Tignes

I've only ever skied once before at October 1/2 term, so set off with expectations of icy pistes, lots of sun, and lazy afternoons. We were staying with Mountainsun in Les Boisses and were delighted to wake up on the 1st morning to fresh snow. In the village! Conditions on the glacier were a little windy, and visibility wasn't amazing....but what fantastic snow!

Over the three days, we got a mixture of heavy snow and sunshine. The race teams that were trying to train, gave up attempting gates in the 70cm of fresh powder and just free skied. On a couple of occasions we thought that they may close the area due to high winds, but fortunately they didn't.

My only previous visit to Espace Killy had been at the end of April in 2004. I'd skied more on the Val d'Isere side, but was really impressed with the ski area as a whole. One thing that I hadn't noticed, that I did this time, was just how expensive the place is. Skiing a lot in Austria has got me used to being able to ski on a budget - and this was no place for a budget! We were staying chalet board, so didn't bother with lunch....after all, only wimps stop for lunch on a powder day!

Because free ski hire was included in the deal, I didn't take my own. I chose to try the Scott Realm. They handled well, and were good for the conditions, but I wasn't convinced to rush out and flog my B2s on ebay so that I could buy a pair.

All in all it was a good pre-season warm up. Just a shame I have to wait 3.5 months for the real season to kick off for me.