Have you been? What are the trails like? Any good campsites etc etc?? Thanks in advance 🙂

Been but not ridden the trails, did a great run from there back to St Foye though 🙂 by the look of the map perhaps a little limited, certainly not a venue for a week. Down the valley Bourg/St Foye would be more central and easier to hit La Thuile (worth it), St Foye (worth it), some tours around The Rosarie (More pedaling and requires a lift/shuttle but worth it) and the Les Arcs area. Looked a bit dead when we were up there.

It’s good, the trails now go over towards Val d’isere so the net work is quite big. The majority of stuff is off the gondola but there are some nice blues on the other lift. It’s free as well so that’s a bonus. Some nice enduro stuff as well. I like it and preferred it to lower down the valley.

There is a really nice camp site near tigne le lac (it’s the camping municipal) cheap as well. I can’t remember the name but can dig out details if needed.

It’s bloody cold, even in July. I’m not sure I’d be hard enough to camp.

It’s all above the tree line so the variety of natural trails might be a bit limited compared to say Les Arcs.

Was there last year (and the year before) the weather was perfect.

The best thing about Tignes is that if the weather takes a downturn, you can always get freshies on the glacier the following day.

Campsite: From tignes la lac take the D87B towards La Breviere.

http://www.tignes.net/en/accommodation/campings-159.html

Was out there last summer. Really good time. Cheap accomodation as its set up for winter so everything is empty in the summer. Free lifts, good amount of bike hire, Canyon had a stall there where you could borrow bikes for free for 2 hrs!
Town itself is ugly, but your in the Apls, so amazing view everywhere. Got to see the Val d’isere DH Race as well. Ace holiday.

Free lift pass, great trials whats not to like?
I really liked tignes/Val d’isere
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/267506/

Free lift pass? Is that standard?

Yeah, the resort is sponsored by Canyon so free lifts. TBH the trails aren’t amazing- there’s good fun riding and lots of it but it didn’t compare to the quality of Les Arcs or La Thuile (La Thuile gave me the best day’s riding ever, I think). We spent our rest day at Tignes and had a grand time, but it’d be a real shame to spend a week in the tarantaise and only ride there, everything else is better.

Have a word with the local companies, see if a cheeky rest day’s guiding can be arranged- White Room have outrageously good riding under their belt around Sainte Foy frinstance. There’s a resort uplift bus there but without guiding you won’t find the best stuff. (riding down to Sainte Foy from Tignes is lovely along the Wonderboisses trail and the road, but riding back up would be less fun!)

Sainte Foy frinstance. There’s a resort uplift bus

Possibly the most unorganised uplift I have ever used 😥 and the riding was OK but not amazing.

Wonderboisse into Forest Bump is a good run and there is a shuttle bus back up to Tignes if you time it right.

ianv – Member

the riding was OK but not amazing.

Did you have a guide? Some of what we did was waymarked VTT but I think only a minority of it, and little of the best.

That campsite by the lake is bl**dy freezing in the mornings, before the sun comes up from behind the mountains! Stayed there for a night in ’96 and decided to go back down to Bourg 🙂

As for riding, I thought Tignes lacked some clarity in the signage and runs were often closed due to high winds. The ST down to Les Brevieres was excellent though. Val had longer more flowy runs. Quieter but only 3 signed runs.

Enough for 2-3days, but you’d be a fool not to venture elsewhere for a few days in the Tarantaise region.

Sainte Foy frinstance. There’s a resort uplift bus
Possibly the most unorganised uplift I have ever used and the riding was OK but not amazing.

Was a little less than organised but went up and down the hill from places that were named.

Riding IMHO was better than Les Arcs, more riding less poncing round in sill tight switchbacks… Probably did the whole hillside in a day and a half but worth a visit.

You can also summer ski on the glacier.

Cheers for all the info folks. Any info you have ianv would be greatly received. I’m off to Morzine/ les gets and the Valais region of Switzerland for a few weeks end of July. But cany wait that long. So my idea was a long weekend somewhere. Ideally a cheap easyjet flight to geneve and then a transfer somewhere. Tignes appealed due to the free lift pass. Friends have skied there and had a great time. I would be camping (i work in the outdoor industry so have all the gear I need). I will be taking the Spesh enduro with me. Would be nice to try a Canyon 😀

Anywhere else you would recommend? Long weekend. Thursday – Monday. Easyjet to geneve, transfer, camp…..

Free lift pass? Is that standard?

Free lift pass covers both
tignes & Val d’isere more than enouth riding for long weekend.

tignes maps:

http://startlinemtb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Palafourmap2012.jpg

http://startlinemtb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Tovieremap2012.jpg

http://startlinemtb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Brevieresmap2012.jpg

Forest bump might not look like much but i like it.

Val d’isere maps:

http://startlinemtb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/vdiBellevardemap2012.jpg

http://startlinemtb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/vdiSolaisemap2012.jpg

And for the evening crew….

La Val rouge is crap, don’t bother with that lift at all. Rhodadendrum is great, 10k downhill with loads of variety. The enduros are mainly good but rockyline is a bit rubbish. For the time you are intending to stay there, Tignes is ideal. The campsite less so if you don’t have a car, there may be another up in the village though. The free pass also gets you entry to the pool and health spa if you fancy it.

Last year, some of the runs were closed due to late snow postponed work on the pistes, I still rode for 4/5 days without being bored. Also, queues are way smaller than the pds so you can ride a lot. For a short lowish budget trip, it’s ideal 🙂

I reckon a shuttle from geneva would be pretty expensive, maybe better to fly to albertville if possible. Alternatively hire a car in geneva.

Rhodadendrum trail:
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/267220/