Trip Report - Serre Chevalier Feb 6th to 13th 2011

A snowHead

Holiday details:
Package deal - catered deal with Nielson to Chalet Henriette in Villeneuve
Chalet is very basic but it does the job - especially if you get it at a discount! Chatting with the host Sam- they are pretty keen to ensure its always full so he's not had an empty week yet!
Location is perfect - right on the slopes so you can ski home, 5 min walk to either Aravet bubble or Casse de Beouf chairlift.
Not too impressed with the evening meals - not enough veg/salad and nothing to write home about - however good breakfasts and nice cakes balanced that out. There are a few things that aren't great about the chalet but it isn't top end and we were there to snowboard on a budget so our expectations weren't too high.

Village - an eyeopener for me after previous french trips to Tignes, Les Arcs etc. Nice old parts to walk around in Villeneuve and Le Bez- we had a fantastic meal in a tiny french restaurant on the chalet night off - authentic food (we had snails!!!), great wine and ambience for €55 all in for 2.
Going out - we mainly drank in Le Grotte - which could go from being empty to rammed full of people. Prices as to be expected but they were doing happy hours from 3-5 and from 9-11 which suited us perfectly! Fantastic band on the Friday - which are pretty regular there - apparently the lead singer was the owner of the main bar in Chantemerle.

Ski Area - blooming amazing Happy

There'd not been fresh snow for weeks but the slopes were great - snowy rather than icy - general consensus was that they were doing a good job in keeping the pistes in good condition while the sun shone in the day.(piles of snow on the side that were probably being used to boost the pistes in some places).
Loved the fact that so many runs are in the trees - just gutted that didn't have the conditions for us to go off-piste and play in the trees or bowls much.
You could travel a fair distance quite easily on the lift pass - Briancon had a fantastic long red run to the bottom and pretty cool to see that by the time you end it the walled city is higher than you after having looked down at it as a tiny dot from the top.
There's still some drag lifts which as a snowboarder I'm not keen on - but you can mostly avoid them - although the best way back from Monetier involves a very harsh one which isn't good for a goofy boarder!!!
Favourite run was Eduits off the Aigullette lift - lovely fast red with virtually no one on it!!!
Could see the potential of the off-piste around the Cucumelle - but conditions weren't in our favour to sample it much!
Favourite place to stop was Serre Ratier - the Cafe Soleil for the most amazing pizzas, crepes and salads. This was also the place where we found a shop doing board testing, so we had a fun afternoon trying different boards - and now I definitely need some new bindings and I want a new board!!!!
Best value was definitely Hells Bells recommendation for Peyra Juana in Monetier - massive and tasty hot goats cheese salad Happy

Overall impression - loved it - and will definitely go back. It must be awesome when there's fresh powder to play in...

A snowHead

mountain mad, you'll just have to come back then wink

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Glad you had a good time.

This report has made me very excited about going. Just need to pray for a bit more snow and it should be great! And it sounds like the slopes are well managed so hopefully even if there's not much it will still be nice. Very Happy

Help!!

Trip Report - Serre Chevalier Feb 6th to 13th 2011

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