 Poster: A snowHead
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Resort: Tignes Val Claret
Country: France
Domain: Espace Killy
Author: LandlockedPirate
Date: 2nd – 9th March 2013
Our holiday: An extra week with my Brother In Law, wanted to try somewhere different. Both 40 somethings and been skiing for over 30 years.
Website : http://www.tignes.net/ http://www.evolution2.com/tignes/
Basics :
Limited choice,booked around 3 weeks before departure, paid brochure price but with discount on ski carriage. Flew Jet2 from Manchester to Chambery. Airline was typical no frills, OK for a couple of hours but really wouldn’t like to spend much more time on board than that. Both outbound and inbound flights delayed for around 1.5hrs, this was due to issues at Chambery. This is the 1st time I have flown to Chambery, and it will be my last. The airport is rammed, I mean really rammed, thousands of skiers with all the kit, very few seats and not even enough toilets. In truth the 2 of us were happy in the bar watching the rugby, but if I had been with the family it would have been a major problem. On the plus side all our luggage arrived with us .
Lift system :
Lifts were mainly fast and modern but with a few old fixed chairs. There are a number of surface lifts but we didn’t need to use them to get around. There is 1 free lift in each village, great for the budget conscious beginner.
The terrain : Huge amount of terrain to cover with a massive variety of slopes. I think there is a good range for all skiers, from long green runs to a 10km Black(ish) run down to Les Brevieres. It’s well worth getting the full Espace Killy pass if you are intermediate or above, the 4 different valleys all have very different characters and if the weather is bad you can run for the trees on the Val D’Isere side. We love actually going somewhere when we are skiing and really enjoyed the trip right across the domain to Le Fornet, and the Black Foret run was fantastic with a little bit of fresh snow on it (The restaurant under the Fornet Cable Car is worth the trip alone.) We covered around 200 miles in a weeks skiing and really felt the ski pass, although expensive, was good value. The steeper pistes are not over groomed, with some only being pisted once a week, which varies the terrain even more.
The snow :
Its been a great snow year, with significant depths built up. It had not snowed for 10 days before we arrived. Pistes had a good depth but rising temperatures during the week resulted in a freeze thaw cycle at lower levels and in the afternoons it was feeling very spring like. The whole area is above 1600m, you could always avoid the slush by heading higher.
Off-piste :
Strictly lift served off piste for us. Well worn and crusty, great tree runs on the Val D’Isere side but not the most enjoyable week of off piste I have ever had. It really needed more than the 10 cm of fresh that we got to make it interesting again.
The resort :
Val Claret was OK, quiet even though it was a Paris holiday week. Typical French purpose built resort, lots of tiny apartments, a couple of hotels, a dozen bars and the same number of restaurants. 2 small supermarkets and plenty of choice for ski hire and purchase. Resort is built over 2 main levels with a couple of lifts to travel between them. Lots of outdoor parking that is free with a lift pass. There is also a free bus to link La Lavechet and Le Lac which means cabin fever can be easily avoided. Skating and pool (Free entry with lift pass) in Le Lac great for familes.
Food :
Usual variety of food, from takeaway Pizza to the eye-wateringly expensive fire cooked Cote de Beouf at Grizzley (76 Euro !) but very very good . We enjoyed Pepe 2000 for mid priced meals and felt that Brasserie du Petit Savoyard was great value with a BBQ mixed grill at 19 Euro, but be warned its the only place we found that you have to book. Good value lunch time options in the main area of Val Claret, Panini’s for 6E and Burger for 10E. Morning coffee varied between 3 and 6E, but generally reflected the location. Cheap and Cheerful award goes to the takeaway Croque Monsieur from the supermarkets or the Aspen Cafe in lower Val Claret with huge breakfast for 7E.
Accommodation :
Stayed in the Rond Pont Des Pistes in lower Val Claret (Its the U Shaped block visible from the webcam). We knew from the Trip Advisor reviews that it wasn’t going to be the Ritz and it wasn’t ! However it really wasn’t that bad. We had twin bedded apartment (13 Sq M), it was clean, functional and small. Virtual ski in and out, 50 m to nearest lift. In ski terms, it was worth the cost.
Costs: Usual French Alps. Happy hour beer 4E, full price 6-7E. Entrcote 20E, Take away pizza 10E Average coffee 4.5E
Conclusion:
Fantastic place, would definitely go back.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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landlockedpirate, we took my sister (middle-aged beginner) and my two teenage nephews to Val Claret a couple of years ago - had meant to go to a friend's place in Chatel but they'd run out of snow! We headed for Tignes as we knew we'd get snow and are very familiar with the Killy area from our stays in Val d'Isere. Fantastic week, even in a fairly cramped apartment - great skiing. Yes the prices are high but not as bad as Courchevel or Val d'Isere itself. Can suffer from an excess of large student groups - it did when we were there and we unfortunately got behind one of them at the ski hire and had to go back in the morning to get fitted up. We did find it a bit noisy at night as a result of all the youthful activity (why ski if you can come all the way to the Alps to drink  always puzzles me, it's not as if they've never been away from home before). If you go to the Armailly in Les Brevieres for dinner they will drive you down for free in the evening - ask when you book.
Love Killy! - absolutely recognise your description of the snow from our trip mid-Feb when it had just started to warm up.
Violette
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Violette wrote: |
landlockedpirate, we took my sister (middle-aged beginner) and my two teenage nephews to Val Claret a couple of years ago - had meant to go to a friend's place in Chatel but they'd run out of snow! We headed for Tignes as we knew we'd get snow and are very familiar with the Killy area from our stays in Val d'Isere. Fantastic week, even in a fairly cramped apartment - great skiing. Yes the prices are high but not as bad as Courchevel or Val d'Isere itself. Can suffer from an excess of large student groups - it did when we were there and we unfortunately got behind one of them at the ski hire and had to go back in the morning to get fitted up. We did find it a bit noisy at night as a result of all the youthful activity (why ski if you can come all the way to the Alps to drink always puzzles me, it's not as if they've never been away from home before). If you go to the Armailly in Les Brevieres for dinner they will drive you down for free in the evening - ask when you book.
Love Killy! - absolutely recognise your description of the snow from our trip mid-Feb when it had just started to warm up.
Violette |
The strange thing is, that with the notable exception of Grizzley, I really didn't think the prices were that bad for a high altitude resort. We were lucky with the week we visited, not a student in sight, even the usually busy student bars (Couloir, Le Saloon, Daffy's) were virtually empty. With it being French holidays I think there were a lot of owners in the resort who spent evenings in their apartments, rather than the bars.
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