Katy Dartford enjoys some early season snowboarding, the place earlier than the crowds arrive she finds snow that holds and loads of area to ski correctly within the excessive altitude French resort.
Snowboarding in mid-December in Tignes looks like arriving simply because the place is waking up. It’s not fairly low season, however the city hasn’t absolutely rubbed the sleep from its eyes both.
The lifts are working, the glacier is open and race crews are already busy throughout the valley, however the mountain itself hasn’t gone into full efficiency mode but.
That may be a dangerous second in winter. Early-season snowboarding is usually a compromise: restricted terrain, skinny cowl and a good quantity of optimism. However on this first-tracks journey to Tignes, it doesn’t really feel like that in any respect. Off-piste is understandably greatest left alone, however the pistes are nicely lined, correctly groomed and made for flowing turns. Add brilliant sunshine and area, and it looks like precisely what’s wanted after weeks of November rain.
There are not any huge queues, no lift-gate scrums, only a regular glide away from the station and straight into snowboarding. The air is sharp, the snow underfoot agency and dry, and as an alternative of preventing for area, you’ll be able to truly get some laps in. That is early-season snowboarding for individuals who wish to ski.
First runs, timber and a flooded village
Our first run drops by way of one of many few extra tree-lined sections of the mountain, the terrain rolling gently away in the direction of the lake under. It’s a very good warm-up for legs that haven’t slid on snow since spring. We cease partway down and look out throughout the water.
Margot Sella, our teacher, factors in the direction of the lake and explains why it’s there. Within the Fifties, the unique village of Tignes was destroyed to make method for a hydroelectric dam. Households had been compelled to depart, salvaging doorways, home windows and even stones from their properties earlier than the valley was flooded. When the water is drained at this time, the foundations of the previous village nonetheless seem. You’ll be able to nonetheless see the place folks lived.
There’s now a virtual-reality expertise on the Maison de Tignes that explores this historical past, taking guests by way of the flooded village, the dam and the rebuilding of the resort greater up the mountain.
Decrease villages and household snowboarding
From above, the structure of the resort is sensible. Tignes 1800 sits decrease and extra sheltered, with learner areas and gentler terrain that fits households. Les Brévières, decrease nonetheless, is quieter once more, with tree-lined runs and a village environment that feels calmer than the upper bases.
Margot is easy about it. These are villages for households, rookies and individuals who need area. If nightlife issues, they’re not the locations to remain. That’s a helpful distinction to Val Claret, greater and colder, the place December days really feel shorter as a result of the solar drops early and the temperature follows rapidly as soon as it’s gone.
Why Tignes works so early
At 3,456 metres, the Grande Motte glacier underpins Tignes’ early-season reliability. The Glacier Categorical gondola does the climb in round 5 minutes, delivering you straight into high-altitude terrain the place snow high quality holds even when decrease resorts are nonetheless ready for protection.
Margot explains that because of this folks come to Tignes so early within the season. Not as a result of all the things is open, however as a result of what’s open tends to ski nicely.
Up right here, the snow feels agency and grippy slightly than intimidating – the sort that allows you to get your legs again with out continuously worrying about what’s beneath you. Margot factors out that days like this aren’t assured so early in winter. Visibility on the glacier is usually restricted. At the moment, although, it’s clear sufficient to absorb huge views throughout the Vanoise, with the Italian facet of Monte Bianco seen off to at least one facet.
The glacier, then and now
The glacier has lengthy been central to Tignes’ identification. Within the Nineteen Sixties, it was well-known for year-round snowboarding, with summer time lifts and drag programs stretching throughout the ice.
That period has ended. Many of the previous lifts have been eliminated, with just one remaining, as there isn’t a longer sufficient snow to keep up pylons safely by way of summer time.
Margot doesn’t gown it up. In summer time now, she says, it’s ice and rocks. July snowboarding isn’t good anymore. The glacier nonetheless does its job in winter, however no person pretends it’s untouched by warming temperatures.
New lifts, higher move
Current funding in Tignes has centered on upgrading lifts slightly than increasing terrain, and the distinction is felt rapidly. The brand new six-seater L’Aiguille Percée chairlift is the standout this season, working at as much as six metres per second and carrying round 2,800 skiers an hour. It improves entry to one of many resort’s most recognisable sectors and smooths the hyperlink between Tignes le Lac and Les Brévières.
Elsewhere, newbie areas are being reworked. Across the Palais sector, Margot explains that that is the place the resort is attempting to enhance issues for first-timers, acknowledging that Val Claret has by no means been the best place to study. Conveyor belts are changing older drag lifts, and longer-term plans embody improved entry across the Membership Med space.
After we attain Palais, she’s fast so as to add that it isn’t solely about rookies. From the Merles raise, she says, there’s good off-piste when situations enable.
Empty runs and December quirks
With World Cup racing happening over in Val d’Isère, a lot of the Tignes facet feels unusually quiet. The Johan Clarey black, typically busy later within the season, is nearly empty, with lengthy views stretching throughout in the direction of Italy and Mont Blanc.
Shaded pistes maintain their snow nicely, whereas sunnier elements soften briefly earlier than shedding the sunshine altogether. In December, the times really feel compressed. In Val Claret, the solar drops early and the temperature follows quick. The rhythm turns into easy: ski onerous, eat late, and abruptly it’s darkish.
From the chairlift, Margot factors out a small opening within the rock reverse, identified domestically because the “mouse gap”. Then she gestures to one thing way more apparent on the skyline: L’Aiguille Percée, the pierced rock formation that provides the raise its identify. Also referred to as the Eye of the Needle, it entered fashionable ski folklore after Candide Thovex skied clear by way of it in a viral clip.
Locals, Margot says, have their very own nickname for the darker, colder facet of this sector. They name it Mordor, a reference to The Lord of the Rings, a spot the place the solar disappears quick and December actually looks like winter.
A fast hop into Val d’Isère
The hyperlink throughout to Val d’Isère is open, so we cross briefly to catch the World Cup slalom. From Tignes, it’s a well-recognized sequence of lifts, ending on the Olympique téléphérique, the place you’ll be able to look straight down over the course.
From above, the slope appears to be like brutally steep, the rhythm aggressive and unrelenting as racers assault the autumn line. On the raise, the dialog drifts to Downhill Racer, which feels applicable as we watch skiers throw themselves downhill at full pace.
Margot is obvious that the 2 resorts play totally different roles. Val d’Isère feels extra village-like, with extra timber, larger chalets and a stronger deal with racing. Tignes, in contrast, is greater, extra useful and extra clearly constructed round snowboarding slightly than surroundings. They’re not opponents, she stresses, however enhances.
Collectively, the broader Tignes–Val d’Isère space is huge, with round 80 per cent categorised as off-piste, even when early season means selecting strains rigorously. After watching the racing, we ski piste M reverse the course. It’s fully empty, with huge views dropping away in the direction of the lake and dam under, earlier than heading again to Tignes as the sunshine fades.
When the skis come off
On the finish of the day, there’s nonetheless vitality left. In Val Claret, Cocorico is busy with out being packed, with room to maneuver and the appropriate stage of early-season environment. The supervisor, Callum Smale, jokes about French legal guidelines that imply if you happen to’re the final individual to serve somebody a drink, you’re accountable for them. He’s been in resort for a decade, beforehand managing in Val d’Isère, and admits it’s not all glamour. He’s simply completed fixing the bogs, which nonetheless contain bringing lavatory roll in from exterior the cubicle and coping and not using a seat.
Journey, then cheese
The next afternoon brings one thing new: electrical snow e-karting in Val Claret. It’s go-karting on snow, absolutely electrical, with little or no noise past laughter and the occasional shout. The briefing is minimal: no contact, don’t get out of the kart, and use the blue button to reverse if wanted.
We do a number of familiarisation laps, then race. I lead early, get overconfident, drive straight right into a snow financial institution and should be pulled out. I end close to final.
Subsequent door, additionally new this season, is a winter journey park with rope programs and nets strung above the snow, geared toward households who need one thing extra energetic than sledging.
Later, there’s a cheese tasting on the native cooperative, evaluating Beaufort summer time and winter. The winter model is sharper and extra intense. The cheese is made in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, with milk from cows that graze on the identical slopes we’ve been snowboarding on.
Early season in Tignes isn’t about having all the things. It’s about having sufficient: snow that holds, lifts that work, area to ski correctly, and villages that know who they’re for. Earlier than the crowds arrive and the calendar fills up, the mountain feels open and workable. For skiers who wish to transfer, discover and get laps in, it’s an excellent time to be right here.
TRAVEL FACTS
Classes: France, Resort Information & Experiences
