3 Canadians going to France

Myself and 2 friends will be departing London around March 10th for a week of skiing in France. Our options are to take the ski train to Tignes for a week, or take a different train to Lyon or Grenoble and rent a car. If we rent a car we will have the flexibility of going to wherever the best conditions are, however, this will incur further costs.

We are into backcountry skiing, off piste and outside of resort boundaries. We have skins and Avalanche gear and like to search for untouched ski areas. We also enjoy having a few beer at a good bar after a great day of skiing, but rarely get really drunk.

My thoughts are, if we go to Tignes it is pretty easy to get to from London, we do not have to worry about a car, and can become very familiar with the area. We could also book our accommodations far in advance so they would be less expensive. The negative part to this is that if the conditions are not great at that time, we are stuck there. The piste map shows the most of Tignes is in the alpine, which I would assume would have very poor visibility on snowy days. In Whistler we always ski the trees on really snowy days.

If we rent a car in Grenoble or Lyon we have the freedom to ski wherever we want, but will last minute bookings at resorts be challenging? We were thinking we could drive to Montgenevre, or to Gressonay in Italy, or just wherever the best snow conditions are. This would be a great adventure but could also turn into a logistical nightmare.

I am thinking we should probably just go to Tignes, but will this area have enough to keep us busy for a week?
Any recommendations are appreciated
-Mike

Tignes is great mike. Just got back from there a couple of weeks ago. Most other places at the time weren't open but tignes was. I may stand corrected but if in March the conditions in tignes aren't very good then I doubt anywhere else close enough would be better. Tignes is usually a sure bet and has plenty of out of bounds for you to
Find. If you wanted a guide for half a day then I can highly recommend a guy called Rab from TDC school in tignes. We did go there a couple of years ago in mid march and all I'll say is it was a little crusty off piste but we had a guide for 4 half days and found lots of fresh stuff but go get to it required ropes etc. Haha. Hence the guide. Hope you have a great time.

HI Mike. Another vote here for Tignes. Don't forget that you also have Val d'Isere immediately adjacent which pretty much doubles the ski area. We always stay in Val d'Isere but will spend time on the Tignes pistes most days as the link is so convenient.

Def Tignes will keep you busy for a week - the Espace Killy is huge, bigger than Whistler I'm pretty sure.

Tignes itself doesn't have a lot of trees due to altitude but plenty on the VDI side off the back of Solaise heading down into Le Fornet.

If you are considering driving from Grenoble to Montgenevre, you are going to drive right through La Grave-La Meije, the very best area in the Alps for backcountry skiing IMHO. You are unlikely to exhaust the possibilities of the Ecrins in a lifetime, let alone a week.
However, this is serious mountain skiing and I would definitely recommend a guide. PM me for personal recommendations.
A cold beer in the Castillian Hotel at the end of the day, along with the other skiers and guides, will taste better than ever.

La Grave is SERIOUS back country skiing and you should only REALLY consider skiing it with a guide.

Thanks Everyone,

I have looked into La Grave, we would definitely hire a guide if we went there. If we do decide to go to Tignes, would you recommend staying all 7 days there? or maybe staying a few nights at Les Arc or another Mountain in the area?

If you are have not already booked transport then I would not look beyond Chamonix. As you are coming from Canada you may as well tick the box. Going anywhere else is a bit like going to England and not seeing London and the Queen.