 Poster: A snowHead
|
Serre Chevalier 1400
Club Med
12th Feb 2012 to 19th Feb 2012
This was the first ever family ski trip for me, my wife and our children aged 9 and 6. We travelled with another family, with children of similar age and all of whom had no prior skiing experience.
I hope that the following is of use to anyone who finds themselves in the same position that we were in a few months ago, i.e. wondering whether to take the plunge and book Club Med in Serre Chevalier.
Preparation
In terms of previous experience, my wife had done a week in Bulgaria (with almost no snow) 20 years ago and I’d had about 5 group lessons at the Snow Centre (Hemel) in early 2011, starting with ‘learn to ski in a day’. More recently (Jan 2012) we all had another visit to Hemel; I repeated the main slope ready course, my wife did a 2 hour beginner ladies morning and the kids had two hours of lessons. In essence we were all very much beginners…
Journey outbound
We flew from Gatwick to Grenoble and arrived at Club Med mid-afternoon via a 2.5hr coach transfer. Grenoble airport is small but didn’t seem chaotically busy and we got through pretty quickly, all bags having made the journey too. Overall, the whole thing was stress free, except for the idiots at Monarch Airlines who initially put us (and many others) into the queue for the wrong flight, then subsequently made us join the back of the right queue – the extra half an hour wasted in line meant thoughts of breakfast once through departures went out of the window.
Hotel
The Club Med hotel was brilliant. Room was adequate (not enormous, but big enough, clean and comfortable) and the hotel itself never felt overwhelmingly busy, despite being at capacity. Our room was adjacent to our friends’, which was nice.
We always got a table at mealtimes without a problem and the buffet style arrangement worked well; queues for particular dishes were rarely more than 2 or 3 people long and it never felt like you had to wait for your meal. The choice of dishes on offer was excellent and all the staff were friendly and helpful.
Evening entertainment wise, there was always something going on – usually totally bonkers, but fun. For our part though, we generally all took the chance to have an early night ready for a full day’s skiing.
Throughout our stay, everyone at the Club Med seemed to go out of their way to make our stay enjoyable. We never had a problem with any of the staff and the Resort Chief, Stephan Noublanche was always on hand to keep things running smoothly. The all inclusive option worked very well and there was really no need to spend any money (although naturally we had to buy the kids ‘Serre Che 45’ t-shirts).
In short, I would recommend Club Med Serre Che to anyone, without hesitation.
Equipment
We opted to rent from Club Med directly; an expensive option but very convenient. The ski room is at the bottom of the hotel (underneath the restaurant) and we quickly picked up skis, boots and poles on Sunday afternoon. All of the equipment seemed fine (as far as we could tell, as beginners) and fairly new. The boots especially seemed good – comparatively little signs of wear and miles better than the rental stuff at Hemel!
Even after a week skiing, we were all blister free (one of our friends changed her boots after the first day because they were a bit uncomfortable, but this was done quickly and without complaint; her new boots were then fine for the rest of the week). Similarly, one of our party snapped a pole during a fall, and it was replaced without question (or charge).
Being able to lock up your skis and poles in the ski room, and leave your boots there on the warming racks, was very convenient.
Skiing
From the ski room, you walk through a short tunnel to the slopes, located just a couple of hundred metres above the 20 person Pontillas cable car; could not be easier.
On our first morning we got the kids ready for ski school, all fretful parents desperate not to leave their little ones to the mercy of some sort of snowy childcare. We need not have worried, as all the staff were incredibly kind and helpful and the kids loved it from day one. Their ‘flocon’ group of around 11 six to ten years olds consisted entirely of English speaking children, so they quickly made friends with others in the group.
Next, we were sorted into ability groups by the ESF team (who work solely with Club Med clients). I made it into the level one group (one up from the beginner ‘debutantes’ class) and after a short skiing test that in turn got split into higher and lower classes, with about 10 people in each. I managed to make it into the higher level class – thanks Hemel! All classes were a mix of French, English and other nationalities, but the instruction was multilingual and understanding things wasn’t a problem.
Each day we made steady progress, from the nursery slopes on day 1, up to the easy greens (Ecole du Frejus), longer/harder greens (Barres, Chameant, Frejus), blues (Pre Jeanne etc.) and finally on the last Friday afternoon of lessons, a red (Clot Gauthier). Most days we’d either get the Frejus gondola back down the mountain, then a Club Med bus back to the hotel, or (as our skiing improved) ski all the way back to the door of the hotel via the Frejus green). Each day, cakes, vin chaud and other goodies would always be there to welcome you home.
Our ESF instructor (Guillaume) was great and it was an enjoyable week. We even did some slow motion video analysis (he taped us skiing individually down a couple of hundred metres of piste), which was really helpful. Although I’m sure I’d have got a lot more from private lessons, I felt my skiing improved a lot over the week and all in all it was a fun experience. The folks in my group were all lovely people and we quickly build up a good camaraderie, despite being a mix of English and French speakers.
We did however find skiing continuously from 9.30 to 12.00 and then 2.30 to 5.00 every day quite tiring! Indeed, my wife and I both took Thursday afternoon off as we were exhausted; it proved to be a good move as we skied much better the following day.
Saturday morning was optional fun competitions for the kids (they opted to do it…) which we went to watch. We were thrilled at their progress, as they all buzzed happily (and rapidly) round the slopes – apparently they had been skiing some easy blues towards the end of the week, so were becoming quite comfortable on skis. Finally, Saturday afternoon was lesson-free, so we skied together as a family, taking the Pontillas car up to the Frejus chair and then the Barres button to the top of the Barres green run – skied that several times as a family (well, both families together) which was great fun, before taking the Frejus gondola back down.
Despite it being half term, list queues never seemed to be too bad, even allowing for the fact that as an ESF class we could sometimes jump to the front. All in all it never felt really busy.
Weather
We had unbroken sunshine every day except one (Wednesday – overcast, windy and -16 degrees - but we could still ski and had a great day) and the temperature was typically only -5 or -6. Accordingly, thermals and a jacket were generally more than sufficient and we rarely wore our mid-layers.
Journey inbound
After being waved off by all the Club med GOs on the front steps we had a 2.5hr coach trip back to Grenoble (fine, apart from a few of the other children being sick…). Monarch then managed to grab another opportunity to disappoint, presenting us with a 5 hour delay for the flight home.
Overall
We had a great holiday and both families were sad to say goodbye to Serre Chevalier. Random thoughts? We packed miles too many clothes (most people hang around in ski wear for much of the day, especially breakfast and lunch and we hardly ever left the hotel except to ski). Although English was widely spoken by the hotel staff, knowing a little French is helpful as I’d estimate that 75% or more of the guests at Club Med were French (you don’t need to speak French at all, it’s just handy to have a smattering of the language at your disposal). A few skiing lessons in the UK before your holiday are worthwhile, even if all you get out of it is knowing how to put your boots on and stand up on skis; it just helps make everything that little bit easier on your first day of the holiday. Take two pairs of gloves each – they get soggy and a fresh pair after lunch is a treat. Consider wearing a helmet – one person in my group got hit by another skier travelling at speed, detached from her bindings and went head first onto the snow, her helmet being the first point of contact with the ground. She was shaken and had a bloody lip, but would have been much worse off without a helmet; at the end of the day it’s up to you, but that incident certainly convinced me that wearing one made sense (although for the record, only around half of the people in my lesson group were helmet wearers). They only give you one room key at the Club Med, but if you ask for more they are available – handy of you aren’t all in the same skiing lessons! We did a 6 week ski fitness course before the holiday, which proved to be very worthwhile as we had no major aches or pains during the week, despite skiing for 5 hours a day.
Overall, I cannot see how we could have had much of a better first family skiing holiday. We all loved it and everyone came back feeling like a true skier. Club Med was excellent in every respect and the skiing with ESF was brilliant fun. Serre Che is a beautiful place and the scenery up the mountains is breath-taking.
In short, if you are considering a first family ski trip just like we were, then go for it. You will have a wonderful time (especially if you fly with someone other than Monarch Airlines!).
chemistry
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
Great review, well written, and sounds like a top time had by all!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
Wot happened to all that surly, arrogant, non-existent French customer service some people complain about? The barging in the queues, the cruelty of ESF instructors, the sardine can bedrooms? Any fule no the French are useless hoteliers.
I guess you just struck lucky, chemistry. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
pam w,
I know, I was as surprised as you! 
However, I must speak as I find, and the GOs and other staff at Club Med were universally good. The room wasn't enormous, but perfectly adequate (one double bed and two singles, plenty of wardrobe space, smallish shower and separate toilet). All clean and not tatty. OK, so I have had substantially bigger hotel rooms in my time, but it was hardly hell on earth.
Club Med Serre Che is only a three trident resort - I understand the four and five trident places have larger rooms. Given that 99% of the time I was either not in the room because I went there to ski, or was in the room but asleep, I don't think an extra few square metres of floor space would have made much different to my enjoyment of the holiday.
Our ESF instructor did have a slight mean streak, but nothing serious. The weakest skier in our group (I was the second weakest...!) had occasional moments when she freaked out at the top of steeper sections. Guillaume would simply shout up that i) she had the skills to do it and ii) she knew his rule that if you agree to go up, you agree to come down. He (and we) would then proceed to ski 200m further down the mountain until her fear of being abandoned overcame her fear of the slope. Every time she made it. Every time she turned up for lessons the next day. It can hardly have come as a shock to her that skiing would involve sliding down gradients, or that the lessons would gradually increase the steepness/difficulty. Nobody died and we all had dinner together on the last night; she'd had a great holiday. She was French too, so he wasn't picking on les rosbifs.
You'll be amused to hear that one person (the husband of someone in our lessons) wasn't happy that it was truly all inclusive because "I can't get a burger at 3am if I want one". Honestly, there was more food and drink available than anyone could ever need. Mealtimes were long and you could go back for a 'burger' as many times as you wished to during that time. In between times there were cakes and snacks (crisps, BBQ). Anyone requiring an additional burger at 3am would, in my opinion, probably have exploded from over eating...yet he still wasn't happy. 
Maybe I am lucky. 
Maybe some folks are just never satisfied.
chemistry
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
chemistry,
Thanks for the excellent report - only been to 4Trident resorts before so it's nice to know what to expect
I also normally put on several pounds with all the food/drink - so burgers at 3am is nuts.
Monarch from Manchester by any chance? Same flight on Sunday week - so I hope they've improved
Skitrack
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Chemistry, great report. Sounds very much like our trip to Club Med at L2A in January. The Club Med staff couldn't do enough for you and the ESF instructor was very gentle with us (well, until she sent us down the boarder cross run....carnage!). Saving the pennies for next year when our Feb half term and Easter hols start a week before most of the rest of the UK. Result!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
pam w,
Your irony wasn't wasted, but I obviously failed to convey that!
Anyway, I agree 100% that it is perfectly possible to have a nice time on holiday in France and that the stereotypes are not all true..
Chemistry
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
chemistry, any chance of a sneaky trip at Easter?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
great report.
I have skied no more than 'averagely' for a number of years. Broken a leg, been to several resorts, but last year was our first 'family' holiday with a child which was a whole new experience, and great fun. More relaxed, great to see them learning and having fun.
I got as much, if not more, out of leading my daughter slowly down a red on the last day as i did in any of my 'free' skiing during the rest of the week.
i think i can count on one hand the number of years it'll be before she's better than me!
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
dobby,
How would you rate Club Med at L2A for folks like us with only limited skiing experience? It's on our radar for next year (we loved Serre Che, but are keen to explore new areas).
pam w,
Would love to get in a sneaky Easter trip but suspect we'll do a city break with the kids instead. I don't think Mrs chemistry could cope with all the packing etc. required for skiing again quite so soon. Am quietly investigating the option of a long weekend with some mates though...shhhh.
dudders,
Agree that skiing with the little ones is fab, yet tinged with horror given that they will soon be running rings round their parents! My only regret at Club Med was that we did all day adult lessons so only spent that last afternoon as a family. Given we have pretty much all started at the same time, I reckon out kids will overtake us next year...
chemistry
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
| Quote: |
yet tinged with horror given that they will soon be running rings round their parents!
|
Indeed. But there is a lot of pleasure to be had in watching them get that good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AndrewBailey,
Wise words
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
chemistry, great to read a successful report. Of course now you will be always in poverty as you will keep on going
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
chemistry,
I think you would be fine at L2A. Plenty for skiers of all standards, especially lower intermediates (lots of blues and greens; some of the blues are a bit red due to the resort's desire to up the blue quotient). As an illustration, three of my family are pretty much lower intermediates. One of my daughters was a complete beginner at the start of the week and one only had a week under her belt. Both progressed really well; the first weeker could handle the tougher blues at the end of the week (albeit ploughing) and my older daughter was quite happily parallel skiing the tougher blues. Me, I am a slow skiing donkey who can just about parallel properly down blues, but needs a bit more speed (ESF grade 2B-2A). Wife is far better and never fell over all week. Not even once. Bah!
I wrote a (rather short) report on our visit here:
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=1969370&highlight=club+med#1969370
One thing that annoys some people at L2A is the slightly odd piste layout, as you'll see from the piste map.
We'll probably try somewhere else next year. SerrChe? Alpe D'Huez? Decisions, decisions....
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
chemistry, Great report. We've been to Tignes and Cervinia Club Med before and loved the way they do things at Club Med. Serre Chevalier was another that was on my list but was concerned it was a 3 Trident. Your report has eased my concerns.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
chemistry, if you're into the club med thing then have a look at peisey-vallandry, les arcs. Great location - some 20 yds from the main peisey lift, great ski are with some lovely blue and easier red runs though the trees down to vallandry, and not that hard to get over into the 2000 bowl, even on blue runs which is a real feeling of achievement.
I should probably add that I've not actually stayed there myself, and great work on a first  trip report...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
chemistry, fab report
As mentioned before/another thread, Serre Che was where I learned to ski (stayed in Chantemerle). The great thing is that there is plenty more to see/ski if you do decide to go back at some point. I've been 5 times now, and there are still quite a few runs yet to do, and plenty that I look forward to doing again at some point.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
sev112,
Club Med Serre Che was great; if you go then I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as we did.
We paid a total of £5,894 for 2 adults and 2 kids and that included everything (inc. skis/boots/poles/lessons for everyone). Booked late (mid Nov) and went in half term, so no discounts  Good news was that we spent virtually nothing when we were there, other than buying t-shirts for the kids and tipping our ESF instructors. All inclusive really was all inclusive.
Yes we do all want to go again next year - will be very happy to try another Club Med in a different resort (perhaps Peisey-Vallandry etc. as has been suggested - nothing wrong with Serre Che, just fancy seeing/skiing some new places) or possibly put something more bespoke together. Either way we won't book so late and will look for any good deals that are around.
Point taken on Monarch. The inbound delay I can sort of forgive (although we weren't kept very informed of progress). The queue incident outbound though was very annoying - they definitely put us in the wrong queue at the start and worse, when this was discovered they then put us (several families - not just the group we were with) to the back of the 'right' queue. Then, when we got to the desk we were told that this one was now the wrong queue (aargh!) and we'd have to go to a different desk two or three desks down (and join another queue) to get checked in...at this point we said NO and refused to budge. This worked and 5 minutes later we were checked in
I'm sure I'll have to fly with Monarch again, and yes, maybe it was a bad day. However - outbound especially - I was annoyed by the lack of customer service, presumption that it was our fault and reluctance to take responsibility (everyone we asked for help either blamed us or just wandered off).
I'm sure some folks have a great experience with Monarch and/or find Club Med falls short of their expectations; all I can report is what I actually experienced. On this particular holiday, Club Med were excellent and Monarch were disappointing. 
chemistry
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
chemistry, if you did fancy a return to SC on a more bespoke sort of thing, you could do much worse than have a look at Les Marmottes in Chantemerle. It is about a 5 minute walk to the lifts, but an absolute delight. Run by an English lady (Karin Lucas) and French guy (Denis Lucas).
She runs the place essentially and is widely acknowledged as an outstanding cook (take my word for it). Denis is a wine merchant, so the wine is excellent. He is also an ESF instructor and was (certainly a few years ago) the director for the Chantemerle ESF. Couldn't recommend the place highly enough from 3 stays.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chasseur,
Cheers for that; will certainly add it to the mix as we did love Serre Chevalier.
In all honestly, I think for the next year or two we'll probably try a few other resorts just to satisfy our curiosity, but if/when we come back to Serre Che then that looks well worth considering (I like what I saw on their website too).
I do think Snowheads is great - we've had so much great advice from everyone. Wonderful stuff. Thanks to all and we're looking forward to many more ski trips in the years to come
chemistry
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
