Chalet Tignes

Why do I go back to Tignes year after year? Because if you are going anywhere else, lower altitude you are taking a chance.

Last Friday I went to Porte du Soleil, Togon to be precise. I was invited by some friends and to be fair we had a lovely refuge on the slopes, courtesy of the local ski club.

Fridays skiing was good, but the snow below 2000m was already very slushy and the coverage very thin below 1500m altitude.  We are only just half way through March with another six weeks of the winter season to go. As I said, I enjoyed the skiing and the weather was great, so absolutely no complaints there.  We also had a good laugh partying in the refuge!

Saturday afternoon it started raining all the way up to the higher slopes. It was very mild and the snow coverage started to thin out by the minute. Soaking wet, on our way back to Torgon we had to ski some red and black runs with heavy, wet piles of snow – something a beginner would have found impossible to navigate and even an intermediate skier would have struggles with.

As it happened it rained all night and most of Sunday. The ski resort of Torgon decided to leave all lifts closed and many of the lower runs had already large sections without any snow coverage. Fair enough, if the resort decides to close the facilities due to lack of snow or weather conditions – that’s the way it is.

However not only were all the lifts closed, so were all the ticket offices. It took us a while to find an official to discuss ski pass refund (40euro for the day) only to be told that there won’t be any refunds at all.

You tell me, you operate a ski resort at low altitude, get caught out by the weather and lack of snow, decide to close all your ski lifts and than not even offer a refund? Would you book a ski holiday there again. I won’t.

I won’t go back to Porte du Soleil. This is the second time I have been skiing there in rain. It is also a difficult domain to ski between ski resorts. Too many buses to take, too many low altitude connecting slopes (often closed), too many old lifts that keep breaking down.

I cam back last night, frustrated from the lack of skiing. I checked the weather in Tignes and guess what. It was snowing. That’s why I don’t ski anywhere else but Tignes!!