[Closed] Tignes/Val d'Isere - is the snow melting??

Are you taking mountain bikes?

Yes we are. We planned going to Les Arcs, but they delayed lift opening by a week this year, so with fixed dates needed another plan.

Makes sense now! 🙂

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Keep an eye on the trail page on the Tignes website, it's updated daily.

Also, keep an eye on the webcams on the site.

Startline MTB are in the area and seem to running uplifts judging by their instagram.

I've been glued to the webcams, watching every bit of snow as it melts, checking the webcam archives for last year!!

It looks to be about 2 weeks ahead of last year, but I'm not sure how that will translate across to trail closures early season - the top trails were definaltely closed 1st week of Jul last year, when we were in LA and looked at a days riding in Tignes.

I've organised the trip for 12 of us, and persuaded everyone Tignes would be good, so feeling the pressure for it all to work.

Have you got transport while out there? If so la thuile, pila and others aren't far away. Les arcs would probably run the funi at the weekends too. There are options if the snow is still bad, some might say with better riding....

I'm the same - I've arranged tignes as our start point and will be there from the second. Hadn't even thought about the snow tbh... it'll be fine! 😳

Steve H - we are planning on hitting LA & La Varda/Double Header on the Sunday anyway, so even if the top routes are closed we should have enough for 2 days in Tignes, but I really fancy the Val D'Isere Enduro Routes, which are still snow covered.

Nick D - maybe see you out there - fingers crossed. It's looking warm this week so hopefully lots of melting!!

Still a lot up there, it's melting but the snow fields that are hidden from the sun are taking time because there has been no rain, also the snow melt leaves rain gulleys which they will need to work on, as the school holidays start 8th July they will be in no rush to get it ready for the 1st week of opening. With the school holidays been late this year it could be why Les Arc is opening later.

Thanks - makes sense.

I am MTBing with my son in Tignes from the 8th-15th July, never even crossed my mind that there would still be snow on the trails!

The trails off Borsatt are the troublesome ones. Toviere and Palafour trails already clear. Tignes is very high altitude - be aware it can be cold up top.

If they are 2 weeks ahead of last year you'll be fine.

I was there last 2 weeks of July last year and there was a bit of snow about "closing" (not really closed) a couple enduro trails off Borsat.

Where are you staying?

Useful info. I've been watching the Transarc webcam at Les Arcs but wasn't sure how it compared to previous years.

I'm in BsM 29/6 to 13/7, yep we booked end of last year before lift dates were announced... boo. I'm planning to hit La Varda on Sun 11th too, as I understand it that's the first day the Transarc lift is open?

Ally - yes I think it is, as bizarrely Transarc closed saturdays.

Bill - Chalet Chardons in La Brev.

Chalet Chardons in La Brev.

Excellent choice! Staff their are ace, if Jasmine or Janine are working this season say hello from Dan, Claire and the Boys.
Food is great, wine is great, hot tub after a long day on the bike is great.

You also get to finish your day with a run down Wonderboisses and Forest Bump.

Any questions - give me a shout.

Thanks - chose them after recommendations on here 😀

How many of the red runs have committing gaps/ big drops? Some of the videos seem to suggest a lack of chicken routes.

It'd be a shame if the Borsatt endorsed routes (IW/VBT) were closed - I really fancy them. Wild 10 Nez & Rocky Trip and Wonderboisses look great though.

We have a couple of less experienced riders with us who will be learning on the greens & blues mainly. Is it an easy roll down to Les Brev off wonderboisses? The piste map shows it joining either Conduite Forcee or Forest Bump, but I was hoping there might be an easy option to get home at the end of a long day for them. Maybe roll down the road?

How many of the red runs have committing gaps/ big drops? Some of the videos seem to suggest a lack of chicken routes.

Didn't do a lot of the red DH trails, stuck mostly to the blues and Enduro trails as I was on my 29er Hardtail. Having said talking to the other riders at Chardons, yeah there are some mandatory drops/jumps.

I was hoping there might be an easy option to get home at the end of a long day for them. Maybe roll down the road?

Conduit Force and Forest Bump when knackered is interesting...

Once last thing, don't underestimate how high you are, the first few days you will be blowing out your arse on any little sprint/rise.

Thanks. How did you rate the enduro trails?

Enduro Trails are good raced them in the coupe de France, I find the blues more fun than the reds trails. The trails off the Tignes have more braking bumps than Val so for the guys who are less experienced it would be better for them to head over to Val for the first day.

Try the footpaths down to the Lac du Chevril from the area in Tinges called Le Lavachet too one has a bit of tech ( goes past the water falls) and the other (keep to the right hand path) is more flow and you have to ride in to Val along the river with a narrow path but is all ridable with a bit of exposure.

I can't think of any reds that have must do lines on - the worst is gypsy there is a very exposed crux line at the top. Walkable though. Definitely no unavoidable jumps etc. The blacks are worse, there are some unavoidable gaps on those. Treat the tovieres blacks with caution.

The enduro routes are very mixed. I think they're fantastic but depends on your view. You've got stuff like ice tignes which is a lot of steps that are pretty unridable purely because of the exposure but fantastic views and riding otherwise, wild nez which is a rock fest and hard to ride, the new one Rocky ride I think it's called which is essentially riding down de la face the WC ski piste. Then you've got fire track runs that aren't too hard but go right out into the sticks. Some of the footpaths brevieres side are really good.

Agreed the Val side better for the beginners in your group. Just bear in mind the long blue and green down into Val Disere are great for less experienced but they are really long, I've seen a few bad crashes at the end of the day due to tiredness.

Give us a shout if you fancy a ride or a beer when your out there, I'll be roughing it in the camper down at Val disere.

The footpaths Brev side, is that all cheeky off map?

Have a chat with Mark who owns Chardons, he can point out the good footpaths on the Brev side. Get your IGN Map and cross ref to strava heatmap. Do this on the second week though or you'll die. Not cheeky as it's France.

The first run I would take beginners down would be Popeye.
My (then 8 year old) son did it on his 20in wheeled islabike but it's a good introduction.

I walked along Ice Tignes with the wife and kids as it's actually a footpath. For me it's better walk than ride.
Into the Wild isn't super techy but it really gets you "out there".
Very Bike Trip is quite techy.
Wonderboisses is amazing, as are Conduit Forcee and Forest Bump.
Wild 10 Nez is good fun too.

Great - thanks again - SO looking forward to it!!

We are going out there a week or so later. Struggling to find a decent trail map beyond the one from the tourist info in Tignes. Any suggestions gratefully received.

IGN Bleu maps (you need 2 to cover the area you want), strava heat map and Google Earth are your friends for pre-trip recon.

Luckly that the strava Warriors has not reached the the best trails yet, but I'm sure they will soon, still plenty to explore tho.
I can happily say that what is now called ice Tignes is rideable but not for most, the steps are very sketchy.

there are 3 enduro runs on the brev side, the woods definitely feel a bit less used. Footpaths you'll need a proper map, and have a day exploring. The strava heat map doesn't show a lot thankfully it's not too well known. But it's pretty easy to follow your nose around the area just keep an eye on the time as the bus back up isn't as easy to catch as a lift.

In my experience I've had more issues with grumpy walkers in tignes than anywhere else in France but bizarrely it's normally on the enduro trails.

^anyone who can clean ice tignes gets respect from me, I've spent weeks there and never had the bottle to ride the really exposed steps, think it's the 2nd or 3rd lot? Just scares the balls out of me!

Does anyone know which trails were used when the EWS was there?

Also, what's the capacity of the shuttle bus from Les Brévières?

Capacity is 8. Not sure about EWS, but I have copies of the Enduro2 3 day Enduro routes from last year.

Capacity is 8.

And handily you'll be getting on it when it empty unlike the poor saps in the campsite.

One tip: The bikeshops aren't great in Tignes/Val D'Isere, they are basically hire places. Bring all the spares (tyres, brake pads, mech etc), bleed kit(s), tubeless stuff.

I think that goes for any Alps resort.

The MTB piste map for 2017 was released on the Val d'Iseresite a few days ago. Anew log Red from the top of Bellevarde.

Snow melting nicely it seems - this week last year it snowed, I think!

Guys I'm off to Tignes in August. Any tips on which bike to take? I have a BigHit (200mm F&R) and a Knolly Delirium (180/160mm)

Fancy doing a mix of trails.

Any thoughts gratefully received!

I am going in August with a few mates for the third time, I have always taken the Orange Five and it has been amazing and eaten up everything you can throw at it.

I have not ridden any of the big jump lines or anything but otherwise nothing to worry about.

Assuming you can pedal the Knolly a bit easier I'd take that, some of the Enduro trails would be quite hard work on a DH bike.

If you plan on just doing the DH runs, take either/both.

I see snow is forecast for next week 😯

And a 15C drop in temperature! Hopefully with rain this week the snow won't settle.

And a 15C drop in temperature! Hopefully with rain this week the snow won't settle.

Does rain scare off snow ?

Just to get the excitement for the opening this weekend:
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Funky Dunk - nobody likes rain, so yes!

Or maybe snow falling on wet ground in marginal temps is far less likely to settle.

Giles - let's hope the weather forecast holds!!

Conditions are apparently excellent for race training in Tignes at the minute

Hmm not posting from Photobucket

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Not many runs open for the opening day.

[url= https://www.valdinet.com/lifts/status ]Val/Tignes lift & trail status[/url]

All the runs off Borsat are now open 🙂

Lots of runs off Palafour/Toviere are closed, which I'm guessing is for trail work as there's no snow left there. Weather been a bit pants for opening weekend, but selfishly it's looking much better for me.

Weather here (Bourg St Maurice) been fine Dan, some rain Thu/Fri and minor drizzle Sat, but all dry today. Keeping the dust down! Forecast on yr.no looking good for next few days.

My group seem to always just miss the crap weather! Never book a riding trip the week after me - always pisses down the day after I leave 🙂

Landing in Le Brevieres in a few hours! Snow all gone, trails open, sun shining, not too much rain forecast. Will report back afterwards.

Dan, if by chance you read this send me a message re riding over here!

Well, Tignes is bloody marvellous! There's a lot of work going on in the riding area, which is already fantastic. Enduro trails really good - blacks are pretty tough.

It's Getting busier this year too. First shuttle of the morning is leaving people behind at the first stop in Brevieres, let alone higher up.

Chalet chardons - good recommendation.

Well we've just got to Tignes yesterday, just done a GREEN called Smoothie which was more like a defenite blue with red bits in if we're comparing to U.K. Almost no pedalling needed!

Has anyone got any recommendations for which trails to go into next? I'm fine but the gf is a bit more than wary about not being pushed too far out her comfort zone.

Only two trails in tignes closed at the moment, a green and a red...all others open!

Has anyone got any recommendations for which trails to go into next? I'm fine but the gf is a bit more than wary about not being pushed too far out her comfort zone.

Maybe head round to Val D'Isere and try Popeye? Long Green, gets a bit harder the further you go down.

My eldest loved it.

Chris - the blues tend to be similar to greens, but with berms - makes them easier imho!

The 2 long trails from the top of Bellevard in Val (Popeye/Val Blue) are great. Be careful if the dodgy weather comes in though as you can get stuck Val side if the lifts close.

Also try the red IW Enduro trail off Borsat lift. Gorgeous views, not technical.

Brilliant thanks a lot well we actually did the Popeye yesterday from Val....we were the only ones that set off in driving hail and rain, it was wet but so flowy and fun, had to stop about 10km in because gf's hands were shot from braking....5 mins rest then got back on, forest trail at the end was just ace too!

We're going to do a Smoothie green and then jump on a blue I think n cut and then I reckon full blue, Just avoiding the jumps for her, is it possible to take the easy chicken line on the jumps? I'm sure it is but just want to check......jumps look well signed anyway from what we saw....

That red enduro sounds amazing too... cheers really appreciate it

There's nothing not rollable on any blue.

Nice one, it's surprised me how different the trails are graded to over in the U.K..... but goes to show that people were right when they said a blue here is a red at home.....glad we can get onto blues though as there's SO many of them! Will try get some photos up on here for anyone to see what it's like too!

we were in val & tignes 2 days last week, mon & weds. scorchio flag crackers both days! definitely had our fill of the bike parky runs after two days, especially as brake bumps were already starting to appear!! but loved racing down to Val on Popeye in a super fast dust train tbf!! RR and RT were favourites otherwise and the long SV down to Les Boisses! and VBT! also not that great but worth it for the vistas, the IT ridge line from the top of Val Claret lift! we also took a few interesting looking walkers paths (apparently this is allowed!?) the highlight being this long winding singletrack through the the 'lost valley' which is a classic off piste ski run in the winter! you feel a million miles away from a bike park down there!

I think you have to consider them as a green DH track rather than a trail centre green!

You're very right and I hadn't thought about that, well the blue for me was fine but pretty tricky for the lass, mainly the really tight and steep switchbacks from what she's used to, did it with a bit of tutoring from me though and is happy to carry on now but was definitely a development on green haha!

Only thing I really want as a MTB helmet (not fullface) I can't find anywhere as they're just fullfaces. Can anyone recommend a place that is actually a full on bike shop? Guess there isn't one locally they're all hire and have virtually no helmets that aren't fullface to actually buy . Found one in the best bike shop in tignes centre but it was a cheapie....

Have you tried Startlinemtb in Val Claret? Best one we found for spares in Le Lac was Gravity.

Every hire bike seemed to be a DH rig which was a bit surprising.

Yes for sure tried all those shops, done most of them to death. There were plenty of spares and great parts that could be bought but a lack of buying helmets that aren't fullface. We're going to have a crack at gunpowder which is the opposite side tomorrow....we heard that the blues on the other side are more flowy.

Also the Wonderboisses trail I think as seems like an enduro one to wake up the "climbing" leg muscles a bit haha

Mahalo

the highlight being this long winding singletrack through the the 'lost valley' which is a classic off piste ski run in the winter!

What really, the lost valley works on a bike too?
Wow.
As in the really narrow one with at least one rocky hole/tunnel section?

Tell me more.

Cool as hell. Loved that piste and would love to take the kids down it (bikes or skis).

How hard is it?