Tignes Apres Ski Report: 10th January 2013

After a fairly large night at the Kiwi flat, I rolled out of bed and along with my house mates and girlfriend decided to go hit the beginners slope and have a crack at shredding it on our new toys. I had always looked at people on toboggans and have a little laugh to myself, but it was not until I sat in that little bit of plastic that I realised how much fun they were having! We all hiked the Le Lac beginners slope and had multiple races down. It was a great way to shake the heavy head and get the banter flowing. None of us felt too guilty either about not heading up the hill as the snow isn’t great at the moment and at least we made it out of the house.

It worked up quite the appetite as well, so we decided to cross the road and hit up the much talked about, Tignes Cuisine.
Tignes Cuisine is situated right next to Loop Bar along the lakefront in Le Lac. You are greeted by a massive deck with picnic tables that provide you with an amazing view of Val Claret, the Tignes valley and most entertaining of all, the beginners slope. The venue itself has built up quite the reputation amongst the seasonaires and locals and in so doing, has a loyal base of regulars. The staff know you by name and most importantly the food is epic. The lunch menu is fairly basic, but in saying that, they do it well. You have the option of a noodle dish, rice dish or burritos. The obvious choice for me was the chicken tikka masala burritos, however across the Kiwi group we managed to tick off most of the menu. The food was fantastic, the company was great and the setting was epic. I would strongly recommend a visit to Tignes Cuisine, even if it’s just drink an Old Jamaican Ginger beer from the fridge.

That night we headed over to Val Claret after a few Merlots to check out The Melting Pot. As the name might hint, it’s a fairly hot and sticky venue that plays grimy drum and bass and house music. As we were feeling a little sober to get amongst the D-Floor straight away, we went top shelf and got VIP treatment. This got us a 1.25litre bottle of vodka, redbull and mixers to down in nice lazy boys seats and couches. This gave us time to stretch our legs, knees and ankles in order to get low and cut some shapes. Looking around on the dance floor, most the patrons are half naked trying to cool down, something quite unusual at 03:00 in the French Alps! Apart from leaving the club wet, it was a great night and a good reminder of a club back home.

It was a fairly quiet week here in Tignes for myself, which is usually the case for the week following New Years. We are now heading into Russian week, which should be a laugh. I don’t quite know what to expect but I'm going in open minded with a bottle of vodka under one arm and a furry hat on my head. We are not forecast to get snow here until Thursday by the looks of things, so with no rush to get up the hill I am sure there will be some apres news to report.

Have a good week and enjoy this sunshine.