Tignes and Tignes-Val D'Isere (formerly Espace Killy) 2023/24. Useful links on Page 1

A snowHead

@Rob Mackley, I did, I also saw pics of Lechere Rail station. It looked like a new innovation in transport - a canal with pantograph wires - electric barges - I tell you it’s the way ahead!

A snowHead

@chocksaway, Laughing

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Rob Mackley, got a link to those pics please?

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@Dr John, On the Meteo Tarentaise Facebook page

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid03FSEMkp8cAyaqrFkq9mdmXtU3pJytThDN9Sq9i3b62LXgSCKzALCdYrWEtbi8Pexl&id=100071014403747

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@Rob Mackley, ta. Jeepers.

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I have flights booked to GVA for the 9th/10th December. Was going to go to Verbier for the Warren Smith weekend course but at now thinking about Val d’Isere as the World Cup is there that weekend (mens GS & slalom I think). Accommodation in Val is very limited (and expensive). Does anyone know if the links from Tignes will be open by then?

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Thanks Steve.

I'm going to be solo traveling to Val for Christmas week. I'm more than content to ski open to close every single day and hobble back to my room barely able to move. I get far more skiing in solo than I do with the mates lol. But I'd like to get some nice French food while I'm there. What should I be looking at for lunch / dinner? And what do I need to reserve in advanced given the busy week?

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There are absolutely loads of places to eat in the town and on the mountain in Val d'isere.

What is your budget for lunch/dinner and how well do you know the area? Can you be more specific as what type of food you want. A good start is to look at the official Val d'isere website which lists all of the restaurants.

https://www.valdisere.com/en/village-guide/restaurants-gastronomy/

For Val d'isere information check out the "View from Val d'isere.........." posting in the same part of the forum as this one.

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@stevesie,
Is lunch a quick refuel or something longer/grander?

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@stevesie. someone will know the name of this great rest. Half way up the Face black downhill run. An old Cow Shed with a Citroen 2CV outside it. A really great place to stop for a long relaxing lunch. I heard from an Old Major it was V v good food.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@stevesie,
For a good value lunch you can’t go wrong with Marmottes in the Bellevarde area or Cascade on Pisaillas, they are both self service. They can be busy between 1200 and 1400 so go early or late. Coffee and Hot Chocolate are only 2€ but you need coins.
The Rosée Blanche beside the La Daille bubble is also for a quick stop or drink after skiing

Dinner
These are the more reasonable places that I would feel comfortable on my own.
La Source. Varied menu
Garage. Single seats at the bar or take out pizza
La Cave. Primarily a wine bar that serves a very limited menu but again lots of single bar seats. Probably one of my favourites.

A snowHead

A snowHead

@franga, Well have to see how L’Ouilette Noveau is this year. The haunt of many years was demolished-hopefully they have finished it before the onset of the snow.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@chocksaway, be lucky if anything operating there at all. Was a hole in the ground 3 months ago.

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Much quieter yesterday and the cable car was open. I had to work in the morning so we just had a bike of runs in the afternoon. The glacier was firm but grippy. Double M was very very firm and very not grippy at 3pm! But still fun.

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Much better today. Temperatures were 5-10C lower and the glacier was in good condition down to the bottom of the Vanoise. The cannons were running all the way down Double M, so that was pretty good too.

After all it is free

Hey guys, thanks for the restaurant recommendations in Val. I'm not really price sensitive on food because I like to try new things and it's a vacation - I don't normally spend a lot on food. I'll get lunch on the slopes as a nice break, not super long, but I'm skiing 7 days open to close so a good break is needed. At night, maybe something to pick up quickly most nights, but it may be fun to eat out a night or two. I'd like to try some French cuisine because I have never been in France. But I like to try all sorts of different things. I'm not much of a drinker, so not concerned about that.

I think my main concern got overlooked I will be there Christmas week, should I be worried about making reservations in advance? Thanks.

@stevesie,

Xmas week will be busy so if you want a nice evening meal you should book a place. I forgot to ask where are you staying in Val d'isere? If you are stuck out in La Daille. Le Fornet or Legattaz then you may need to use the free buses if you want to get into the centre.

My favourite evening restaurants are Taverne d'Alsace in the basement of the Kandahar Hotel in the centre of Val and the Corniche near the old church. If you want fondue there is the Fondue Factory, Casserole in the centre.

For lunch the best value places are Marmottes Restaurant next to the Borsat Express Chair lift in Bellevarde area and Cascade Restaurant on the Le Fornet Glacier. There are loads of very expensive restaurants all over Val d as well.

The official Val d'isere website lists 70 restaurants!

https://www.valdisere.com/en/village-guide/restaurants-gastronomy/

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@welshflyer

Thanks, that makes sense. I'm staying in the center of Val. I'm assuming that means I probably won't need to book for on mountain lunch (I usually either try to do lunch early or late to beat the crowds)?

As you said, there are 70 restaurants on that site alone. The one place I've been able to nail down that I really want to check out is La Folie Duce, but even that one place alone has a number of options! Love that is has shows.

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@stevesie,

Not sure what sort of show you're expecting at the Folie Douce. It's where the younger clientele go to get inebriated and the music is loud and not very melodic, but each to their own. In nil visibilty you can hear the "music" which can help you navigate yourself down the mountain. You can see what it is like if you search for it on Youtube.

There used to be a very expensive in the Folie Douce called the Fruitiere and a much cheaper pizzeria. These are only lunch options because they are half way up the mountain.

Staying in the Centre Val d means youv'e a huge choice everyone will come up withtheir own favourites.

Taking lunch early or late is a good tactic to avoid the crowds. However some of the more expensive sit down waiter service restaurants can get booked up.

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Will it be possible to ski to lac from Val claret tomorrow? Johan Clarey / trolles looks quite bare on the webcam

@VTSkier, The Lumiplan status page suggests not.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I did see a fellow skiing from VC to Lac today. But he was on cross country skis.

Quite a buzz in town on 'proper' opening day today. I didn't get to ski but plenty did, with Vanoise chairlift and the cable car being open (according to the radio) and Bollin spinning too, if you have your rock-hoppers at the ready. Natural snow cover is pretty thin but the lake is freezing over nicely so no excuse temps-wise for the canons not to get blasting.

The pavements are solid ice - crampons de ville strongly recommended. Though I saw one girl in Lavachet taking full advantage and Ugg-surfing down the road.

The parking saga continues. I could not persuade Indigoneo to make Golf available to resident-seasonaires so bought a pass for Lac 2. Trying to enter, neither ANPR not the plastic card would work. Spoke to the parking office on the intercom and they said, no, neither entry system will let you into Lac 2, as you have a space in Golf. Groan. Over in Golf, a repeat performance with neither ANPR nor pass working. More intercom chat but this time the closing remarks were "it should open for you now" and Ouvre Sésame - so it did! Wish me luck trying to get out again!!

Caught a glimpse of ND de Briancon station on the drive up yesterday. The floodwater has subsided and workmen were jetwashing the tracks. However, just outside the station the ground beneath the track has been undermined so there's empty space under the rails. Could be a few weeks yet before trains are running between Bourg and Albertville. SNCF reckon on a replacement bus at least until 9th Dec.

Back to parking. I did a short tour of the covered car parks with the exception of the public entrance to Golf (my running legs were turning to jelly plus the altitude put paid to the prospect of going up that hill at the end of my run (!). But none of them have shrunk in headroom so in the main, those quoted on page 1 are still valid - except for Lavachet, which I need to tweak. I'll do some updates in a few days once I've completed the tour.

Hoping tomorrow to get an hour or two of actual skiing in so will report on what conditions I find.

A snowHead

A quick update on conditions as promised. A nice sunny day and not too cold with -3 maximum in VC. Same pistes open as yesterday but Lanches chairlift now running in addition to the others.

Double M pretty grippy in the most part, just a few sections needing tidy edges and those areas could mostly be avoided.

Can't say for definite how the glacier runs are as they closed the cable car in my face owing to high winds. And with Vanoise chair breaking down about the same time, staying high to do laps wasn't possible. But at 3,000 metres nice grippy chalky snow so I'd expect even better on high.

Very mixed bag off piste. The rain from the other week fell as high as Panoramic so sheets of shiny ice visible all around. But more recent small wind-blown stashes by the piste edges were being enjoyed by many.

Canons were going full pelt on Carline and Fresse. Looking up at those pistes they looked in good condition which augurs well for wider resort opening shortly.

A snowHead

Any idea how much of Val D and Tignes is expected to open up on Saturday?!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

And a quick trip to the weather office - shows promise!

The jetstream is going to be situated over or to the south of the Tarentaise this week. So snow and wind and a quick heads up for really quite chilly weather from later in the week. Tonight and Tuesday will see light snow showers down to below Brev, possibly 15-20 cm in total but it will be windy, so possibly only the Funi and Bollin. Wednesday will be better, windy aloft again, but sunny periods and a few fast moving clouds which will thicken in the afternoon. Nice day for laps of Double M as the cable car will probably be shut. Thursday is a bit of a conundrum, there's going to be lots of precipitation and wind but the confusion is over the rain snow limit. My bet is snow above Boisses but Meteo France (the experts eh?) are showing snow in Brev at 1550m and rain in Val Centre at 1850m, so they are confused as well! But another foot of snow may well be on the cards. Friday looks like heavy snow showers and quite windy and cold enough for everyone to agree on snow. Beyond that lies uncertainty, Saturday may well be snowy through the day or it may well stop at lunchtime, but it will be much, much colder. In fact if it follows the forecast it will be baltic. So many layers and snow chains. All this snow will improve the snow pack no end but there will be a lot of work to do to get the pistes ready and safe. Remember, just cos it is white on the piste as viewed from the Taos does not mean all the culverts and holes are full and the rocks covered. Patience is a virtue at the start of the season. But its looking much better for next week. Very Happy

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Are Delphine and Rocco still in situ at the Jam Bar?

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@Mark1863, Yip

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Senior moment clearly. Very Happy

Perhaps the year before.

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Snowing pretty hard at the moment.

Help!!

Tignes and Tignes-Val D'Isere (formerly Espace Killy) 2023/24. Useful links on Page 1

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