Tignes Apres Ski Report: 27th December 2012

We were pretty lucky in the lead up to the Christmas break with the snow we received. As I have come to expect with Tignes this season, we were snowed in for three days with over half a metre of pow dropped, which resulted in a lot of movies and trips to the Sherpa. Once the heavens cleared we were again treated to two full days of fresh tracks, blue bird skies and numerous face shots. I could not have wished for a better start to the season, and I would expect it to be extremely hard to beat in the future seasons to come.

After one of these days up the hill, I crawled back to my place and decided to go check out Le Brasero. I heard through my friends that they do an amazing Hot Chocolate and Baileys. Le Brasero is found in Lavachet, just next to the bus stop, and is perfect for the après wets, with the ski and board racks out the front. The bar is very cosy, and is scattered with nice couches and seats, exactly what the body needs after a hard day up the hill.

I opted for a Hot Chocolate with Rum and marshmallows, which warmed the soul, and was exactly what the doctor ordered.  A few of the crew opted for the mulled wine, which also looked very nice. It was a great way to get your breath back and unwind after an amazing day up on the hill.

As it so often does, one led to a few more and before we knew it we were on our way to Scotty’s to make use of the 2 for 1 cocktail happy hour. They run it twice a night on Wednesdays and Sunday from 4-6pm and then again from 8-10pm. All the cocktails are named from infamous venues and well known personalities around the resort. This time I opted for the Tignes Sprit and Tignes Cuisine flavours which were again great, but didn’t help my pool ability. We hung around for a few hours and watched the football and played a few games of pool. My friend Jimmy was stoked with Chelsea getting up, and topped off an amazing day with some very tasty night caps.  

On Christmas Eve we headed down to Le Lac to get amongst the Christmas parade. I wasn’t expecting a lot being in the French Alps, but they didn’t let themselves down.  There was a hand organ band, florescent kites, a number of dress up characters and an ice throne for all the Kings and Queens. The kids were out in force and the parents were having a ball as well. It definitely got me excited for the following day and the feast we were in for.

This was the first orphan Christmas for a number of the kiwis, so after a few skype dates with family back home, we proceeded to our champagne breaky on the lake front. It was a beautiful morning and the company couldn’t have been better. The boys then went and did a couple of wonky runs down the Palafour before settling into an afternoon of drinking games, where the seals definitely won. The ladies did themselves proud in the kitchen, preparing a banquet for their kings, which will have our flat eating left over’s until 2013.

It was a fantastic white Christmas, which will definitely be remembered forever, especially for my trip to the igloo...[editor - not going to ask about this one!]

Hope everyone was spoilt and had a great day. Next stop is New Years, get at me 2013!