Guaranteed snow cover

Before we talk in more detail about the snow conditions in Tignes, we think it’s important to talk about a few terms.

In Tignes, you’ll often hear the term ‘winter season’ used. Although winter refers to the calendar period running from 21 December to 20 March, in Tignes it is customary to refer to winter as the time of year when the ski area is open and accessible to the general public. This abuse of language says a lot about the snow, the cold and the special atmosphere that exists in the heart of the Tignes mountains.

This means that winter in Tignes lasts between 5 and 6 months. Plenty of time to enjoy winter sports and snow!

Spread over 10,000 hectares, the Tignes – Val d’Isère ski area has over 300 km of pistes. It’s one of Europe’s largest ski areas, with plenty of snow whatever the date of your stay.

The Tignes – Val d’Isère ski area is ideally located in the heart of the Northern French Alps, between 3,456 metres altitude (highest point, at the arrival of the Grande Motte cable car) and 1,550 metres (village of Tignes les Brévières), and naturally enjoys a geographical position conducive to consistent, high-quality snow cover.

On average, over 650 cm of snow falls in Tignes every year. In the best years, you can even see over 1,000 cm fall! These large, regular snowfalls mean that the Savoyard resort of Tignes can start the ski season in early November and extend the spring skiing season without difficulty until the beginning of May.

A high altitude

At Tignes, 93% of the pistes are located above 2,000 metres.

As mentioned above, Tignes has an excellent geographical location for winter sports. Its altitude alone is a strong argument in its favour. The heart of the resort lies at an altitude of over 2,100 metres. Here, snow is easily produced when there is precipitation and is perfectly preserved for a long time thanks to the much cooler temperatures than in the valleys.

Sub-zero temperatures

A small physical point: the air temperature drops by an average of 0.65°C for every 100 metres of altitude, and this can be as much as 1°C. So with the heart of the resort located at an altitude of 2,100 metres, Tignes and its ski area are particularly well exposed to ensure regular snow cover.

So, with regularly negative temperatures throughout the winter, the quantity of snow remains stable and its quality can easily be maintained at a high level.

Anecdote

The cold in Tignes is so intense and long-lasting that it maintains the quantity and quality of the snow cover. But it also freezes the whole of the natural Tignes lake at the heart of the resort, forming up to 1 metre of ice and even allowing you to walk across it!

The ski area opens in November

Open from November to early May, the Tignes ski area has the widest range of opening dates in France. The Opening event marks the launch of the ski season. The fact that Tignes opens earlier than other ski resorts in France is made possible by the snow that is already in place at this time of year, consolidated by the presence of 400 snow guns on the resort, which produce the first layer of snow on which the natural snow settles and accumulates quickly and easily.

It’s worth noting that skiers can be seen in Tignes as early as October. In fact, these are the national teams and professional clubs who come to take advantage of the snow cover on the Glacier de la Grande Motte to train before the start of the season.

A white winter on white

After the first week of skiing following the Opening, the Tignes ski area is linked for the rest of the season with the Val d’Isère ski area, which opens a week after Tignes. Situated at similar altitudes to Tignes (between 1,850 and 3,197 metres), Val d’Isère also offers a high level of quality snow cover.

So there’s a huge playground on offer. A little white paradise to explore from every angle, whether you’re a skier, snowboarder, telemarker or whatever!

From the Christmas holidays onwards, make the most of this unique environment, where the white mountains and snow-capped peaks invite you to embark on an adventure. Fancy a snow-covered Christmas holiday?

Once the calendar winter has begun, the snow is now abundant and well established on the ski pistes. So what if there’s an off-peak period for snowfall? No problem at all. The pistes are groomed every night, from the time the resort closes until the early hours of the morning, in order to manage and optimise the precious resource that is snow.

Skiing goes on for longer at Tignes

The winter season is over and it’s now spring. So what can you do? Is the snow still there? Is it safe to ski? And in complete safety?

Yes, yes and yes!

As we explained earlier, snow falls in large quantities throughout the winter and accumulates significantly. This snowfall, coupled with sub-zero temperatures, makes it easy to do two things:

1. Keeping the ski area completely white for a long time and therefore avoiding ‘holes’ on the pistes, those areas where there may be a lack of snow
2. Enjoy skiing in spring as in winter, with a few added advantages (sunshine, warmth)

Spring skiing at Tignes is a great idea! Explore the area on ski touring. This could be an opportunity to take advantage of the longer days to explore beyond the pistes. In spring, the mountain refuges are open to welcome you between two stages of a ski touring trip.

It’s also a good time for beginners to take advantage of the softer, less demanding snow. It’s a great opportunity to get started on skis!

Incidentally, the full opening of the Tignes Bike Park, scheduled for the end of June each year, is often delayed because there is still too much snow on certain parts of the resort…