Sights in Tignes & Val D'Isere.

Hi all.

We are off to Tignes in Jan. Can anyone let me know of any good stuff to see whilst out on the slopes please. I refer to something like the Indian reservation at Courchevel.....anything that anyone can think of would be great. Thanks, and happy xmas to you all (and safe skiing)!!!!

What an interesting question!

I don't know of anything on the slopes but there is a new museum in val D'isere - in the oldest property - about the history of the area.

Hi,
This isn't so much things to see (historically) but more things to do:

Ice-Diving
Ice-Climbing
Ice-Skating
Husky Sledging

Hope that helps.

Thanks to you both for your comments, much appreciated.

I found this interesting, given my love of art, culture and all things old. No missus, I'm not talking about you!

The French are great engineers, and I have always respected how they get things done. They are however, on occasion, a tad brutal. The old village of Tignes was submerged when the dam was built in 1952.

Consequently, modern Tignes dates from the 1960s.

Val D'Isere dates back to Roman times, and the village church was built in the 1660s, by which time, most contemporary Austrian churches were already 400/600 years old.

I'm just away to get my anorak out.

Stuff that sightseeing b0110X!!! :lol: Just got back last weekend. The skiing is IMHO as good as it gets anywhere, and the snow conditions at the moment are absolutely epic! Just ski it! :D Ally G's group are gonna have a beano! :thumbup:

come and look at us ...we'll be the best laugh there ...Jan 13th for the week....can't wait!!

Some things to look out for whilst on the slopes themselves:

The reservoir they created when the dam that Dave Mac mentioned was built is visible from "below" when down in Tignes Les Brev at one end of the map (there's a mural of Hercules painted on it but its not very visible in winter)

http://ski-chalets-tignes.co.uk/sites/default/files/AllAbout1.jpg

Once you get over to Val and go up the Solaise side you can look down the Isere Valley, past Val town, past La Daille (where the OK run that the Women's downhill is being run on today finishes) and you'll see the Lac and the top of the dam

The Aiguille Percee is also worth looking out for - a rock with a hole in it that you can (I'm told though I never have) ski through if the conditions are right and you're brave and willing to go on a "Naturide".

Though not really a "sight" you might want to go down the blue "Santons" run from the Bellevarde down into Val as this is quite a sight (natural half pipe with beginners strewn round the place believing that a blue way down from the mountain top was a better choice for them then sensibly riding the gondola like the instructor told them)

One thing we did last time was to ski all four "corners" of the map in one day: Le Fornet, Val Glacier Pissaillas, Tignes Les Brev 15550 and the Grande Motte glacier in Tignes. Perfectly do-able in a day with a lunch stop too but you need to think about route to get back to where you are staying as getting caught without a lift over the top can be expensive.

Realistically though the only link you must watch is the one over Toviere or the Col De Fresse to get from the Tignes side to Val and vice versa as once you're in either bowl you can ski down and even if you only get as far s La Daille for Val or le Lac for Tignes you are then not in the realm of expensive transport to wherever you need to end up.

Hope this is of use - anything else then PM me, off to the EK on the 19th Jan myself

Andy