WELCOME TO THE SPARTAN HIKE PAGES

Ex SPARTAN HIKE (SH) is the Divisional level Ski Championships for 4 Div, 5 Div and LONDIST Regular units and the Nordic Ski Championships for all TA units. It is also one of the two essential qualification competitions for the Army Alpine and Army Nordic Championships. Guest teams from the Other Services and Corps-based teams may be accepted subject to availability.

The organization and control of SH12 is the responsibility of HQ 5 Div. The Exercise Controller is Maj (MAA) J Smith RAPTC(V) and the Exercise Director is GOC HQ 5 Div, Maj Gen MJ Rutledge CB OBE.

The aim of Ex SPARTAN HIKE is to provide a safe but competitive environment for soldiers to develop and test their military and personal attributes of determination, courage, endeavour, leadership, fitness and marksmanship, through Nordic cross country, biathlon and alpine skiing.

It also encourages novices to take part and develop their skill base and provide a challenging environment which will enable them to feel more comfortable with the stress, pressure and fatigue of operations.

The main administrative control for the exercise is carried out by the race office, which is situated in the basement of the Tourist Office in Villeneuve.  It will be open from 0800-1500 on the day of arrival and thereafter 0800-1800 hrs daily.

Alpine and Nordic race declaration forms are held in the race office and are to be completed in accordance with the rules laid down in the AWSA Ski Race Rules.

Faxes and telephone messages only, can be taken by the race office. There are no facilities for sending and receiving mail when on Spartan Hike.

The rules for Spartan Hike follow the AWSA rules, which are adapted from the FIS and IBU (International Biathlon Union)  rules respectively.

Alpine Rule Book

2011 AWSA Nordic Rules Essential Comp Rules Precis

It is always a good idea to get your team to familiarize themselves with the rules for the competition before deploying on the exercise.  As this will give them time to ask any questions they may have regarding the rules, which at times can be confusing to a novice racer.

Familiarising yourself with the rules will also aid in the preparation of your team as there are some items of equipment that are specified as being necessary in the rules which the novice team may overlook.

DINs

• The Spartan Hike 2012 DIN can be downloaded on the Army Intranet: 2011DIN07-123

Nordic	Alpine
Cross Country Relay (Classic and Skating legs)	Seeding Race
Individual Cross Country Classic	Giant Slalom – Individual
Biathlon Relay	Giant Slalom – Team
Biathlon Sprint	Super G
Military Patrol Race	Downhill
	Slalom – Team
	Slalom – Individual

This page allows you to link to reports provided by snow-forecast.com This is a very comprehensive snow report which is updated regularly and will keep you informed of the conditions in resort for the following 3 days.

In order to view a snow report for Serre Chevalier CLICK HERE .

Winter Slope Info

slope direction: N, NE, E, SE, S.

winter season length: Mid Dec – Mid Apr.

Snow Condition Statistics

snow rating: Serre Chevalier is renowned for having some of the best snow in the Alps, particularly from January onwards.

Avalanche description: There are warning boards at most major lift stations detailing the dangerous areas.

Snow Making Facilities: All the main runs down to the three villages have excellent snow cannon coverage.

There are always things that you forget when planning an exercise such as Spartan Hike. To try and ensure that you forget the minimum amount of things a list of useful tips has been constructed by the Spartan Hike Directing Staff. If you have any useful tips for the exercise that are not included in our list, please contact us via the Contact Us pageand we will be happy to include them for the benefit of other participants in the exercise.

1. Take a Kettle as the French do not use them
2. Take a mug each as French tradition involves drinking hot drinks from bowls.
3. Snow chains are essential for the passage over the Col du Lautaret.
4. Begin the planning phase for the exercise well in advance to ensure that you have enough time to complete the preparations.
5. Try and obtain sponsorship for your exercise to offset some of the costs.
6. Buy any new equipment in France as it is generally cheaper and you can get some good discounts in resort.
7. Do some pre-exercise fitness training before departing for the exercise.
8. Call the Col du Lautaret information line (useful contacts page) if the weather is bad as it can be closed in extreme weather conditions.
9. Get your grant applications in early to ensure you can get the money before you depart on the exercise.

There are many routes that can be taken in order to get to the exercise area.  The route detailed below is only a suggested route and is not designed to be an official route card.

Click Here to see the Spartan Hike Exercise Area Map

For access to the AA route planner click here.

Dist (kms)	Instruction	Road	For	Dir	Towards
0	Depart Calais Port (F) on the	Unnamed	6km	NE
6.4	Turn off onto	A26	89km	SE	St Quentin
95.4	At Lievin stay on the	A26	179km	S	St Quentin
274.5	Go onto	A4	11km	SW
285.3	At Reims stay on the	A4	31km	SE	(Chalons Sur Marne)
316.3	At A26 I33 turn off onto	A26	97km	SSW	(Sommesous)
412.8	Turn off onto	A5	91km	E	(Laferte Sur Aube)
504.2	Turn off onto	A31	114km	S	(Gemeaux)
618.6	Turn off onto	A6	142km	S	(Chalon Sur Saone)
760.1	At A46 I Anse turn off onto	A46	35km	E	(St Fons)
795	Turn off onto	A43	26km	SE	(Jallieu)
820.9	At Jallieu stay on the	A43	3km	E
824.1	Turn off onto	N6	5km	SE
829	Go onto	A48	54km	SE	Grenoble
882.8	Go onto	A480	5km	SE	Grenoble
887.5	At Grenoble turn off onto	N85	3km	S	(Echirolles)
890.6	At Echirolles stay on the	N85	3km	S	(Le Pont De Claix)
893.5	At Le Pont De Claix stay on the	N85	8km	SE	(Vizille)
901.2	At Vizille turn left onto	N91	66km	E
966.7	Take the	N91	13km	E
980	Take the	Local Road	1km
981	At Monetier les Bains continue to Villeneuve	Local Road	6km

This section of the site allows you to learn something about the resort of Serre Chevalier itself and the facilities available to the personnel participating in Exercise Spartan Hike. It covers areas of knowledge such as the ESF, the snow conditions, the route down to Serre Chevalier and the facilities contained within the resort itself.  Recommendations will be given as to good places to eat, socialise and get your laundry done, as well as the good ski shops to visit.

The Ski Championships will take place at Villeneuve and Le Monetier les Bains.

The villages are 2 of the 13 villages in the Grande Vallee known collectively as Serre Chevalier.  The Valley is 18km long served by 9 gondolas, 53 chair lifts, 18 drag lifts and with 47 km of Nordic piste.  It is as picturesque as it is varied and steeped in history.  Roman Legionnaires once came for treatment from the spa waters, and now skiers are able to breathe the rich clean mountain air of the Ecrins National Park.

The Valley of Serre Chevalier stretches from just below the Col du Lautaret to Briancon.  The journey from Calais takes 10-12 hours and is motorway (Peage) as far as Grenoble.  The road from Grenoble is signposted Briancon (RN 91) and climbs steadily to the Col du Lautaret, which is 1900m high and may well require snow chains.  This part of the French Alps gets a lot of snow and weather conditions can change very suddenly.  Once over the pass you drop down into the Serre Chevalier Valley and the first village of note you drive through is Monetier.  There are several chair lifts and the Yret Chair rises to just below the Pic De L’Yret at 2830m.  The Nordic races are held in the Monetier area.
A further 6km down the Valley the centre of administration for the area is at Villeneuve, which has both ancient and modern architecture.  Here the Alpine Championships take place and most of the competitors’ accommodation is situated.  The Alpine races usually take place below and to the left of the middle station known as the “Frejus”.  However, the downhill race is above Frejus on the Clot Gauther drag lift which takes you to the summit of the same name at 2589m.

The 4 main villages of Serre Chevalier contain a vast array of facilities, all of which are available to the competitors on Spartan Hike.  Detailed below are the facilities and some other related information that you may find useful upon arrival.

Office du Tourisme Serre Chevalier

Tel: +33 (0)4 92 24 98 98

Fax: +33 (0)4 92 24 98 84

Le Grand Serre Chevalier Pass covers the whole area of Briançon, Chantemerle, Villeneuve and Monêtier and permits you to skiing in many of the resorts nearby. Lift passes for the period of Spartan Hike can be secured at reduced rates. For SH 2012 the cost of the pass is €217. Teams wanting lift passes for any pre-training can also be purchased at a reduced cost. Full details on how to obtain reduced price lift passes is available in the Admin Instruction.

There are many places to hire skis within resort.  One of the best places is from Regis Sport in Villeneuve which is located near to the Race Office.  Regis Sport will provide discount to military customers of up to 20% and they have a wide range of quality skis suitable for all disciplines within both Alpine and Nordic.

Petrol Stations: The nearest garages en route that accept Euro Fuel cards are in Grenoble and Gap. Both towns are more than an hours drive away.The nearest in-resort garage that accepts Euro Fuel Cards cards is 10 minutes away, located in Briançon.In addition there are 4 post offices and 3 banks and Visa, American Express, Eurocard, Diner’s Card and Mastercard are widely accepted. Cirrus and Plus cards can be used for ATM withdrawals (there are 4 in the area).There are two laundry facilities; One located near the race office and one in the old town of Villeneuve.