2 million bed nights were recorded in Tignes alone last year, so whether you’re looking for a luxury hotel, a cheap apartment or something in-between, there’ll be something suitable for you. A full list of accommodation is available from the Tignes website (the Tignes website is very good, the Val d'Isere one leaves a lot to be desired). As far as non skiing activities go both Tignes and Val d’Isere fair quite well, the highlight of which probably has to be ice diving beneath the frozen lake in Tignes. Other activities available include dog sledding, ski-jöring, horse back riding, paragliding, ice climbing, snowshoe hiking, hang-gliding, paragliding, helicopter trips as well as the usual shopping and all day après ski options. We used Evolution 2 for ice diving and off piste guiding, but there are a number of different companies offering these activities. 

Ahhh. One of the better views from one of the many mountainside restaurants.

          The lift system in L’Espace Killy is quite well organized, considering the size of the task that it has to carry out. The 97 lifts include 2 funiculars, 4 cable cars, 4 gondolas and 48 chairlifts with the rest being made up of drag lifts. Its really easy to get around without having to resort to drag lifts, and an increasing number of chairlifts are being converted to high speed chairs, however some of the lesser used lifts are particularly slow. Overall, the hourly capacity of the whole system is 170,000, which keeps lift queues to a minimum. The only really bad queues are for the Grande Motte glacier, which can easily be avoided, although some of the more long ranging off piste is accessed from the top of the glacier. Crowds increase a lot during the French holidays, so those times are best avoided (Its easy to tell which are going to be the busy weeks, because all the accommodation prices increase for no apparent reason).

Yours truly (looking particularly stylish, even if I do say so myself) 

What the....

          We were in Tignes over New Year and at the end of March, and neither time were the queues anything to write home about. After a heavy snowfall or high winds, large amounts of the resort are susceptible to closure until avalanche control has been carried out. Generally speaking the Val d’Isere side of the area seemed to be less affected by high winds. During periods of closure, lift queues can increase to almost stupid levels, but there’ll be no fresh powder anyway, so the best thing to do is pick a lift, sit in the nearest bar and wait for it to open. Newly opened terrain can get tracked out pretty quick, especially the stuff close to the lifts, so you’ll best be on the ball or you’ll miss out. Having said that, if you’re with a guide you’ll have no problem finding fresh tracks, because a large proportion of the best terrain is a long way from the lifts and requires a large commitment to reach.

One of the few benefits of being a chalet host. Vik, Simon and Sarah bring in the New Year

          Several different lift passes are available for different sections of the whole area. If you know what you’re doing you could probably buy one of the cheaper passes, otherwise you’ll be better off buying the whole Espace Killy pass which will allow you to explore the area freely without having to worry about ending up in the wrong place. The off piste is spread widely throughout the resort, and there is something accessible from almost every lift, either directly from the lift or via a short hike. To take advantage of the truly spectacular nature of the off piste possibilities, you’ll really need a guide, because this place will hit you hard if you venture where you shouldn’t.

Niall rips up another powder run