Serre-Chevalier? Whats up with this place? Advice needed

I've basically scraped my trip to Cham for lack of snow and global warming effects this past summer (sorry Tom, Cham's not in the cards this year) but this guy I know keeps e-mailing me about Serre-Chevalier and how they are getting mad quantities of snow. I guess they've gotten 10 feet over the past 2 weeks.

I looked into a couple of deals and found a 6 days, 7 nights package, meals, lifts, hotel with air out of San Fran or NYC will run me $900 each for me and Mrs. Powstash. Tempting since we've got 2K set aside for a Euro trip (we could use sky miles to get there for free but Mrs. Powstash wants to use them to get us to Hawaii).

Is Serre-Chevalier worth it? Haven't heard much about this place/region. Any beta/advice is appreciated ASAP as I need to pull the trigger or turn it down. Thanks mangs.

Just down the valley from Les Deux Alpes/La Grave, great trees at Serre, don't know too much else about it but I think you'll be happy, especially if it snows.

Yes, it's worth it. Stay up in Monetier les Bains if you can, the best skiing is up above that. Otherwise, stay in old Briancon, which is tres cool. In Monetier, there's the Hotel l'Europe, a cool older hotel in the old part of town.

The place is HUGE. Imagine lifts from Wilson to Teton Village, skiable all the way. Pic de l'Yret has some great lines and fantastic hiking. If it's stormy, ski the larche glades below Frejus.

A plus is easy access to La Grave (40+ minute drive), easy access to The Milky Way, Frejus Tunnel to the Maurienne and the backside of Val Thorens.

I stayed in Monetier for 2 weeks and had a blast skiing all over. The amount of variety with an hour and a half drive is mind blowing.

Yeah, it's worth it. The best tree skiing anywhere; steep as hell and very varied.

You can basically live in all of the four major parts; Briancon, Chantemerle, Villeneuve or Monetier. Monetier is smart because some of the best skiing is directly above so you can just walk to the lift; but there's a pretty effective (make sure you lean the timetable) skibus system in place and getting from one part to where you want to go up in the morning is no problem.

Serre has been getting hammered for the last weeks; yes. I left La Grave (less than 20 miles away) for the US on the 7th of Jan and I think it started dumping the day after; just recently seemed to stop. Friends' reports range from epic to best ever to frikkin scary right no; so the snow is there.

Have fun.

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Originally posted by powstash
Is Serre-Chevalier worth it? Haven't heard much about this place/region. Any beta/advice is appreciated ASAP as I need to pull the trigger or turn it down. Thanks mangs.

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Yes, it is. I spent a lot of time there and in La Grave when living in Grenoble. Between Serre-Chevalier, La Grave, and the close trips to Les 2 Alpes and others you should have a great time.

104 trails, 74 lifts, a huge terrain:

http://www.skiinfo.fr/skimaps/maps/EFRSERRECHEV.jpg

drC

see the la grave mini summit thread i just posted. we went to serre che one day. the snow was windripped at the tops while we were there but there are lots of nice trees below. the pistes are some of the best i have ever been on here in europe. i talked to some americans doing a season there and they love it. it's close to la grave if you want to go big, and les deux alpes and alp d'huez are not far away. i'd say serre che would be a damn good choice.

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Originally posted by powstash
Mrs. Powstash wants to use them to get us to Hawaii).

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Hawaii?? Wtf?? You better let her outta the house more to get on the hill; sounds like she's turning red on ya. :D

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Originally posted by Xover
Hawaii?? Wtf?? You better let her outta the house more to get on the hill; sounds like she's turning red on ya. :D

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LOL!!!!!!!

One piece of advice:

When I was there (2000), you could buy a ticket for the whole mountain, Grand Serre-Che if I remember well. Or, for a lesser amount, you could buy a ticket for only a specific sector. The latter proved a smart option as you are never going to make it from one end to the other in one day unless you spend your time traversing.

They also had the coolest lift ticket I've seen: An RFID tag that you put in your pocket and automatically opens the gates to the lifts.

Do not miss the hors piste to right of the right of the Monetier area (Tabuc??). Really great.

Steve

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Originally posted by sculhane
One piece of advice:

When I was there (2000), you could buy a ticket for the whole mountain, Grand Serre-Che if I remember well. Or, for a lesser amount, you could buy a ticket for only a specific sector. The latter proved a smart option as you are never going to make it from one end to the other in one day unless you spend your time traversing.

They also had the coolest lift ticket I've seen: An RFID tag that you put in your pocket and automatically opens the gates to the lifts.

Do not miss the hors piste to right of the right of the Monetier area (Tabuc??). Really great.

Steve

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verbier, villars, and cham all use that RFID tag system now ;).

even though it is very cool, its not quite cool enough to require a double post ;)

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Originally posted by seldon
verbier, villars, and cham all use that RFID tag system now ;).

even though it is very cool, its not quite cool enough to require a double post ;)

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doesnt solitude use somehting like that?

old-town Briancon is worth seeing on your day off.
Also, if you have a rental car (w/ chains, too!) you can head out of Briancon towards Italy and just before the border you will find a very nice ski area, Montgenevre. Wide variety of terrain. I think you can ski into Italy and back. (I hiked it in the summer) About 20 minute drive from Briancon.
LITT

Thanks for all the tips. Still a toss up between Serre-Chevalier and Whistler. Leaning more to Serre. Thanks for the tip on the little area near Italy. Mrs. Powstash speaks Italian and would dig a little day trip to Italy so she can hang in Italy and work her Italian magic.

Great advice on the lift ticket to. Yea, the all area pass is $190 USD for 6 days. Less than $32/day is a deal though.

Although the lodging option is in Briancon, it sounds like Monetier is the place to ski overall.

I'm just stoked that skiing in Euro is more a reality than a dream at this point.

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Originally posted by powstash
Thanks for all the tips. Still a toss up between Serre-Chevalier and Whistler. Leaning more to Serre.

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Duh. The choice is clear: Serre-Chevalier (aka Serre-Cheu, not Serre).

drC

drujk.

get tou ass tou europe throught amsterdam. Have a beer with me ;d

clearleh.

p-stosh

quit whining.

go to andymatt and engelberg and ski some pow before the holidays hit. cheapy cheap to zur cich. bra

mmm'k?