 Poster: A snowHead
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After receiving all the great advice on here, I finally got around to writing this trip report to share my experiences. So here it goes:
Who: 5 families with kids ( 10 adults and 11 kids , ages 3 -14)
When: December 23-30, 2016
Where: Tignes Le Lac, stayed in Chalet La Tourne ( the Tignes Chalet Company)
Costs per family of 4:
Flights: £400 ( 2 adults + 2 kids)
Accommodation, food and transfers : £1800
Ski passes: £565 ( 2x adults 6 day pass+ 1 kid 4 day pass)
Ski rental: £173 ( 2x adults +2 kids)
Kids ski school + nanny: £855 ( 2 kids, full day)
Adults ski lessons: £450 ( 2 adults, 4 days half day lessons, 1 full day private guiding)
Overall the trip was a great success, we loved the resort and the weather was great - sunny all week and even though there was no fresh snow anywhere in sight , the skiing was still very good ( like ten times better than our previous Christmas in Chamonix).
We took an early 7am flight with SWISS from London on Friday December 23rd which was OK. We booked as soon as the flights were released, hence the good price. Luckily we narrowly avoided the Heathrow staff strike, which was meant to start on that day but was called off shortly beforehand. Greatly relieved by this fact we ended up having a relaxing breakfast in an airport cafe only to realise that our flight was about to close and we were 20 min away from our gate! So picture a crazy run with bags and kids to the gate -but we made it!
In Geneva we were met by the Alpine Sherpa transfers ( part of our chalet package) and our transfer was OK, although a bit long for the kids .. but we have recorded a bunch of CBeebies Christmas stories for them to listen and they loved that!
We arrived in the chalet at around 2PM. The chalet was adequate for our needs, by no means a luxury accommodation but I believe we got a good value for what we paid. The rooms were big enough but the furnishings and bathrooms a bit shabby. The cleanliness was generally satisfactory but definitely with a room for improvement. The location of the chalet meant that we had a short-ish walk to the main ski school meeting point/lifts uphill which is bit of an effort with kids and equipment ( I think it took 5 min without kids or skis and maybe as much as 15 min with both) .
The food was quite good in my opinion although there were some complaints from some of our group ( it was a first ski holiday for 2 of the families and their expectations may have been a bit unrealistic for a mid range ski chalet). The chalet company were quite flexible with our very peculiar dietary requirements - we are Jewish and some of us are quite traditional- which means that we only eat Kosher meat and don't mix meat and dairy. This presented a challenge for the chalet as you cannot buy Kosher meat in Tignes. So they allowed us to bring our own meat and modified their menu to suit our needs , which meant a few long conversations between my husband and the chalet chef! Ok here it may be worth mentioning that not all in our group were observant and so the funny ( and somewhat embarrassing) moment came when after all this discussions and menu changes , on a chalet day off, a staff member stopped by in the evening and one of our group was caught red handed cooking bacon in the kitchen!
The chalet girls were generally lovely - but they are so young and so much is expected of them!
Ski rental - we used Precision Ski in Le Lavachet side - and it was not easy to find on the first day and when we got there at around 4.30 PM they basically told us to come back later or in the morning as all skis and boots were wet (!) .. so we ended up having to wait around for over an hour even though our rentals were meant to ready for us , so we were late for kids dinner (so imagine hungry and tired and whining kids - not fun)
Ski school - our older kids age 5 and up as well as intermediate and advanced adults- went to Evolution2 ..generally very happy with both adults and kids lessons , kids seemed to progress well and my 6 yr was whizzing down the greens and blues by midweek ( he was very excited to get ski poles on his 3rd day, and of course he proceeded to drop one from the ski lift which did not make his instructor very happy). Our kids also ate lunch in the ski school and this was in a nice restaurant close to the lifts.
The younger two kids who both just turned 3 went to Les Marmottons , which is kind of ski nursery and I believe it also belongs to Evolution 2 now. There the kids get to kind of play on skis in the snow garden. I thought the set up there was very good and the instructors/nannies very nice and caring - even though I was slightly worried on my youngest fist day there - he did ok and had a good week , even if he cried occasionally and I can't say that he learned much in terms of skiing (but I did not expect that)
Adults lessons with Evolution 2 were also very good, although there was a bit of disorganisation in terms of groups and levels, we met a number of instructors throughout the week and on our last days Mathieu was absolutely amazing!
We also loved our day with Ultimate Snowsports instructor Ben ( this school belongs to the Tignes Chalet Company) - he was great! Our beginner adults took their lessons with ESF and they thought it was not bad, but that the groups were too big and instructors impatient and not very friendly.
We used a T4 nanny Hannah for afternoons to look after the younger kids and also babysitting on our night out. She was lovely and very flexible, happy to meet us at the lifts or pick up kids from the ski school, take kids sledging or do arts and crafts with them! Such a nice girl and easy to talk too - both kids and adults liked her a lot!
And last but not least - the skiing - what can I say? Such a great range of pistes for all tastes of abilities (and of course the off piste should be amazing when snow conditions allow). I heard that Tignes can be bleak in bad weather, but we were lucky not it experience that...was sunshine and beautiful mountains all around. In short - we will be going back next season!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That, my friend, is a bloody good TR.
I did two weeks with Evo2 in Tignes on my first trip.... ooh, a very long time ago. Glad to hear they are still doing a good job. I wonder if one of my instructors, Natalie ("always wiz ze hands") is still with them.
The ride into Tignes is a bit of a schlepp for sure - one of the few downers of going there.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Layne, thanks . It was my first attempt as a relatively new snowhead 
Yes there was a Natalie but I think she now works with the very little ones in the Les Marmottons ( which has become part of Evo2)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Bella2015, a good read, thanks.  you were well off up in Tignes - many lower resorts had very little open. Megeve had nothing!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Your only missing thing is telling us which chalet.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@pam w, thanks . Yes we were lucky we chose Tignes given the snow situation in December
@James the Last, its Chalet La Tourne of the Tignes Chalet Company ( see the top bit of my post)
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@Bella2015, most excellent TR.
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