Tignes

We left Venice and headed to Tignes for our skiing fix. It had been satisfyingly cold in the lead up to this leg of the trip, and although early in the ski season, we were hoping for good snow.  This meant a drive through the north of Italy and skirting The Lakes. We decided to get a taste so stopped for lunch in the beautiful little town of Sirmione.

Sirmione is home of Scaligiro Castle, built on the edge of the lake. We stopped for our last Italian lunch (pasta again for Adrian) and had a walk around the town. Although somewhat touristy, it felt somehow more authentic than some other Italian towns we had been to. It was very beautiful, especially with the snow capped mountains in the background. 

After lunch we drove due north into the Alps. The drive was amazing with magnificent panoramas of the mountains. We wound up and up ever higher into the vista ahead. 

After a windy drive we finally made it to Tignes in the French alps. We were happy that it was actually snowing quiet heavily dusting our ski slopes for the day ahead. The kids ran to play in it as soon as we got out of the car. I don’t think they had seen snow actually falling before. Situated at 2,100 metres it is well known for it’s glacier peak at 3,450 metres. It is good for early season snow. We thought it was great, although the French were not impressed with the meagre 1 metre snow fall.

As it was early in the season, the ski schools were only open for private lessons. Lucky Elijah and Tahshi. We signed them up for classes and the next day they embarked on the first of 6 hours of private lessons.

Tahshi had only done a taste of skiing before so she learnt to stand, snowplow and get on and off a lift.

Elijah meanwhile could ski a little bit. He soon graduated to the red, difficult slopes.

Adrian and Amber had been waiting for years for Elijah to become a proficient enough skier join us on the slopes. Within a day he managed to match us, then surpass us! This was evident as we skied the longest slope on the mountain. A 10km ski run over 1,300 meters of elevation. The whole way down he was waiting for us complaining that we were too slow!!

After days of blue sky. We finally had a day of overcast snowfall. Time to do a snowboard lesson. First time for everybody.

Even Adrian had a go. Never again!

Yep, he looks ok in the photo, but photos can be deceiving.

After the snow came the cold,  clear days.  At minus 13, Amber was a bit cold. But not so much that lunch outside wasn’t ok with the kids.

Elijah at one point did think that maybe his little toe had snapped right off. Fortunately, all was intact. 

A few more runs and we were done. Sore and tired, but satisfied. Time to head back to Paris as our trip was fast coming to an end. Where had all that time gone?