As far as mountain restaurants go, they're all fairly similar, some are smaller and quieter than others, but that's a matter of personal preference anyway. For those of you on a budget, cheaper food is generally available from the take away places at the bottom lift stations in both Tignes and Val d’Isere. Piste grooming (if that’s your thing) is frequent and comprehensive, some of the busier runs being groomed constantly throughout the day. A major criticism lies in the dodgy piste grading, which is notoriously inaccurate in the Espace Killy. Generally speaking you’ll need to be careful if you’re an intermediate and are not comfortable riding moguls or steeper runs, because the color coding system does seem to go awry at times. One final thing to watch out for, if you end up stuck in the wrong place at the end of the day, busses are not available between Tignes and Val d’Isere and a taxi will set you back a LOT of money, so make sure you’ve got plenty of time to get back to where you should be.  

Niall liked Tignes so much, he decided to live there

          There are a number of ways to get to Tignes and Val d’Isere. Both are roughly two and a half hours drive from Geneva airport (3 hrs from Lyons) either by hire car or public bus. If you’re driving your own car, be aware that parking is expensive, but you can drive down to some of the more remote villages and get the free bus back to save yourself some money. Alternatively you can get the snowtrain from London to Bourg Saint Maurice, either overnight as we did, or during the day. This option allows you 2 extra days on the slopes (although in reality it’s more like two half days) and you’ll get to experience the joy of spending 14 hours on a train with a bizarre cross section of the British skiing public (I can thoroughly recommend it, although if you’ve got kids I might be tempted to fly). Tignes and Val d’Isere are also situated close to Les Arcs and Saint Foy, both of which are less than 30 minutes drive away.

Lee tackles Le Vallon de Sache in his own inimitable style

Le Vallon de Sache (route shown in black)

Darren celebrates at the top of a hike (Col du Fresse) in the shadow of Mont Blanc

          The huge snowfall that preceded our first trip, sent the avalanche risk up to 4 to 5 for the first few days we were there. Huge slab avalanches were everywhere, the majority of these were on the steeper slopes, especially the wind loaded slopes at the Tignes end of the resort, but the nature of L'Espace Killy is such that you can still find powder to ride on the shallower slopes. The lure of some of the steeper, better looking stuff was hard to resist on the first trip, but we got our fair share of powder (giving the steep avalanche covered slopes a very wide berth). The powder at the Val d’Isere end was much more stable, especially as the week wore on and the avalanche risk went down from 4 to 5 at the start of the week to 3 to 4 by New Year. Even so, I quickly developed a habit of constantly looking over my shoulder after every turn. Thankfully by March the snowpack was much more stable and we got to tackle some of the juicier stuff that we’d been denied on our first attempt.

          By far the best, and safest way to ride is to get a guide. We spent a day with a guide from Evolution 2. We spent the day doing small hikes and then basically riding down to the road which runs round the lake outside Tignes. As soon as we arrived at the road, a bus would mysteriously appear, as if by magic. The busses don’t actually run very frequently, and it was only the knowledge of our guide that let us get so many runs in. I can’t remember how much it cost us, but it wasn’t a lot and was worth every penny. Over the two weeks we spent in the Espace Killy we barely did the same run twice, and I couldn't even begin to pick a favorite. The first trip we spent mostly on the Tignes side and the second trip we were mostly on the Val d'Isere side (almost like being in two separate resorts really).

Fresh tracks off a hike above Solaise

          The area is so vast that I couldn’t even begin to describe where the best terrain is, because it’s basically everywhere. The glacier area above Le Fornet is generally quieter than some of the other areas, mostly due to its more remote location, and has some good terrain, as does the area above Solaise. The terrain between Val d’Isere and Tignes, especially around the snowpark is probably best suited to piste cruising, with the notable exception of the Col du Fresse which is worth the hike. A large amount of the more severe off piste intineries are accessed from the Grande Motte Glacier, including the stunning run down the Dome de Pramecou. The area around the Aiguille Percee above Tignes is home to some of the steeper terrain, including the Vallon de Sache and the runs down to the lake. Generally speaking the off piste runs are long and can take you a long way from the lifts, providing you with seemingly endless powder runs through spectacular terrain for a minimum of effort. I won’t go into detail of every good powder run that we found, because there were far too many and to be honest the place is so big I probably couldn’t even remember where they were. You’ll just have to go and find out for yourself. Tell them I sent you.

Niall makes the most of the seasons first major snowfall

Fin