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Mid July ski France. Tignes or somewhere else?
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

We are dropping by Geneva and Annecy in the Summer and thought it would be good for a couple of mornings skiing on a glacier. Where would you recommend is best? I thought Tignes (been in Winter). Never been Summer skiing before so it will be a novelty.
Can you rent ski's and boots in the Summer from the resort?

Thanks for the help.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Your only options now are Tignes as you suggested and Les Deux Alpes.

Kit can be hired from both resorts easily.

Do not expect anything like in winter, it is still fun getting turns in the summer though.

Andy
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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?

We can do a ski package as part of our adrenaline package so equipment and lift pass included in the price : http://www.summeractivityholidays.com/adrenaline_package.php

It's pretty limited skiing in summer and the glacier in Tignes is only open until 4th August this summer : after that it's for pedestrians only.
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Jerby: Tignes glacier is great fun in the summer. We've been there in July in 6 of the last 7 summers and have always had decent snow cover, with about 20km of piste open. As anderoo says, hire kit is easily available - skis from about €15 a day full price - with 2 for 1 also available if Ski Republic is open, although we've found their summer opening can be a bit sporadic.

There's loads of other stuff to do as well, including free ski lifts for pedestrians and mountain bikers. The skiing is usually open from 07.15 to about 13.00, though the snow can be a bit soft by late morning.

PM me if any interest in our 4 person apartment: 5 mins walk from the Grande Motte funicular; flexible summer stays of any duration; and cheap rates wink .
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I've skied on the Tignes and Les Deux Alpes glaciers and found it well worth while, with lessons. Frankly, I wouldn't bother for free skiing. You have to queue and compete with the racers to get up there (and for space, once up, and to get down at the end of the short ski day). Of the pistes open, you will almost certainly not have access to them all (but with instruction, looping the same piste is fine). And you do have to get up very early in the morning! In Les Deux Alpes our meeting place was at the gondola at 0700. We took lunch up, and waited for the hordes to descend, enjoying the views, then got the gondola down when it was quieter. There is good ski tuition available in both places, of course.
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In 6 years of summer skiing at Tignes (2 or 3 days each summer - generally in July but also in June, August and September), my experience is as follows:

Quote:
You have to queue and compete with the racers to get up there
We have queued but only in the sense of waiting with about 20 or 30 others for the next funicular train - so half empty carriages and no problem getting a seat. Absolutely nothing like the hordes that descend on the funicular station after the first big snows of autumn.

Quote:
You have to queue and compete with the racers for space once up
Yes, some areas are cordoned off for racing but it's generally so quiet in midsummer that there is still plenty of space for everyone else and it's not unusual to have whole runs to yourself. It's busier on weekends but we have yet to experience a sense of skiing busy runs or feeling endangered by crowds on the piste - ie nothing like some runs in winter.

Quote:
I've skied on the Tignes and Les Deux Alpes glaciers and found it well worth while, with lessons. Frankly, I wouldn't bother for free skiing.
We've never done lessons or summer camps but absolutely love it nevertheless and highly recommend free skiing. We certainly wouldn't keep going back if it was no good. You can have about 2000 vertical feet of skiing available (to the bottom of the non-glacier Vanoise Express in early/mid-July) and over 20km of piste. And, to re-iterate, we have never seen the Grande Motte glacier busy in summer (see pics below). Lift queues don't exist.

Quote:
....and (compete with the racers) to get down at the end of the short ski day
The racers tend to pack up after a few hours. That means it's then not only ski where you like but they've all gone home by the time you get the train back down. Again, our experience is no queues and near-empty trains for the descent. If you get up for the first train (07.15) the 'short ski day' (until about 13.15 - although admittedly on soft snow {fine for us diehards}) can be as long as six hours or so - a fairly meaningful ski in my book. No problem lapping the same runs either - the scenery is amazing and it's a little more extensive than a snowdome or the local North Pennines ski areas that we love (125 to 200m vertical and runs of 600 to 800m Laughing) .

Here are a few pics to illustrate typical July conditions. What's not to like about this Puzzled . We're already looking forward to our trip this year Smile







And- if you're really lucky - you can get snow like this (July 2011):
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Quote:

And- if you're really lucky - you can get snow like this (July 2011):

Nice!

I've been to L2A a few times in the summer - as long as you know what to expect I think it is well worth a bit of glacier summer skiing. Especially if you are doing lessons, or a freestyle camp or something and not just after motorway miles.

I'd love a Tignes summer trip next year.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!

mountainaddict wrote:
In 6 years of summer skiing at Tignes (2 or 3 days each summer - generally in July but also in June, August and September), my experience is as follows:

Quote:
You have to queue and compete with the racers to get up there
We have queued but only in the sense of waiting with about 20 or 30 others for the next funicular train - so half empty carriages and no problem getting a seat. Absolutely nothing like the hordes that descend on the funicular station after the first big snows of autumn.

Quote:
You have to queue and compete with the racers for space once up
Yes, some areas are cordoned off for racing but it's generally so quiet in midsummer that there is still plenty of space for everyone else and it's not unusual to have whole runs to yourself. It's busier on weekends but we have yet to experience a sense of skiing busy runs or feeling endangered by crowds on the piste - ie nothing like some runs in winter.

Quote:
I've skied on the Tignes and Les Deux Alpes glaciers and found it well worth while, with lessons. Frankly, I wouldn't bother for free skiing.
We've never done lessons or summer camps but absolutely love it nevertheless and highly recommend free skiing. We certainly wouldn't keep going back if it was no good. You can have about 2000 vertical feet of skiing available (to the bottom of the non-glacier Vanoise Express in early/mid-July) and over 20km of piste. And, to re-iterate, we have never seen the Grande Motte glacier busy in summer (see pics below). Lift queues don't exist.

Quote:
....and (compete with the racers) to get down at the end of the short ski day
The racers tend to pack up after a few hours. That means it's then not only ski where you like but they've all gone home by the time you get the train back down. Again, our experience is no queues and near-empty trains for the descent. If you get up for the first train (07.15) the 'short ski day' (until about 13.15 - although admittedly on soft snow {fine for us diehards}) can be as long as six hours or so - a fairly meaningful ski in my book. No problem lapping the same runs either - the scenery is amazing and it's a little more extensive than a snowdome or the local North Pennines ski areas that we love (125 to 200m vertical and runs of 600 to 800m Laughing) .

Here are a few pics to illustrate typical July conditions. What's not to like about this Puzzled . We're already looking forward to our trip this year Smile

And- if you're really lucky - you can get snow like this (July 2011):



I think by reading this and the pics we will try it. Cheap enough to try as we will be in the area. Many thanks.
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Might be best to go to Tignes if it's that quiet. last time I skied in Les Deux Alpes it was June and very full of racers. Didn't matter to us - had great lessons on one piste - but the kids were a pain, ramming onto the lifts - required sharp elbows!!

A lot of the kids were Italian, and all very good skiers, evidently, and also very competitive and ruthless little things, in all their ski gear. It was funny seeing them around the resort in the afternoon, in their summer clothes, looking just like normal little kids and much more likeable!
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Cheers Jerby! The other thing I would advise is not to bother if the weather isn't good (of which there is usually plenty in a normal summer). The difference between lovely weather, sunny, warm glacier skiing and enduring fog/wind/rain/snow/rain/thunder and lightning(<- in which case they'll close the lifts immediately Skullie) feels even more pronounced than in winter skiing - you go summer skiing for summer weather Very Happy!

Anyway (depending on availability as we don't know when/whether we'll be there in July yet), if any interest in a few cheap nights at our apartment in Val Claret (5 mins from the funicular) just pm me.
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