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Skiing Holiday Can Still Be Fun Even If You Don't Actually Ski
By Philip
Suter In
the early 1970’s I went skiing a few times whilst in France at Grenoble and skied
at Alpes Duez. I never really felt comfortable on snow and ice and therefore avoided
the subject for some 36 years. My
wife had never been skiing and had always wanted to try. Friends invited us to
join them on a week long holiday in April, Easter 2007 at Tignes, near Val d’Isère
in the French Alps. 
Left: Tignes-Le-Lac
at 2100 metres
There
were fourteen in the party with ages ranging from late twenties to early sixties.
The majority were experienced skiers, many learning when they were children. My
wife and another person had booked beginners lessons and started the learning
process. Seeing the snow put me off, however, I rented some equipment and within
an hour it was back at the rental shop! Unless
you were actually on the pistes the snow was disappearing fast and the air was
warm with daily temperatures reaching 23 degrees. Although it was Easter the Christmas
feeling is still there with Christmas decorations in the restaurants, up in the
streets, Christmas lights on trees and buildings. The “12 days” of Christmas are
well extended! Below:
Christmas theme at Easter inTignes Les Brevieres
 There
is a very new swimming pool complex in the centre of Tignes-Le-Lac and
apart from a large pool with a children’s area there are also saunas, Jacuzzis
and a steam room.
 Left:
fantastic views of nearby Val Claret seen from the swimming pool Several
lengths of the pool works up a good appetite to meet the skiers for lunch. By
borrowing or buying a ticket for the ski lifts, funicular railway or cable car
enables a non-skier to take advantage of the fabulous views from heights up to
3456 m . A
particular favourite lunch time place for our group was to meet – either by skiing
there or taking the “bubble” cable car to a restaurant up the slope from La
Daile. The restaurant had live and disco music from “Funky House” with
a saxophone player,(below) drummer on the roof, an electric violin and
the waitress with a radio microphone singing along as the cleared the tables!  zzzzzz
Another
enjoyable trip was taking the free shuttle bus from Tignes-Le-Lac then taking
the Funiculaire Grande Motte railway to the Ski d’ete (summer skiing
zone) at Grotte de Glace. This area is actually on a glacier there is all year
round skiing here. You then go in a cable car up 3456 of “La Grande Motte”
mountain peak. The height of witch is 3656 metres. One of our group, on an earlier
visit had then climbed the mountain from the 3456 metre cable car terminus and
skid down the mountain!  Left:
La Grande Motte
Tignes that
is made up of Tignes-Le-Lac at 2100 metres, Tignes Les Boisses at
1850 metres and Tignes Les Brevieres at 1550 metres and Val Claret
is full of French, British, Dutch and other nationality ski companies running
chalets and ferrying skiers about in Land Rovers and mini buses. The car parks
were full of Belgian, British, Dutch, German, Swiss and even French registered
cars whose owners were taking a skiing break over the Easter vacation. Right:
La Daile - next toVal-d’Isère
 Tignes
and the surrounding area is very much on the map in 2007 with “The 2007 Tour
de France” passing through Tignes on Monday 16th July and on Tuesday 17th
will go from nearby Val-d’Isère to Briançon. The
week was most enjoyable sampling the excellent culinary skills of the two Dutch
guys running the chalet and benefiting from a lot of exercise, excellent après
ski, wandering around the smart shops of Val d’Isère and good weather in addition. Philip
Suter is a Director of jml Property Services; http://www.jmlproperty.co.uk
a UK based company offering Insurance products on line at http://www.jml-property-insurance.co.uk
and a holiday home advertising service http://www.jmlvillas.com
and management training within the uk. He a travel writer and is a very experienced
property consultant with over 30 years work in the Residential letting business
in the UK and served on the National Council of ARLA. He is a Fellow of the National
Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and a Member of The association of Residential
Letting Agents (ARLA) 
kkkkkkk 
Article
Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Suter
http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Skiing-Holiday-Can-Still-Be-Fun-Even-If-You-Dont-Actually-Ski&id=551674 ©Philip
Suter jml Property Services May 2007
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