Boondock Puffins

We headed back to Tignes after Christmas at home and arrived back to our box room flat on the 30th December.

With friends in tow, we headed to sort out their ski kit and ski passes to ensure New Year’s Eve (forecast to be sunny) could be a good ski day.

As the 31st rolled around, the weather was beautiful. Our friends, both excellent skiers, happily trundled round blue runs with us and Eliza did her first red run, followed by multiple others, buoyed by having companions to flatten the moguls that littered the pistes thanks to the fluffy snow and hundreds of people carving the same lines over and over again.

Tom and his friends also had a great time skiing some blacks runs, which Eliza happily watched from the safety of the cable car. The Olympic run did seem a bit of a stretch on day one of tackling reds…

So after a day of good skiing, how best to spend New Year’s Eve in the Alps?

Really, if you’re feeling up to it, there’s a huge stage with a packed crowd that appears in the main square in Tignes. Given that we weren’t feeling all that enthusiastic, we had supper out and about, followed by a walk to a friend’s bar and then a hike up a black run to watch the fireworks. The view was absolutely worth it, and starting the New Year sliding in grip-less boots down an ice black run in the dark was quite an unforgettable adventure!

If you’re thinking of heading to ski to celebrate the New Year, it’s definitely an experience, although not one that we would necessarily seek out were we not living here – the crowds and packed slopes are crazy, but the atmosphere is pretty unparalleled.

Happy 2023 to everyone!