We returned to one of our favourite ski areas just before Christmas; Tignes, part of the Espace Killy domain in the French Alps.
We briefly covered snow conditions in our snow reports from Tignes here but suffice to say that the week prior had seen heavy snow, so the pistes from Tignes Le Lac and up were about as good as it gets. Bases were deep, and surface condition anything from loose to packed powder and chalky, with a few areas on the home runs turning to hard-pack - so probably 99% excellent in terms of cover!
Tignes
Tignes comprises five or six separate villages, at varying altitudes, with the majority of the skiing (and skiers) around the two highest centres of Tignes Le Lac and Val Claret. The upper valley is well connected with it's neighbour Val d'Isere, and with linking pistes and lifts to the lower villages.
Let's get this out of the way first; Tignes is a purpose-built ski resort, and whilst the architecture is not to everyone's taste it works well and has a consistency and efficiency to the layout, accommodation and transport connections.
But we came to ski...
So what about the skiiing?
TL/DR; It's one of the great ski areas, with some fantastic skiing on and (especially) off the piste.
For absolute beginners (first time skiers), Tignes Le Lac (likewise Val Claret) is perhaps not the ideal resort although there is a small (and free) starter slope served by a magic carpet in Tignes Le Lac. There are also easy slopes around the lower villages.
For "improvers" (able to ski an average Blue run) and up, however, the ski area is fantastic and almost every corner of the entire domain (and across the neighbouring Val d'Isere) can be reached on a Blue.
The Genepy blue rolls down from the top of the funi, with great views all the way.
If this is you; do not overlook the blues (including the Genepy run) down from the Funicular! From the top station of the funicular, exit from the lower door on the left side of the train (when looking up the hill) and ski on to 6km of rolling blue - with stunning views - down to Val Claret. And the best thing? They're rarely busy.
There's a snow park and some interesting - wide and undulating - blue skiing in the Gratalu area, with descending runs from here to both Le Lac and Val Claret.
For Intermediate and good skiers, many of the lengthy Blues have Red shortcuts/variants. The Reds from the top of the Grande Motte are fabulous and give you several wide and nicely pitched options back in to Val Claret.
Strong and confident skiers will want to tackle the Black runs from Toviere into Le Lac, and seek out the Col des Ves chair (not always open) and the Stade de Lognan runs.
Most of the lifts are modern and fast!
And then there's the off-piste...
If you're properly equipped (transceiver, shovel and probe - at least), can ski any snow and have good awareness of avalanche safety then both Tignes and Val d'Isere offer an amazing range of popular off-piste options and itineraries.
If you'd like to try this, and don't yet have the kit (or knowledge) then excellent courses and instructors are available locally, including the likes of Snoworks (see our experience with them in our Snoworks Course Diaries here) and other schools.
And what about the skis?
For this trip, we rode Salomon Stance 96s - which were ideal for the excellent piste conditions and the small amount of "side piste" we ventured into.
Mountain Story - new management, same great service
Regular readers may recall that we've happily used Mountain Story in Tignes Le Lac for rental skis in the past. The business has now passed to Cyril Maille and is clearly in good hands, with an enthusiastic, friendly and helpful crew (thanks guys!).
Cyril wrote:We took over the business in November 2022 from Ludovic and Laetitia, so this is our second winter season.
The intent is to continue what Ludovic and Laetitia had done - family run business focused on customer service where ski lovers can find a wide range of technical products and good technical advice.
So no radical changes in the shop, just a bit of re-shaping to our personality, the name stays the same.
We are not from Tignes and did not have prior experience in running a ski business. We both discovered Tignes in the early 90s (before knowing each other) and fell in love with the ski area. We set our base camp in France here in 2016 while we were expatriated in Asia and it became obvious that we wanted to permanently settle here when we would return to France. We very much care about the future and the sustainability of Tignes and winter sports, and are proud to take some part of its development as residents and business owners.
We got great coffee and found the Mountain Story Cafe a chill place for occasional breaks.
Until the next time, Tignes!