31 January 2026, Serre Chevalier will be hosting a 4-star stage of the Freeride World Tour Qualifier for the first time in its history. It's a date that will count, both for international riders and for the resort, which is determined to assert its status as a major freeride destination in the run-up to the 2030 Olympic Games.
There will be eighty of them, not one more. Eighty skiers and snowboarders chosen from among the best on the circuit, from Japan, the United States, Europe and elsewhere. They will all meet at the summit of Yret, at 2,800 metres, on the north face, where the terrain demands humility and commitment. A steep, technical, mineral face that leaves little room for error and plenty of room for creativity.
On this day, each rider will set off alone into the white silence, under the gaze of the jury who will scrutinise line choice, fluidity, controlled risk-taking, technical precision and that aerial signature that distinguishes the great from the good. At the end of the day, valuable points will be awarded for entry to the Freeride World Tour Challenger, the antechamber to the professional circuit.
A growing regional dynamic
Serre Chevalier is joining a new league this season, the «South Line Series», with four stages based in the same area: Vars, La Grave, Puy-Saint-Vincent and Serre Chevalier.
Riders will be pooling their best results to try and reach the Challengers Grand Final in Le Sauze at the beginning of April. This growing success is already attracting more than twenty nationalities to each stage, establishing the Southern Alps as a leading freeride region.
This dynamic goes beyond the sporting framework. With the 2030 Olympic Games just around the corner, freeride could join the programme as an additional event.
Serre Chevalier, with its vast off-piste terrain of high mountains, deep valleys and open forests, has a clear ambition to become a benchmark venue. Hosting a 4-star event is just the first step.
A resort designed for off-piste skiing
You only have to look up at the Eychauda couloirs, the large valleys suspended above Monetier or the deep forests plunging down towards Villeneuve to understand why Serre Chevalier has long attracted free skiers.
With this stage of the Freeride World Tour Qualifier, the resort is simply highlighting an already deeply rooted culture: that of an area where you learn from an early age to read the snow, choose your line and respect the mountain.
On 31 January, all this will be expressed in a suspended moment, somewhere between pure adrenalin and the poetry of commitment. Serre Chevalier will then enter a new dimension, with the clear desire to continue the trail all the way to the Olympic Games. It's a story that begins at the top of the Yret and already makes you want to put on your skis.
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