L'ESPACE KILLY

          Imagine a resort nearly four times the size of Whistler Blackcomb with terrain to suit all standards of skiers and boarders, no matter how extreme your tastes. A resort with off piste possibilities so vast that books have been written about it. A resort with 300km of groomed runs, 97 lifts, 2 snowboard parks and 2 glaciers. A resort you could spend a whole season in and still not fully explore. 

          Imagine. Who need to imagine? The legendary Espace Killy in the French Alps is a mecca for skiers and snowboarders who flock here in hoards every year in search of the white stuff. There are few areas in the world that can rival this one for sheer size and diversity of terrain. I’m getting excited just sitting here writing about it, the off piste possibilities are completely mind boggling and a visit to this place should be on any skier or snowboarders top ten wish list.

          The worst start to the European season for as long as I can remember didn’t make for a particularly relaxing build up to our first trip to Tignes. Shortly after Christmas, eight of us packed our bags, hopped on the snowtrain and headed off with high hopes of some serious powder action. We liked it so much, we went back in March. As if to reassure us, it was even snowing as we pulled into Bourg Saint Maurice station, covering the whole resort in 2 feet of snow and sending the avalanche risk through the roof. 

Tignes Val Claret as seen from the bottom of the Tichot chairlift

          There are 2 main towns in L’Espace Killy, and believe me they couldn’t be more different. The first of these, Val d’Isere (1850m) is a hugely popular travel company destination, especially popular with the skiing masses. This results in a very overcrowded village, full of miniscule self catering apartments and overpriced bars and restaurants. Val d’Isere also has a certain reputation for attracting hoards of objectionable British skiers. These delightful people usually roll out of bed at noon and crowd into one of the many mountainside restaurants wearing fluorescent all in one ski suits and transceivers (just for effect). After chugging down several bottles of wine with their 3 hour lunches they ski down a green run and stagger into Dicks Tea Bar for a spot of après ski still in their ski boots. Now, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with this, so long as their drunken skiing antics don’t cause any accidents. If they want to subsidize my lift pass for one of the best ski areas in the world, then I say let them. Thankfully this phenomenon seems to be limited to the runs directly above Val d’Isere, which are seemingly populated only by skiers and are probably best avoided. In fact only about a quarter of the visitors to the Espace Killy are British, although almost everyone seems to speak English (actually I’ve never been to a French resort with so many English speaking people).

Me, tackling the Col de Fresse

          Wisely we stayed in Tignes (2100m) which (apart from the obvious) has many advantages over Val d’Isere. The 3 villages which make up Tignes are at a higher altitude allowing for a more snow sure location. Tignes is also more centrally located for the lifts, allowing you to traverse the huge area with relative ease. Of the 3 villages, Tignes Le Lavachet is generally home to most of the seasonaires and resort staff and, as such consists of smaller self catering apartments aimed squarely at the budget end of the market. Having said that, a lot of people choose to stay in Le Lavachet, including us (for one of our two trips). There are a few decent bars and restaurants, more notably Harry’s where we seemed to spend most of our time (Crowded House in Val Claret is also deserves a mention). It’s possible to get to Le Lavachet via the slopes, but a 5 minute walk is required to get to the lifts.

          Alternatively, free busses link all of the villages, including the smaller ones served by the lower lifts. A five minutes walk from Le Lavachet is Tignes Le Lac, which is located right in the heart of the lift system and is home to a wider selection of accommodation, restaurants, shops and bars. A short bus ride round the lake (or a 30 minute walk across it) leads you to Tignes Val Claret, which is a similar size to Le Lac and allows easy access to a number of lifts, including the funicular to the Grande Motte which sits atop the Espace Killy at 3656m. 

The rather formidable (but rideable) Tuffs Couloirs situated above Tignes Val Claret

          Up until a few years ago, the Grand Motte glacier used to be open all year round, however this has changed in the last couple of years and the glacier is now closed for roughly 6 weeks of the year. Overall the three villages are fairly similar, there’s the usual collection of small supermarkets for those of you requiring cheap beer however, the queues at these can get fairly big, so get there early in the evening. Restaurant options are fairly decent, despite the (only to be expected) overabundance of Savoyard and pizza restaurants. Vegetarians beware though, options can be limited for the non-meat eaters amongst you, but there are plenty of self catering apartments and catered chalets, so you shouldn’t haven’t any problem. Prices are fairly reasonable, although prices in Val d’Isere are higher than in Tignes especially in some of the classier establishments.

Lee catches some air off a backcountry kicker

Click on the picture to open a full sized piste map

Check out the Official Tignes website