M Hoffman
Google
Ski trip in mid february. Here a detailed review:
Arrival:
I stayed in Val Claret, the road up was clear and only on some parts covered with ice/snow. If there was recent snowfall, caution is advised.
I liked that there is also a ski run going through the town of Val.
Ski runs:
Now the ski area Tignes-Val d'Isère is pretty big and you have lots of variation. About 75-80% of all runs are above the treeline. There are a lot of kids areas (in every town), lots beginner areas (around the Borsat chairlift and Solaise). For experts there are plenty of ski runs: the stade olympice/face de bellewarde (can be very icy), the foret, la Sache, Chicherit, Aiguille Percée. The Tunnel (near Leissieres) was sadly closed due to lack of snow)
You have some pretty long ski runs as well: skiing all the way down from Grande Motte to Val Claret, from Aiguille Percée to Les Brevières, from Cugnai to Laisinant, from Borsat chairlift to Val d'Isère or Daille and from Col de l'Iseran to Fornet.
My favorite runs were: blue Génépy & black Descente on Grande Motte, blue Grattalu, blue Anemone, black La Sache (upper section, the lower section was very icy), black La Foret and of course the famous offpiste run "Vallée Perdue". This last run is pretty adventurous and shouldnt be missed (you should be an advanced skier though).
Snow Conditions:
Due to the higher elevation it was very snow secure, though there were still some spots where the wind blow off the snow. The weather was blue sky and sun for 6 days, so ski runs sadly tend to become very icy, especially steeper runs under 2000m elevation.
Lift infrastructure:
The ski area is excellent interconnected, though compared to other european ski areas, you wont find any of those hyper modern bubble chair lifts. There are still some painfully slow and rough chair lifts, like Col des Ves, Grand Huit and Cema.
Crowding:
I learned to NEVER again come to the french alps on saturday mid february. The roads were full of traffic jams (Lyon-Albertville-Moutiers) and the drive took 3h longer than expected. Mostly british and dutch tourists.
Tignes-Val d'Isère was the most crowded I've ever experienced in any ski area and I've been before in ski resorts in switzerland and austria at the same holiday period.
There were lines up to 15min at some chairlifts. On the ski runs, especially the main runs down to the valley it was more like an obstacle course to avoid colliding with others.
Then there were the ski schools, there were just too many of them. Even in the Vallée Perdue, I encountered a ski school.
During lunch time it calmed a bit down and there was a window for a less crowded ski run.
Staff:
The staff at the lifts and desks were all very nice and helpful. When buying a ski pass via the Val d'Isère app, the machine wont get you your pass in Tignes, even though the ski area is connected, one of the guys easily helped me out and was really nice. The staff at the lifts were all cool except the guy at the bottom of Merles chairlift (at 3pm last tuesday), he was rudely yelling at me, stressing, even though there was no reason and there was no line of people behind. I signaled him to chill down and he became menacing.
Pricing:
The prices were in the middle to upper level. The ski pass for 5 days is around 355€. A little takeaway burger can be around 18€, a 1l beer is 21€ (!!). Its certainly not a place if you want to eat/drink on a budget.
Scenery:
The landscape is amazing, you can see Mont Blanc. Also check out the Aiguille Percée arch and the Vallee Perdue canyon (if you are a good skier). To even more enjoy the landscape you can even do a tandem ULM flight.
I think though some people might prefer a bit more forested hills, if the weather would be foggy I bet its easily a whiteout in the ski area.
*Verdict*:
++ variety of runs & area size
+ beginner & expert offer
+ nice offer of activities outside of skiing (ULM flight, Bungee ski jump, sledding etc.)
- pricey ski area (especially concerning food drinks and hotels)
-- can be severely crowded during school breaks
