Ski Trip Reminiscing - Part 1: Tignes/Val d'Isere, French Alps

The Memory
I finished high school back in 2007, which coincided with a family overseas trip (minus my brother, who was on exchange, coincidentally, in France). After a jaunt through Greece and driving up the Turkish Mediterranean coast, we arrived in Geneva to some fairly cold and gloomy weather. My spirit couldn’t have been higher, however, as I was very much looking forward to a week’s skiing in the French Alps.



Thankfully, we were met with beautifully sunny, if not a bit cold, skies and great snow conditions. Since I hadn’t been on a pair of skis for a while, it took me a while to get back the groove but I was soon exploring the great expanse of the Espace Killy, the second biggest ski resort in the world.

One thing that struck me in comparison to any other resort I’d skied at was the sheer lack of trees. Since, the majority of the terrain is above 2,000m, the trees pretty much disappear to leave wide open, rolling bowls and great wide groomers. Not the most picturesque or challenging skiing in the world but fantastic nonetheless.

I’ll have four endearing memories from this trip. First was an afternoon skiing with mum. My dad had gone down to pick my sister up from ski school and mum and I stayed up on the mountain for a few more runs. It was the first time I could remember being snowed on whilst skiing, notwithstanding that the snow was extremely light and lasted for little over 5 minutes. Regardless, we lapped the same lift for an hour or so before venturing a bit further away and hitting some great slopes. It turned into a bright, sunny afternoon and with nobody on the slopes, mum and I had a blast.

Second was an afternoon skiing with dad on Christmas Day. Similar to above, mum had gone down to pick up my sister from ski school, dad and I went hunting for some untouched groomers and seeing how far away we could get from our accommodation before we had to turn back. We crossed one of the most amazing ski lifts I've ever come across and dad, who is an amazing skier, pushed me to new heights. Unfortunately, he had a large stack when we got as far away as we could get from our accommodation and hurt his shoulder. Well done, Dad. Nearly 2 hours later, we skied into our chalet, downed many beers and all pain was forgotten.

Third was a stop just before leaving Tignes. As we left Tignes, we stopped to make sure something had been packed and grabbed some food out of the boot of the car. I was able to take one last photo of the place before we left. I've had this photo as my desktop background ever since.

Finally, igniting my passion for skiing. This is really when I decided that I wanted to do this more often. My dad had done a season before, as had my uncle, and I wanted to follow in their footsteps by doing one myself. This is where I got bitten by the ski bug and its poison has spread throughout.


Review of Espace Killy
In addition to my memories, I'll be doing a bit of a review of the resort. I'll include the stats and rate the resort out of ten for the following criteria: Vertical/Skiable Area, Terrain Variety, Lift System, Grooming, Snow Quality, Season Length, Pricing, Ski Patrol, Accommodation and Rental Equipment. This will give a score out of 100.

The Stats

Top Elevation: 3550m (11647 ft)

Base Elevation: 1550m (5085 ft)

Vertical: 2000m (6562 ft)

Runs: 154 (300km) – Easy 83, Intermediate 46, Difficult, 25

Longest Run: 10km

Lifts: 90 (2 funiculars, 4 cable cars, 4 gondolas, 44 chairlifts, 36 surface lifts)

Favourite Run: Double M (Red)

Vertical/Skiable Area: 10/10

2000m of vertical and 300km of runs is just ridiculous. Even better though, is the total skiable terrain. Whistler-Blackcomb is the biggest resort in North America at 8,171 skiable acres. Tignes-Val d'Isere (otherwise known as Espace Killy) is a whopping 43,495 acres, more than 5 times bigger than Whistler-Blackcomb.

Terrain Variety: 6.5/10

Despite being huge, the terrain doesn't vary all that much. Because it's so high, there is hardly any tree skiing and the runs are all fairly similar. That being said there are a few gems. My favourite run, Double M, was twisty, bumpy, had some great rollers and was very long.

N.B. France has four piste classifications: Green = Easy, Blue = Medium, Red = Difficult, Black = Expert.

Lift System: 8/10

The sheer amount of ski lifts (90) makes up for the fact that a lot of them are still fixed-grip triples or quads, with not many high-speed detachables. However, their positioning of lifts is excellent and if you want to ride every single different type of ski lift, you can.

Grooming: 9/10

Grooming is fantastic. Almost every run I did in the morning was groomed and it didn't matter where you went. They have a massive fleet of groomers and put them to great use.

Snow Quality: 8/10

Despite the fact it hadn't snowed for a week before we got there, the snow was packed but very dry and fast. Off-piste, powder was still very findable, thanks to the cold conditions. It also only snowed very briefly whilst I was there so all in all the snow quality was excellent. Pity there is evidence that it is starting to diminish in Europe now.

Season Length: 7.5/10

Not as long as some North American resorts and getting shorter according to long-term meteorological predictions. Still skiing from Late November/Early December to Late April with some summer skiing is more than enough to satisfy the appetite.

Pricing: 10/10
For a tick under 40 Euros, you get access to both resorts, Tignes and Val d'Isere plus insurance which covers you for lost passes and ski patrol. Amazing value when you consider you're skiing the world's second biggest resort for around AUD$55 per day. Plus if you buy multi-day or season passes, its significantly less than that.


Ski Patrol: 8/10
Fortunately, we didn't need to call on their services but they were a constant presence on the mountain, giving you a safe feeling that you were never far from help.


Accommodation: 6.5/10
I don't know exactly how much was paid, just a ballpark figure (seeing as I didn't pay for it) but we had a very small room in a chalet a little but out of town and despite the fact that it was ski in-ski out, it was probably not worth it. Probably the reason why Val d'Isere is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the world, despite the ludicrously cheap lift tickets.


Rental Equipment: 7/10
I had a great pair of Lange boots and Head skis for the week we were there, which were sized and fitted to a fair degree of detail. Pity it was very, very expensive.


Total Score: 80.5/100
An amazing ski resort experience that is let down a little bit by terrain variety and accommodation. Definitely one to put on the to-do list for any die-hard skiing/board globetrotter.