[KNOW HOW] Secure The Pistes At Serre Chevalier

When we grumble about the cost of our lift pass each winter, we perhaps give little thought about where the money goes.

There’s the capital cost of building the lifts themselves, and the buildings around them of course, along with all the snowmaking systems and those big piste-grooming tractors to smooth the runs out.
Then there’s the cost of the energy used to power them all, the staff needed to make everything work, and of course things like insurance and tax. After a while, the cost actually seems to feel like quite good value!

But there are in fact many more things that our lift pass costs cover, and this winter the huge French ski region of Serre Chevalier Vallée in the southern Alps is giving its visitors the chance to join in and find out a bit more about just what’s involved behind the scenes.

Serre Chevalier is a huge ski area, indeed one of the world’s largest, with more than 3,900 hectares of terrain under its control; and with more than 100 groomed slopes alone, it’s a big job keeping on top of it all. There are more than 60 lifts transporting up to nearly 80,000 skiers per hour up the slopes, and at night an army of 21 piste groomers smooth the slopes once again.

The resort takes its work very seriously and has independent international accreditation and certification ISO 9001 for overall quality, ISO 14001 for environmental practices and ISO 18000 for health and safety management.

This winter, Serre Chevalier Vallée is organising special daily afternoon sessions in which both adults and children can participate in programmes focused on showing what’s involved in keeping the slopes safe for all.

Kids aged 8 to 16 can sign up free of charge for the Pisteur Prudent course every afternoon from 2pm. This great initiative allows children to find out what’s involved in keeping the pistes safe and teaches good practice on the slopes for the kids themselves. Each receives a Pisteur Prudent badge to wear during their holiday and becomes an ambassador for good behaviour on the slopes.
The sessions meet daily by the first aid post at the top of the Ratier gondola in the huge ski area’s Chantemerle sector. The only thing that can stop classes happening is if the staff are too busy working on safety management that day.

For adults, Serre Chevalier Vallée is also organising the Cols’porteurs package for good skiers (you’ll be on red or black runs). Again you meet at 2pm every day at the top of the Ratier gondola and get the chance to work with Serre Chevalier Vallée’s safety professionals and learn what’s involved in the process of “sweeping” the ski area to check everyone is safely down at the end of the ski day. You’ll also enjoy some great skiing. The sessions are available daily right through to 24 April 2016 at the end of the season.

For the full piste staff experience, Serre Chevalier also offers the option to sign up and ride on the pistes in a specially adapted snow tractor, either at dawn before the slopes open or at dusk when they’ve closed. The dawn experience, from 6am to 9am, includes breakfast in a mountain restaurant and costs €33 (£23), but the evening experience from 5.30 to 11pm €29 (£20), also includes a tour of the snowmaking ‘factory’ at Aravet and an introduction to the work each night of Serre Chevalier’s pisting machine drivers and snowmakers.

You’re sure to come away with a much better understanding of what’s involved, and just what great value your lift pass is ! skipass-serrechevalier.com