Le Monetier-Serre Chevalier
Location: France, Hautes-Alpes department.
Village type: Permanent bungalows.
Year opened: 1957.
Year closed: 1983.
For the record: The village opened in the winter of 1957/58. It was the Club's 3rd snow village to be created.
Over time, it will appear under different names in the Tridents: Altitude, Le Monetier, or even Serre Chevalier.
Located near Monetier Les Bains, the upper town of the Serre Chevalier resort, and connected to it by the famous "Club road", the village spreads out amidst the larches on the edge of the Guisane, a mountain stream, which flows a few kilometers down to Briançon into the Durance.
The place was found in 1957, and particularly appealed to the Club which acquired it.
The site was already occupied by a village designed in the early 1950s on the American "accommodation + leisure" model
Considered ultra-modern for its time, the village consists of a collection of single-story "bungalow" chalets housing the guest rooms, each with its own private bathroom.
A larger building in the center of the village houses the restaurant.
For leisure, the place has a summer swimming pool which turns into an ice rink during the winter, tennis courts and a mini golf course.
The club also has a mountain restaurant in Serre Ratier
Some of you undoubtedly had to trek through the snow in the dead of winter to get from your rooms to the restaurant and back again! Therefore, a note in the various village descriptions advised bringing après-ski boots or warm clothing
At the end of the winter of 58/59, at the presentation of the first Snow Oscars, Le Monetier won ahead of the two villages of Leysin and the brand new village of Tignes
The journey
Departure on Saturday evening from Paris Gare de Lyon on a special sleeper train Paris-Modane-Turin, stop at Sauze d'Oulx in Italy then descent to the village via Montgenèvre
Today
Club Med returned to the Serre Chevalier resort in 2001, establishing itself in Le Bez, a hamlet in La Salle les Alpes. As for the former village of Le Monetier, it became a village run by the CCAS (Social Action Center) for the energy sector.
More photos of Monetier here
Videos
Club Med ski lessons Le Monetier 1958, a film from Marcel CONTAL's archives.
Thank you so much for this link about Monetier-les-Bains.
I spent three summer seasons there.
My first season was in the summer of 1965
with CDV André Baheux, not Jean-Marie Couchard!
Thanks to Collier Bar
and to you, Philippe.
Hello,
To complete the CDV table, the one in 1976 was Pop's.
Regards.
Good point, Jean-Mi
Catherine Richez wife of Jean Paul Richez died in 2000
Thanks for the memories.
I spent a summer season there in 1980 as a kids' club leader.
Unforgettable memories, the atmosphere was electric.
Angelo
Hello,
I worked part of the season (August/September 1980) as a bar GO (Gentil Organisateur - Club Med staff member). Do you have any photos from that time?
Didier
Great site! Well done! It's a shame there aren't dates on many of the GO team photos.
I sent two photos from Pakostane 1987 with Lionel CDV. I have other photos from Ipsos 1986 and De La Douce 1988 if you'd like them.
Good evening, GO Cuisine with Serge Balladjean as chef and Stanley Gorsse as village chief, 1978-1979. Thank you, great memories. Gerard André