Serre Chevalier 1500
Monetier-les-Bains
By Ray "Ray of the Mountain" Stroud
Instead of skiing down the Cucumelle in Villeneuve one can take the Echuda (blue) link to Monetier, the highest sector of the Serre Chevalier Vallee (1500 metres at the base area). This blue is a flattering piste and links to good red and blue runs down to the village. Echuda terminates at the top of the Bachas chairlift, a long four man lift from Monetier village, at the top of the lift there is also the Bachas restaurant, the only watering hole at this altitude, a self-service establishment with a large terrace.
A short distance downhill are two three-man chairlifts, the Cibuit feeds a black, a red and a blue piste, all return to the Bachas restaurant. The other chair, the Yret arrives at the highest lift point in the resort (2830 metres) feeding the two returns to Villeneuve via the Cucumelle either red (Yret) or black (Col du Vent). Both great fun runs all winter!
There are several good blues and reds running down from Bachus and if one keeps “right” you will end up at the third and perhaps the best kept secret, a converted cow-shed, the Perya Juana, a petite mountain restaurant, extremely difficult to reach by foot in the winter and one of the best, you should make the effort to get there, it is well worth it!
The Bachas area is also the start of an exciting black, down to Monetier, Le Tabuc starting very easily, it then steepens and narrows, often mogouled, down, eventually to the valley floor, another run to be put under one’s belt!
There are nursery slopes at the base of Monetier opposite the main lift station, restaurants and a gallery of shops.
The only ski link back to Villeneuve (Yret and Cucumelle lifts) has to be completed on the Cucumelle piste (red), daunting for some, however, the free ski bus (free with your lift pass) takes you back through Villeneuve, Chantemerle and all the way to Briancon if you wish!
