somewhat run down which I really like. We have stayed in several places here, and the club med is just across the river above the pontillas lift opposite the rocket ski hotel le grand aigle, cheap and cheerful and not really very nice,

Monetier is a buzzing ski village with some lovey old buildings as well as some smart new apartments recently built, it's a spa town as well. Ski miquel have a couple of lovely old properties here worth looking at.

It's France so sores ski isn't the scene it is in Austria, but monetier and chantmerle have something of a collection of bars close to the lift and in their little centres.

Villeneuve has a nice bar in the commercial centre, I forget its name at the moment, but its very friendly and gets packed around 6pm. There's also several rustic old bars in the old village of Villeneuve, some of which couple up as restaurants later on.
I love the place, it has a nice feel, definitely not typical French at all.

Wow Tony, great report, very useful thank you so much. One last question, in terms of getting up the mountain quickly and without using buses or walking too far what is your preferred choice please?

Club med would be the best option, its on the piste

Alternatively the grand in chantmerle is ideal.

Good report Tony, great to read on a wet damp April morning after having a powder day ourselves yesterday. thanks for sharing.

Great report and glad you all had such a good week. :D

Seriously considering for next year as looks like it would suit us perfectly.