Serre Chevalier is a major ski resort in southeastern France, in the Hautes-Alpes department of the Alps. Near the Parc National des Ecrins, it enjoys a large skiing area, with 250km of slopes and favorable weather, boasting 300 days of sunshine a year. In Serre Chevalier, 80km of the slopes are covered by snow cannons to supplement natural snowfall. It is owned by Compagnie des Alpes.Serre Chevalier consists of the town of Briançon, with the villages of Chantemerle, Villeneuve, and Le Monêtier-les-Bains. World Cup champion ski racer Luc Alphand was born and lives in the valley below the resort.Ski areaThe maximum elevation for skiing is at Telesiege Yret at 2800m above sea level, and the minimum is 1200m, a total vertical drop of 1600m. One of the outstanding features of Serre Chevalier is the wooded nature of the slopes. The timber line is at 2150m, yielding about 700m of vertical drop of tree-lined slopes. The slopes are managed by the CDA, and there are 61 lifts: 1 Cable Cars, 5 Gondola Lifts. There are 20 Chairlifts in total, 10 High-Speed Detachable Chairlifts and 10 Fixed-grip chairlifts. There are 28 Surface Lifts, 3 Ski tows and 4 Magic carpet lifts A new 8 passengers gondola has been built this year giving access to Serre Ratier Plateau within 5 minutes.