Ski hire is an obvious one. We all have seen the offers for 20% and 30% reduction on skiing and boarding gear. Never mind all the banners from websites offering reduced rates for online bookings. How much of a real discount you are getting depends which starting price you take.

The problem with ski hire, everybody want to make a cut. If you are getting 20% discount via your booking agency or via a ski travel website you can bet that they are making 10% to 15% on you too. As always, direct is the best way to go. A friend of mine just came back from Tignes. He told me that he got a 45% discount on all the ski gear for his entire family including helmets and safety wear. I can’t name the shop (for obvious reasons). Just browse around in Tignes town and negotiate. There are plenty of ski hire shops in Tignes.

It is safe to assume that snow gear for sale is heavily reduced in price too. Most ski related business will have had an average, if not poor season to date. Businesses in Tignes are no different. I bet that sales for ski, boards, accessories and ski wear have already started. You should expect discounts of 50% – 80%. Now is the time to buy, if you are in the market for a new pair of ski or a snowboard.  Shops will still have all brands and sizes. Prices might be low at the end of the season too, but stocks will be limited.

Looks like airport transfer operators have started to discount too. If you are looking for a ski transfer to Tignes, submit your request to Ski Transfer Finder which should get you some transfer options. I have been told that some providers offer good midweek deals. A friend of mine booked a midweek private Grenoble airport transfer to Tignes and got a 50% discount.

Ski accommodation seems to be in plenty supply too. I know this first hand as I still got my Easter weeks free for this season. Here you go, even the last rental weeks in my ski apartment are on sale:  Ski apartment Tignes – 25% discount, directly from the owner (me).

Expect to see more happy hours and more meal deals in Tignes as the ski season progresses into April but don’t expect any discounts on ski passes. Also don’t bank on any preferential rates in Tignes many mountain refuges and restaurants . Things might be bad, and most things in Tignes are on sale. However it will take a lot more to break the cartel of lift and refuge owners in Tignes.

Why do I take this drastic measures? Well I got a lovely ski apartment sleeping seven people and for the first time this season it will be empty. I don’t want it to be empty, so I offered it to my friends. They can’t make so now I offer it to anybody following this blog.

Why do I have an empty ski apartment, during the best winter season in years? Because some chancer let me down. He booked the apartment, did not pay his booking deposit for weeks and informed me two days ago that he won’t take the apartment. That is what you get if you trust people these days!!

Anyway, the apartment is yours for the week. Easyjet still does flights from Stansted to Geneva for £130 return.  Cheapest Geneva airport transfer via Alps2Alps or check Ski Transfer Finder but a little short notice to start looking around. £200 in total will get you from the UK to Tignes somehow. You can also fly to Lyon, Chambery and Grenoble. These flight might be even cheaper and more convenient. The closest airports to Tignes are Lyon and Chambery about 2.5 hours away.

Tignes skipass is about £150 for the week. Here you go you could be skiing inclusive flights, transfers, accommodation and ski pass for as much as £350/week. Cheaper if you drive with a few mates, which would make the cost for the week as low as £300.

Sorry not exactly free but as close as you can get to free skiing in Tignes.

If you enjoyed the Freestyle events such as boarder- and ski cross, the fun is not over yet. The countdown has already started for Winter X Games Europe in Tignes. You can be there to watch live rather than on TV. A one hour flight from the UK to either Lyon, Geneva, Grenoble or Chambery and a two and half hour ski transfer will get you to Tignes. Worth doing even for the weekend as you will be able to share the amazing X Games experience with thousands of spectators coming to cheer the competitors. For sure Tignes will be buzzing with energy and beat the Winter Olympics atmosphere by miles.

Tignes Winter X Games – March 10th to 12th

The Winter X Games will be held in Tignes from March 10th to 12th. On show the very best freestyle athletes on the planet including Tignes’ own Xavier Bertoni freestyle ski legend. On offer some world class extreme skiing and boarding:

Men and Women’s Super Pipe Ski

Men and Women’s Super Pipe Snowboard

Men and Women’s Slopestyle Ski

Men and Women’s Slopestyle Snowboard

Freestyle Snowmobile

Kevin Rolland, Sarah Burke, Mathieu Crépel are just some of the many free riders confirmed. Watch and meet the world’s best freestylers. Best ofall the entire event is for free  with lots of parties and fringe events.

Tignes X Games

Sensational Snow Conditions in Tignes

The current snow conditions in Tinges are short of sensational and probably the best I seen for many years. We had below zero degree temperatures all season and lots of fresh powder. This is surely going to be the best Winter X Games ever. The only downside for me:  I won’t be able to make it and I am gutted!!! Who is going to enjoy the views from my Ski Apartment in Tignes? I don’t even dare to think about it.

I had a quick glance up the Grande Motte glacier earlier (break of clouds) and the snow on the glacier looks great. Having been worried yesterday, sitting on lake Annecy, 20C, enjoying a warm atumn afternoon – ‘how much snow will we have this season?’ Given the economic climate, the last thing we need would be poor snow at the start of the season.

All worries gone now, a good week of snow in November will provide the foundations for this winter season, at least until well after Christmas. Tignes got it sorted, a glacier, snow machines and an endless supply of water from the barrage below the resort makes it one of the most snow safe resorts in the Alps.

I better stop waffling on. There is a powder to be skied tomorrow. Just in case you are wondering, no my ski apartment is already booked between now and early Jan 2010. I am sure you find ski accommodation elsewhere.

‘Double M’ is still the most popular run for the last few skiers visiting Tignes before the winter season finally comes to a close this Monday. ‘Double M’ is a nice challenging red and it forms part of the Tignes signature run all the way from the Grand Motte (3456m) down to Tignes Val Claret (2100m). A 1400m vertical drop with miles of skiing and stunning views down the valley and across the nearby mountain ranges.

I am still hanging on, the clouds won’t lift. Shame, but it has been a brilliant ski season. I close the door to my balcony for the final time and draw the curtains.

Just as I leave Tignes, the sun comes out. I should have hung on a little longer, but all good things have to come to an end. there is always next year.

Tignes balcony views

Repairing beds or going for a few runs. It had to be a few runs down the Grande Motte. Visbility was not great but who cares when you come up here to fix a few beds and end up skiing powder in May!! Well got all summer to get the stuff done.

This year I skied a lot of other ski resorts as my ski apartment was booked for most of the season. To be fair, the snow was great everywhere I been and I had powder most days. However I can’t suppress my excitement about going back to Tignes. There is a different kind of spirit and energy out there in the ski resort and on the slopes… and I can’t wait for my first run down the Grand Motte all they way into Val Claret. I can already feel those legs burning and the head rush of adrinalin.

The weather forecast is great and there has even been some fresh powder last few days, which is not unusual for Tignes in late April. I have been hear on the last day of the season and experienced a dump of 1m powder …. and all the ski lifts closed the next day.

The season in Tignes finishes on the 10th May this year and with current snow levels they could probably go on for another few months. Although most Europeans have finished with the winter and are enjoying spring time activities. Keeping the resort open beyond the end of April is probably not commercially viable.

April skiing in Tignes, especially after the Easter holidays, is propbably the best in the world. High altitude gurantees good snow conditions, lift hours are extended and there tend to be long sunny spells. There are also no crowds at all with 300 km of piste used by very few skiers and boarders.

Cost for a ski trip are also low, with 3 day trips costing as little as 80 – 100 euros including ski pass and ski accommodation.Compare that to a peak time February or March ski holiday.

Having been in Tignes every single month of the year over the past two decades, April must be my favourite month. You will remember my words when you ski down those empty sunny slopes or enjoy a party on the terrace of the Folly Douce overlooking Val D’Isere.  Don’t forget to take the last chairlift back to Tignes. Even in April they don’t run during the night.

Enjoy April holidays in Tignes, I hope you do one day.

skiing holidays Tignes - Val Claret

At 2,100m, Tignes is described by most ski holiday operators as being “sure snow”. This is not just a marketing slogan, Tignes  is reliable in December and April as it has brilliant (possibly the best) glacier skiing on the Grande Motte up to 3500m high.

I am out in Tignes every year early December and for the last week of the season normally up to 10th May. I alway had great snow and it often dumps some more powder at the end of April just to finish of the season (and to the despare of the good people running the ski resort who just want to get on with spring).

There are still loads of deals around for other ski resorts and more heavy snowfalls across the Alps promise the best finish to a ski season already rated the best for 25 years. I still recommend Tignes. With the high altitude, 300km of piste and great track record on end of season snow – why take a risk?

And surprise, surprise, more snow is forecast again this weekend. Enjoy