Report from February 5, 2026

Day #2 at Serre Chevalier, France, found us dancing in the sunshine.

Jaane knew exactly what to do.

• Drive to the Le Monêtier base of this massive mountain
• Head straight to the high alpine chairs
• Ski real big mountain terrain directly from a chairlift

He was right.

We rolled up to the Cibout chair and found it empty.

We slipped onto first chair and couldn’t believe what we were seeing.

No one. Fresh powder everywhere. These lifts had been closed the previous day due to weather, and now the sun was out, kissing untouched snow just beneath the chair.

It felt unreal.

We dropped straight in under the lift and let the skis run.

The snow wasn’t deep, but it was perfect. Smooth. Fast. Responsive. The kind of snow that makes you feel like a better skier than you are.

From there, we gathered our courage and took the Yret chair higher, into terrain that looked serious.

This was true big mountain terrain. Exposed. Steep. Consequential.

We weren’t entirely sure what had been avalanche-controlled and what hadn’t, so we stayed humble and took it slow.

Our first run was a large powder apron. Safe. Wide open. Beautiful.

The snow was exquisite.

On our second run, we pushed a little further.

Dropping into steep terrain directly beneath the chairlift, my mind struggled to process what was happening. Terrain this good, this steep, this exposed, accessed by a chairlift, felt almost impossible.

My North American brain couldn’t compute it.

It was liberating.

We hit another chute. Narrow. Steep. Perfect.

Just as wild as the first.

From there, Jaane kept leading us deeper.

We traversed. We boot-packed. We hunted.

We found powder in trees, on faces, in gullies, and in hidden pockets all across the mountain.

Our final run of the day, around 4pm, was a 2,600-vertical-foot tree run.

Steep enough that the snow was sluffing naturally in places as we skied.

We were hooting. Laughing. Fully alive.

By the end, I was destroyed.

Completely exhausted.

Back at the Serra Neva hotel, I collapsed into our penthouse room while the boys went to the Les Grands Bains du Monêtier hot springs.

Speedos required. No exceptions.

I stayed back, ate, stretched, and worked late into the night.

We had created so much content that I couldn’t even begin to process it all.

Serre Chevalier is massive. Wild. Underrated.

This place is on another level.

Merci, la France.

Photos