Tignes Snow Report: 13th March 2012

I spent most of today sitting beside some pretty big kickers taking pictures with my flat mate, Kene, from The Mountain Echo. My camera is bust, so he was kind enough to let me shoot with one of his, and I felt very lucky, as the standard of riding was out of this world, and the weather was pretty spot on too.

We arrived in Tignes to brilliant blue skies, with not a cloud in sight. The sun was shining and the X-Games slope-style course was immaculate. Being the lazy season workers that we are, we took the Lanches chair lift up and snowboarded down to the course, rather than walking up from the bottom. This is a good tip for anyone wanting to watch too, it saves your legs!

Today was only a practice day, but there were already a lot of spectators, and as the event is completely free to watch, even from inside the X-Games arena, there should be a lot more spectators during the actual events.

The programme is as follows;

Wednesday 14th March
10am – 12pm : Men’s Ski Slope-style Elimination
1.30pm – 2.30pm : Women’s Ski Slope-style FINAL
6.15pm – 7.30pm : Women’s Snowboard Super-pipe FINAL
8pm – 9.30pm : Men’s Snowboard Super-pipe Elimination

Thursday 15th March
10am – 12pm : Men’s Snowboard Slope-style Elimination
1.30pm – 2.45pm : Men’s Ski Slope-style FINAL
6.30pm – 8pm : Men’s Snowboard Super-pipe FINAL
8.30pm – 10pm : Men’s Ski Super-pipe Elimination

Friday 16th March
10.30am – 11.45am : Men’s Snowboard Slope-style FINAL
1pm – 2pm : Women’s Snowboard Slope-style FINAL
6.15pm – 7.30pm : Women’s Ski Super-pipe FINAL
8pm – 9.30pm : Men’s Ski Super-pipe FINAL

(I’m not including the practices as they’re basically on all the time that the events are not!)

The big event to watch are (sorry girls) either of the Men’s finals. They will definitely draw in the biggest crowds. The girls are pushing the boat out though, and should not be missed! Even if you’re not here, you can catch most of it on the television, and it is usually spectacular viewing.

The weather forecast is for this beautiful sunshine to continue till the end of X-Games, along with the milder temperatures. We are due some snow (Yay!) over the weekend though. Unfortunately I‘m going to miss the end of the X-Games, and any snow we get over the weekend, as I’m going to be in Switzerland competing in a Freeride World Qualifier.

My skiing tips for tomorrow are to get over to Tignes to watch the X-Games in the beautiful sunshine. Remember that sunscreen though as it is going to be hot! If you want to stay over later but you are staying in Val d’Isere, there are buses running especially for the event. You need to book a place though, and this can be done most easily at the Maison de Tignes in Tignes Le Lac. They will also have an up to date schedule for all the buses running between Val d’Isere and Tignes.

If you’re not interested in the X-Games, then the skiing is still superb, and the pistes are a little quieter than usual with everyone over in Tignes. The trick to finding the best snow at the moment is following the sun around, whether you are on, or off, piste. The Face de Bellevard is amazing around half nine, but very quickly becomes a bit of a disaster zone, so you want to catch it early for the best conditions.

Off piste, and your best advice is on the Henry’s Avalanche Talks pages. Henry is also talking about following the sun, but being wary of where it has been on the slopes too long as there is a risk of wet snow avalanches, so take heed and see what Henry’s saying, he really does know his stuff!

Have fun out there, and enjoy the X-Games, this is their third year in Tignes and we don’t know where it’s going next, so make the most of it! Shaun White is even here for it!

Bon ski!