Cross country skiing in Serre Chevalier

Get away from the crowds – cross-country skiing in Serre Chevalier for absolute beginners!

Well it’s February, and the French National holidays and English half-term breaks are in full swing. The popular pistes are pretty crowded and the lift queues are long, fancy trying something different?

Any Serre Che ski pass covering 6 days or more entitles you to one free day of cross-country skiing, but you have to present the printed coupon labelled ski de fond, sold with the pass at one of the lift stations. Otherwise you are expected to buy a ticket, price in 2008, 6 euros for a day.

The ski de fond (cross-country skiing) tracks are in a great condition this year, as a result of  the deep snowfalls earlier in the season.  My friend Lin and I decided to finally take the plunge and, I must admit without much research, hire some equipment and try a very easy, flat piste in a field near the picturesque village of Le Casset, near Monetier Les Bains, Serre Chevalier. Being both quite experienced downhill skiers we imagined cross-country skiing would perhaps be easier; anyone who was watching us start off last Tuesday is probably still laughing at our foolishness!

We hired our equipment from Regis Sport in the centre of Villeneuve. The special boots are like very well made lace-up sports shoes with a metal clip binding on the toe, comfy to wear. There’s no binding on the heel, so you can lift a lot of your foot off the ski. The skis are longer, lighter and narrower than downhill skis; we are both about 1.65m tall, the skis were about 2m long. The ski poles are also longer, measured to reach up to your chin, at least. The ski techician, Christian, explained the basics to us pretty well…had I followed what he said I would have fallen over less at the start. He suggested walking along on the flat without poles first of all just to get one’s balance and to explore the different centre of gravity needed compared with downhill skiing, wise advice. Then the next stage was to try and  achieve a striding/skating/sliding action, putting one foot forward then the other and using the poles.

What Lin and I hadnt realised at this point, was that there are two distinct approaches to cross-country skiing: the Classic, following two parallel tracks, you are literally in the tracks, carved in the snowfield or the more Free-Skating style, typified by the Herring-bone movement with the front tips of the skis turned right out.

Cross country skiing in Serre Chevalier
Originally uploaded by Susan Lomas

We assumed we would probably chat to experienced skiers as we went along and learn more by watching them, which is fairly much what happened.  My first mistake was to look at a little slope at the beginning of the trail and think "I’ll just slide down there and point my skis in to the tracks". Hilarious, really slippery, you can’t turn or snow plough like you can with downhill skis, I wobbled backwards, forwards, left, then finally right as I hit the deck in an undignified heap…hmm more to that than meets the eye then.

Anyway, got up again, and started trying to walk in the tracks using opposite pole, opposite leg, felt completely stiff and uncoordinated as if I had a poker up my backside, no sense of rhythm whatsoever. Very strange being a complete beginner at something. We were overtaken by a few, amused, hardy French people either using the Classic tracks method or Herring-boning!

The first 20-30 minutes was pretty hard work, but the azure blue sky and beautiful snowy mountains and hot sun kept me going. We completed the first flattish loop in the open field and headed off towards a more woodland route, when we quickly realised that the land was going to go "up and down" a bit more.

Our first attempts to get up a slope were pathetic and like a cartoon. You need to get your momentum up and really plant your poles well dug in if you are going for the Classic stay in the tracks approach. Apparently the Classic skis have ridges cut on their bases to stop you sliding back downhill. Lin managed the slope Herring bone style, I gave up and took my skis off. Not impressive, and at this point I thought  " This is more difficult than I expected".

Continuing along the track and seeing the village of Le Casset through the trees, I had a revelation, and for myself realised the point of the whole exercise.  I’d brought my camera to record the ups and downs of the day and now I was seeing views of the valley I’d only ever admired before on postcards and in books. It was simply beautiful. I  photographed the village nestled in the grandeur of the mountains, relaxed a bit and started enjoying the whole experience.

After about two hours we had both made good progress, had got a rhythm going and were trekking away. What goes up, must come down, however, and we were still rather daunted by sliding downhill in the tracks, even on the easy pistes. There is no way of stopping, you just have to crouch low with your poles tucked under your arms and wait for the gradient to diminish! Approaching Le Casset from the south side, positioned in the tracks and heading towards the church, I realised I was sliding forwards fast enough to make any attempt at stopping impossible, so I decided to crouch low and see what happened, I managed to keep my balance and ride out the slope without mishap. Hurrah!

To conclude for now: Cross-country skiing is great exercise and you get to see some beautiful countryside. As with all sports, proper qualified teaching helps you get more out of the activity safely and on reflection we would probably have learnt more quickly and fully with an instructor. Also, there are people out there with a lot more knowledge than me on this subject, please get blogging about your experiences too.