Tignes adventuring
Well, it’s been a long two years of no trips abroad for most of us. I’ve had itchy feet for a long time. Normally, I’m lucky enough to get to spend a month in Andorra and Spain mountain biking each year. I’ve been missing the adventure.
Finally, it was time for an Alpine adventure. We wanted to go somewhere a little different, but I always spend far too long looking at all the choices. Even trying to work out a dog and bike-friendly option. Unfortunately, this one didn't pay off but with my research I decided on a trip to Tignes in the French Alps.
It would be my first ever Alps trip with my HB.130. I have been itching for the big mountains and to see what she can do, since I took her out of her Hope box. We all know that was put on hold for a few years. But now I had my chance.
I was a mix of excited and nervous to be travelling again. Mostly because it involved driving our car from our home here in the Highlands (over 1500 miles) to Tignes. We have a little detour to drop the dogs off in Brixham on the way to the ferry. We normally travel in our van conversion but this trip was in our car, I was very nervous having the bikes on the roof.
Two days and many driving hours and a ferry later, we arrived in The beautiful mountains of Tignes. One of the main reasons we chose Tignes is it offers the Mytignes card. If you stay in any of their partner hotels/accommodation you get your uplift for free, making it a very cheap holiday option. You also have access to a whole range of other activities from the big swimming pool to golf etc…..we were there for one thing and one thing only. The bike park: over 200km of downhill trails.
One note on the hotels, not all of them let you take your bike into the room. Worth noting if you are planning a trip. Luckily ours did and we had a balcony we could keep them on. Most of the accommodation seems to be ski aparthotels, which tend to be small studio apartments with some cooking facilities.
All the chair lifts and gondolas in Tignes and Val S'Isere are included with the MyTignes card. The trails range from green family-friendly to black trails. There is a good mix for everyone. One thing I would say if you are a beginner make sure you have a couple of runs down before you commit to any feature. There were a couple of big gap jumps on blue and red graded trails. So always worth taking your time before committing. All the trails finish in one of the villages either Tignes or Val D'Isere.Awesome for a lunchtime crepe stop.
After a few runs I had a realisation. I had dragged my downhill bike out with me, which was no match for my HB.130. The HB.130 just hit differently. It’s so light and flexible on any trail that it was by far the best option for my riding. I have no idea why I bothered with the DH rig I tried it one morning and it got switched out pretty quickly. Since getting my HB.130 my riding has progressed so much. I have grown in confidence and am hitting trails I never dreamt I would.
One of the coolest things besides the trails (of course) was all the chairlifts and gondolas were operated by women. I loved seeing this. I’ve travelled and biked extensively and I have never seen it before. I have to say it did make me smile. The more women in the biking and outdoor industry the better right?
There were so many trail options, it was hard to take rest days. In the two weeks we were there we covered 343 miles of downhill. We only took two days off one due to the bike park being closed for rain and wind. I actually have a strange fear of chairlifts and small heights. It took me a couple of days to adjust back into the swing of alpine riding again but I am so glad I did. I hit all the trails in the park except one that was far too sheer-sided for my brain to handle.
One of the most unexpected highlights of the trip was the wildlife. I have never seen a Marmot before and they are everywhere I am now obsessed with them. Every day we saw something new from Lynx to Vultures to Owls and of course more sheep and cow herds than you can count. Sheep herds even have their own mountain dogs to protect them. Being a dog lover this was awesome. Coming face to face with a mountain dog who was bigger than a horse on a trail in the middle of nowhere was interesting.
I would recommend a trip to Tignes if you are looking for a chilled-out bike park holiday with plenty of green, blue and red trail options. There are not too many really hard trail options unless you count massive gap jumps of course. If you have an Ebike there are even more options for trails as they have invested a lot of time in building long Ebike trails in the last couple of years too.
I can not wait to plan my next Alpine adventure for loads of crepes, beer and biking.
Words & Pictures: Laura M
