Resort Description
Ski Range 1,550m - 3,456m
An Esprit favourite and one of the crème de la crème of world ski areas.
The Espace Killy ski area, combining Tignes and neighbouring Val dIsère, ranks highly in any keen skiers top ten world resorts, and deservedly so.
Completely snowsure, with over 300kms of pistes, plus easily the same again in off-piste terrain, the area offers well over a mile of vertical drop, from the peak of the Grande Motte down to the picturesque old village of Tignes-les-Brevières.
Our accommodation is conveniently situated at 2,100m at Tignes-le-Lac and Le Lavachet and is ideally located for both families and keen skiers.
Child Care
NURSERY - Chalet Yosemite and Chalet Corniche
SNOW CLUB - Chalet Grand Ski
COCOA CLUB - Chalet Grand Ski and Chalet Corniche
Five mornings a week, children in Esprit Sprite classes and Spritelet Snow Clubbers
are collected from their chalets by our staff (and/or the ski school instructors)
and taken to the appropriate slopes for their lessons or to one of the resort’s
Snow Clubs for morning fun.
At the end of the morning lesson or Snow Club, children joining Supervised Lunch,
afternoon Snow Club or with afternoon Sprite sessions will be collected and taken
to Chalet Corniche for lunch. Spritelets will eat lunch in Chalet Caribou.
The Snow Club is based in Chalet Grand Ski with outings for their specific snow
fun activities. All children in afternoon Sprites or Spritelets will be taken to
and collected from their session by our staff and will join the Snow Club children
for the remainder of the afternoon, before being returned to their "home" chalet
for high tea.
We have two nurseries in Tignes; one is based in Chalet Yosemite, conveniently situated
between Chalet Grande Mottes and Chalets Caribou/Canvolan and Grand Ski and the
other is in Chalet Corniche. We ask that Nursery children are delivered to their
designated Nursery by their parents. Nursery lunches are held in Chalets Corniche
and Grand Ski. Nursery children must be collected by their parents at 5pm and accompanied
at high tea, whilst all other children will be supervised by our staff through high
tea until 6pm.
Cocoa Club runs in the Snow Club room in the Grand Ski and in the Nursery of Chalet
Corniche from 7.30pm until 10pm on six nights a week and is available to all
children aged 6-12 years.
Parents are asked to deliver and collect their children to and from the Cocoa Club.
The Skiing
FAMILIES *****
Our accommodation, child care facilities and childrens ski area are all conveniently close to one another, and with runs back to Le Lac from both sides of the valley for skiing parents, this is an easy resort for the day to day logistics of a family ski holiday. Furthermore, our partner ski-school has an excellent reputation for caring for English youngsters.
BEGINNERS ****
The ski-school also welcomes adult beginners, and will soon have you tackling the many blue runs on the Aiguille Percée side of the valley. There are wonderful easy slopes too in the Marmottes bowl on the Val dIsère side, and you can avoid the tricky black run back to Lac de Tignes by riding the Aeroski down.
INTERMEDIATES *****
Skiing is believing, they say, and certainly it is hard to do this awesome area justice in words. It just has everything – miles and miles of wide open blues and varied reds, two glaciers with sensational snow, (they are even open for summer skiing too!), plenty of trickier black runs when you want a challenge, and some of the best off-piste in the world. This is an area you simply have to ski, at least once in your life.
ADVANCED *****
Tignes-Val dIsère holds iconic status amongst expert skiers, for its huge choice of black runs as much as the severity of some of them, plus its legendary off-piste temptations. A week is certainly not enough to cover every mile and take on every challenge, but you will have great fun trying!
POWDER POTENTIAL *****
Tignes and Val d’Isère have a glacier each, plus acres of further high altitude unpisted open bowls, which all receive bountiful dumps of fresh powder right throughout the season. Much of this is accessible by lift, leaving the true aficionados to trudge the ridges in search of the more extreme chutes and couloirs.
SNOWBOARDING *****
There is a lengthy fun-park beside the Palafour lift from Tignes-le Lac, with a half-pipe at its base, and a smaller snow-park just across the Tovière ridge. With so many chairs, gondolas, funiculars and cable-cars, you can also easily plan your day to avoid the dreaded drag-lifts altogether.
Our Esprit Ski Escort will be available for at least 2 days of the week to ski with you and introduce you to the area.
Extra Information
APRÈS SKI
Tignes-le-Lac offers a host of exciting après-ski activities (see below), as well as an ample choice of cafés and bars for everything from a quiet drink to a lively night out. There is also a choice of restaurants in all price ranges within an easy walk for our staff’s one evening off.
ACTIVITIES
* Pony rides * Husky-sledding * Bowling * Ice-diving * Ski-jöring (imagine waterskiing, but on snow and behind a horse!) * Snowmobiling * Tandem paragliding * Snowshoe tours * Bungee-trampolining
OTHER AMENITIES
* Helicopter sightseeing flights * Museum * Spa treatments & massage * Pool tables * Banks with cashpoints
Snow Report
Snow reports will be available from mid-November 2010