A trip to Serre Chevalier

Just got back from my first visit to Serre Chevalier. I'd heard and read a lot of good things about the place so was stoked when we managed to find a reasonably priced pad just a stones throw from the lifts for the last week of January.

It'd been dumping for a couple of days before we arrived and we caught the tail end of it on the drive up from Turin which takes roughly 2 hours...ish. This meant our first day was a bluebird. Somewhat ill timed after the 4am start of 'travel day'.

By the time we got up the hill the keen locals looked to have rinsed most of the accessible off piste. And talking of off piste... well there's rather a lot. This is the only place I've even seen a 'transceiver training zone' and I guess that gives an idea of the focus of the mountain. You almost can't see the pistes for vast powder bowls, cliff drops and forested descents.

All that said, my featured snap is from the Scott snowpark. The park is split into 2 or maybe even 3 sections. Beginner, Intermediate and I assume, Advanced, which was not open during our visit. The park's not huge, nor is it particularly impressive, but fun enough with something probably for pretty much everyone to have a stab at.

Another park, The 'Melezone' is located a little lower down the hill amidst the trees, featuring various wood based jibs. I found this one to be a rather tricky ride with it's ungroomed run ins/outs.

In terms of Apres ski, with 3 euro happy hour pints, free wi-fi and house band Fat City Rockers, 'La Grotte' quickly became the boozer of choice.

For more info check out http://www.serre-chevalier.com/