The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

A snowHead

Hi alvinsu and welcome to Snowheads.

So you are basically looking for a place in Val that can look after your dog during the day when you are out skiing - is that what you are asking? You could join a Facebook group for Val d'Isere and ask on there but in all honesty I dont think you would find something and certainly not a formal place - just a person that might offer for the week but then they could change their mind or whatever. If I were you I would leave your dog at home in the UK. There IS a dog hotel down the valley but you'd need to get it there and pick it up and its quite a drive away - were talking at least an hour each way! Probably a little tricky!

A snowHead

Thanks Steve. Can you let me know the name of the dog hotel ? One possibility is to leave the dog during our stay. Or maybe for half of the week.

On a side note, we took a few lessons with Clare (not sure if she remembers a Chinese couple) three years ago and another few lessons with Colin at TDC. Very good memory, we will be in touch again to book some lessons this Christmas as we have a large group coming to Val.

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

chezpooch@yahoo.com - Chez Pooch near Moutiers is the name.

Ill ask Clare if she remembers you - we see a lot of names and faces so its a possibility but a Chinese couple is probably more memorable! Likewise Ill ask Colin. It'll be good to see you back here this Christmas! Enjoy.

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@alvinsu, maybe you could also squeeze in a trip to the SnowHeads Pre Season Bash, early December, in Tignes? Then your husky would probably have the company of Talisker, a prominent SnowHead husky. Also the man who tags along with him, Husky Dave

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Steve Angus,

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@PeakyB, that's impressive and hey, if you run out, there's always Sweden (>250,000). (Yes I looked that up and had no idea, was going to mention the Philippines)

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Scooter in Seattle, that’s remarkable! Less than 1000 of those 267000 islands of Sweden inhabited.
So many islands, so little time.

After all it is free

@alvinsu, it’s a very educational Bash Smile

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Hi! I have been reading this forum for couple of years now but haven't posted before. I could use some advice about Val D'Isere and Tignes. As we couldn't ski last season, we hope to start this one as early as possible. Usually we come to Alps for one week in spring, but this time we hope to make two trips. We are considering Val D'Isere from the opening week, from 27.11 to 04.12 or the next week from 04.12 to 11.12. Is there big difference between those choices? How much area has been usually open from the first week? Are the links open to Tignes or should we stay in Tignes instead of Val D'Isere? And any other info we should be aware of would be appreciated.

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@Kaupo, welcome to SnowHeads

I suggest you also post those questions on this thread

https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=4646210&highlight=tignes#4646210

snow reports

@Kaupo, The links between Tignes & Val D'Isere are open from opening day. Prior to that only the Tignes glacier and runs off it are open.
Snow permitting the same runs will be open both weeks - the advantage of the second week is it gives the chance for more snow to fall.

Kaupo - yes welcome to Snowheads. As PeakyB and Kenzie elude to there is not a massive difference in the weeks to be honest! First week of the season it is dead quiet and you can get the chance of free ski tests over opening weekend but the chance for the link between the two to be open will be lesser. The 2nd of those weeks can be a little busier and the snow on the law of averages will be slightly better but its much of a muchness to be honest!

You know it makes sense.

Thanks for the replies. Quiet week sounds nice, more room for us. Probably we will choose the opening week. Are restaurants on the mountain also open from the beginning of the season?

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

I think there'll be PLENTY of room either way! Yes everything open (well mostly yes). Some hotels / bars / clubs etc not fully open but most stuff all good to go! Enjoy!

A snowHead

Wow - the road from the dam down to the Brevières turn-off is wavy and atrocious on the downhill side. Think it’s been chewed up in the summer\soft tarmac with road/tunnel works. If you’re heading to Tignes from Val or valley, then I’ve taken to following the cycle route up from Brev (there are traffic lights at the purification plant (under construction)) but it’s a much smoother ride.

A snowHead

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

@Fogliettaz, Eh oh!

cannot get better anywhere else

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@Fogliettaz, Eh oh!

cannot get better anywhere else

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Steve Angus, Hi Steve, I am trying to sort out my ski lesson this season in Val Disere, what's the best way to contact you?

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@alvinsu - hi thanks for the message. If you go to top right of the page here you can send a message to me - you just need to find my username which is my name obviously and off we go. So pop me a message and we can sort it from there. Hope thats ok? Thanks. Steve

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Has it really been 2 months

I have been very remise at doing this and cant believe 2 months has gone by. Sincere apologies! But what a busy (as usual couple of months it has been). Ill start with some pics from Radio Val this time I think.

They have been building these new platforms in the forest just up and across from the Trifollet restaurant down here in La Daille.... its nearly finished apparently but its going to be some sort of kids adventure playground sort of area when skiing - not sure exactly how itll work but we shall see - exciting development!

It was another bumper summer season again this year... case rates did get high (very high actually) for a few weeks but kids shows like this one were very well attended!

The development works at Club Med have been coming in slowly but surely - to be honest there has been another load of development and improvements this Summer - more on that in a moment!

My friends got married in late August - lovely celebration with all the local expats and others in attendance!

No Tour de France in Val this year but the Tour d'Avenir for 'the next generation of upcoming riders' came through instead

Another September rolls around and it is back to school for all the locals

So as you can see August was lovely and sunny and felt like a normal Summer! The tourists were here, the sun shone and most of the normal events all happened. My kids loved their usual swimming lessons (boy Ben is a fish in water - and he LOVES it too) and are doing really well. When not doing that they were doing lots of trampoling which again they love. Olivia landed her first few front flips which she was more than chuffed about.

We took the opportunity at the end of August to pop to Annecy for one final camping weekend. Luckily the weather was really nice - we even went for a quick swim in the lake. It was lovely meeting up with Clares Aunt and Uncles as well as the usual things like BBQ's etc. The campsite we went to had an amazing swimming pool which the kids loved of course!

Back in Val we were able to profit from the new playground they have built over the road too which pleased the kids no end.

No sooner had it started but the Autumn seemed to arrive and 'rentre' commenced... so back to school time. Olivia is really thriving with her reading and writing in particular - so proud of her. Due to numbers (not that great) at the school her class has been split up and combined with the year above.... its all a little messy to be honest with you. Anyway she is thriving with her school work. Ben is now in the moyenne section and again his class has been split up but he is happy as he has one of his besties in the class with him. Talking of school it is turning into a bit of a weekly habit for a long outside play time downstairs outside our block on a Friday afternoon when usually one or more of Olivia and one or more of Bens friends come for an hour or two of running around like crazy!

It had been needed for a very long time but I treated our van to a great valet service by Vallee Valet down in Bourg and the awesome main man Colin. He had our van for 24 hours and worked wonders cleaning it up - boy it needed it. He worked inside and outside to get it shining again! Good on ya Colin!

No sooner had that been done but I was taking a friends van back to the UK as it needed servicing and MOT'ing etc. It suited me as I needed to get back to the UK (more on that in a moment) and helped them out. They paid my costs etc but apart from the van being somewhat of a wreck (e.g. no rear windscreen, headlights sometime not working (I only drove it during the day!!!!!!!!) and the need to disconnect the battery every time you stopped for more than a couple of minutes! Anyway the journey back was a success. I spent time seeing my mum (she is in a poor state, bed bound, not sure she knows who I am, cant speak etc). I cleared out her old furniture from the new flat and saw the last few things on the building side of things take shape. The majority of the flat was completed back in late July and much of August she was rented out on AirBnb. However when I was back in the UK for a couple of September weeks the builders were back in completing the final part of the build. Lots of old furniture and family heirlooms needed to be sorted... it was quite an exhausting trip but im glad to say it really is nearly all complete now. Of course I had to have the obligatory annual catch up with my mums accountant / financial advisor as well as having her car serviced and MOT - boy it was a busy couple of weeks!

I got back from the UK last weekend and now its time to really focus on the upcoming Winter... getting our other flat rented out as well as sort out lesson enquiries and bookings etc - shall be all go! We have had our first really hard frost of the Winter already and most mornings now there is at least a light frost although this week it is due to get a lot colder and more stormy so I would not be surprised if they had to close the Col etc! Things are looking really positive for this Winter in terms of visiting and covid etc. It still hasnt been decided if Covid health passes will be needed to buy list passes but time will tell what happens on that front. Anyway the remaining tour ops (and there has been a large cull for various reasons) and ski schools etc (there have been some serious shake-ups on all fronts) are planning as normal for this Winter and thing it will be fine for visitors coming internationally this year. It is certainly going to take some time to adjust as the double whammy of Brexit and Covid has thrown everything up in the air and it wont be easy but we shall do our best now we can actually have a season (we hope / think).

With the easing of Covid restrictions we think we will be able to get back en famille to the UK for October half term... this will be amazing for the kids to see grandparents and cousins etc. Also for Clare and I to catch up with some friends too. We are not 100% sure how long we will be able to go back for yet a while as the school here might impose a 7 day isolation period for any kids that have been to the UK before they can go back to the classroom - time will tell what the rules are. The school here make the point that cases are raging in the UK compared to France so that is their reasoning - hmmmmmmmmm!

Locally I have been looking on in wonderment at the building works on the river area over the road from here as they are replacing all the main water works to the big blocks over the road. They have effectively diverted the river and dug big trenches in the bed of the river to put new pipework in... its been going on for a month already and they are still going hard on the works. The other big job is the building at the foot of the funicularie of the new snow factory hq for the La Daille and 'backside of Bellevarde' area. The funicularie will have a sort of entrance hallways building you can walk through to get to the train.... my understanding is that it WONT be ready for this Winter but still it is going to be impressive.

Ooh and talking about building works we hit a bit of a snag with the town council re our plans for extending our flat here - the meeting a couple of months ago means we need to revise our thinking and re-submit so that is an ongoing project.

So I think that brings you up to date... Im sure there are loads of things I have forgotten to tell you about but perhaps ill remember tomorrow and add more. So ill finish by posting some of my own pics now and apologise once again for being way behind. Itll only be a few weeks until the Winter starts and daily updates can start again and we can all get back to doing what we all love doing on the snow. Please do drop me a line if anyone is keen for lesson bookings!

TTFN

- when I was up the Bellevarde I was able to peak down towards the building site that is the new restaurant that is going in at the bottom of the Grand Pre

My little man celebrates his 4th birthday

The building works at the funiculaire

The water works in full swing down here in La Daille

The Bourg fayre in late August was cool too

During the Avaline faye Ben got to not only go up the firemans ladder but try on their helmets too - he was in heaven!

After all it is free

Great update Steve. Looking forward to our lessons in December.

Hi Steve,

What is the Funiculaire that you refer to? Are they building another one or simply replacing the Funival?

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@Steve Angus, Good bit of free PR with Clare on Sky News just now talking about prospects for the season.

Couldn't help noticing the distinct lack of snow in the background though!

You know it makes sense.

P.S. Will try and get a still shot to upload when I get a chance

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

Pictures missing commentary intriguing!!

A snowHead

A snowHead

apologies if this has been covered already, but anyone know what the large building is on the car park in Tignes VC? Just clocked it on the webcam. Presume a hotel. Does this mean a long walk to the funi? Will be there tomorrow for a cheeky pre-season slide.

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

@Dr John, it's a new Club Med development.

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@rob@rar, ta. Has it taken up the entire car park? Looks huge.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Dr John, . Yes, the car park is no more.

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@GeorgeVII, blimus. It was rammed same time last year for Motte skiing, where does everyone park now?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

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Did I read there’s a new multi storey car park in Val Claret as part of the masterplan?
If so, maybe the last bit to be built?

I think the regular Tignes thread on here had plans, details and comment last month.

Help!!

The view from............ Val d'Isere and the Espace Killy

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