Tignes
Tignes
Location within Rhône-Alpes region  Tignes
Administration
Country	France
Region	Rhône-Alpes
Department	Savoie
Arrondissement	Albertville
Canton	Bourg-Saint-Maurice
Statistics
Elevation	1,440–3,747 m (4,720–12,293 ft) (avg. 1,810 m or 5,940 ft)
Land area1	81.63 km2 (31.52 sq mi)
Population2	2,169  (2007)
- Density	27 /km2 (70 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	73296/ 73320
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 45°28′06″N 6°54′20″E / 45.4683°N 6.9056°E / 45.4683; 6.9056

Tignes (French pronunciation: [tiɲ]) is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is located in the Savoie region with good transport links in and out of Lyon, Geneva and Chambery.

It is best known as a ski resort. Together with nearby Val d'Isère, it forms the "Espace Killy" ski area. Tignes was the freestyle skiing venue for the 1992 Winter Olympics and co-host city for the 1992 Winter Paralympics.

Villages [link]

Tignes comprises 5 Villages; Val Claret, Tignes le Lac, Le Lavachet, Tignes Les Boisses and Tignes-les-Brévières. The first three are close together at 2100m and Les Boisses and Les Brevieres are further down the valley, above and below the dam respectively. Les Brévières is an old village whereas all the others were created as part of the Dam construction or development of the ski resort. All the villages are part of the ski resort known as Tignes.

Dam (barrage de Tignes) [link]

Barrage de Tignes.

The original village of Tignes was in the Isère valley below Val d'Isère. After the second world war, France needed electricity and it was decided to build a hydro-electric dam in the Isère valley. Whilst this was a great achievement for French engineering and was for the greater good of France, it meant that the old village of Tignes was drowned. The dam was completed and the village was submerged in 1952. A replica of the original church was created in Tignes les Boisses. Once every 10 years the lake behind the dam (Lac du Chevril) is drained for maintenance work and the remains of the old village becomes visible.

The dam was painted with a fresco of Hercules in 1989 by Jean-Marie Pierret with the help of eight mountain climbers. The fresco is considered one of the largest in the world. The portrait of Hercules was added and funded by private corporations interested in boosting the Olympic appeal during the winter games of 1992 which took place in nearby Albertville, France.^[1][2]

Ski resort [link]

A ski lift on the Grande Motte.

After the loss of the old village it was decided to develop a ski resort at the higher lake (Le Lac). This was surrounded by a bowl that is ideal for skiing and is headed by the Grand Motte glacier. The resort was developed largely during the 1960s and the building style reflects what was regarded as good building design at that time. In recent years the town has worked to improve the look of the new villages with some success.

The lifts of Tignes have been managed since 1967 by the company STGM (The Société des Téléphériques de la Grande Motte).^[3] Many lifts are fast 6 or 8 person chairlifts and there are 113 snow cannons which produce 450,000m² of artificial snow each year.^[4] The ski area is linked with the resort of Val-d'Isère and the entire ski area is called Espace Killy. At 4.2 km, Tignes boasts the 4th longest funicular in the world.^{[citation needed]} Tignes reaches a height of 3030m making it the perfect choice for snow sure skiing ^[5].

Operations [link]

There are 56 ski patrollers covering the resort of Tignes.^[6] There are 15 snow cats to maintain the quality of the pistes, 3 of these are equipped with winches for working steep slopes and 1 for shaping the half pipe. Around 60% of the slopes are groomed each evening.^[7]

Grande Motte glacier [link]

Due to presence of the Grande Motte glacier, Tignes used to offer year-round skiing. However, the glacier has been receding over the last decades and now closes for a few weeks each year. As of 2005^[update] the glacier had shrunk by around 25 vertical metres (80 feet) compared to a 1982 survey. It seems likely that the glacier will eventually be split into two by the rock spurs which are starting to become visible.

Tarentaise Valley skiing [link]

Within the Tarentaise Valley is the biggest concentration of world-class ski resorts in the world. Most well known neighbour systems are Paradiski (Les Arcs La Plagne) and Les Trois Vallées (Courchevel, Meribel, Val Thorens and more). There were once plans to interlink all systems and resorts to create the largest ski area in the world. However that vision was ended with the creation of the Vanoise National Park.

See also [link]

• Tignes-les-Brévières
• List of ski areas and resorts in Europe
• Communes of the Savoie department

References [link]

• 1992 Winter Olympics official report. pp. 112–3. (English) & (French)
• INSEE

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tignes

• Tignes website
• Photo gallery of Tignes
• Profile of climb
• website for lavachet area of tignes
• Panoramic photo of dog sledding on Tignes Lake

v t e Communes of the Savoie department Aiguebelette-le-Lac Aiguebelle Aigueblanche Aillon-le-Jeune Aillon-le-Vieux Aime Aiton Aix-les-Bains Albens Albertville Albiez-le-Jeune Albiez-Montrond Allondaz Les Allues Apremont Arbin Argentine Arith Arvillard Attignat-Oncin Aussois Les Avanchers-Valmorel Avressieux Avrieux Ayn La Balme Barberaz Barby Bassens La Bâthie La Bauche Beaufort Bellecombe-en-Bauges Bellentre Belmont-Tramonet Bessans Betton-Bettonet Billième La Biolle Le Bois Bonneval Bonneval-sur-Arc Bonvillard Bonvillaret Bourdeau Le Bourget-du-Lac Bourget-en-Huile Bourgneuf Bourg-Saint-Maurice Bozel Bramans Brides-les-Bains La Bridoire Brison-Saint-Innocent Césarches Cessens Cevins Challes-les-Eaux Chambéry La Chambre Chamousset Chamoux-sur-Gelon Champagneux Champagny-en-Vanoise Champ-Laurent Chanaz La Chapelle La Chapelle-Blanche La Chapelle-du-Mont-du-Chat Les Chapelles La Chapelle-Saint-Martin Châteauneuf Le Châtel Le Châtelard La Chavanne Les Chavannes-en-Maurienne Chignin Chindrieux Cléry Cognin Cohennoz Coise-Saint-Jean-Pied-Gauthier La Compôte Conjux Corbel La Côte-d'Aime Crest-Voland La Croix-de-la-Rochette Cruet Curienne Les Déserts Détrier Domessin Doucy-en-Bauges Drumettaz-Clarafond Dullin Les Échelles École Entremont-le-Vieux Épersy Épierre Esserts-Blay Étable Feissons-sur-Isère Feissons-sur-Salins Flumet Fontaine-le-Puits Fontcouverte-la-Toussuire Fourneaux Francin Freney Fréterive Frontenex Gerbaix La Giettaz Gilly-sur-Isère Granier Gresin Grésy-sur-Aix Grésy-sur-Isère Grignon Hautecour Hauteluce Hauteville Hermillon Jacob-Bellecombette Jarrier Jarsy Jongieux Laissaud Landry Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis Lanslevillard La Léchère Lépin-le-Lac Lescheraines Loisieux Lucey Mâcot-la-Plagne Les Marches Marcieux Marthod Mercury Méry Meyrieux-Trouet Modane Mognard Les Mollettes Montagnole Montagny Montailleur Montaimont Montcel Montendry Montgellafrey Montgilbert Montgirod Monthion Montmélian Montricher-Albanne Montsapey Montvalezan Montvernier La Motte-en-Bauges La Motte-Servolex Motz Moûtiers Mouxy Myans Nances Notre-Dame-de-Bellecombe Notre-Dame-des-Millières Notre-Dame-du-Cruet Notre-Dame-du-Pré Novalaise Le Noyer Ontex Orelle Pallud Peisey-Nancroix La Perrière Planaise Planay Plancherine Pontamafrey-Montpascal Le Pont-de-Beauvoisin Le Pontet Pralognan-la-Vanoise Presle Pugny-Chatenod Puygros Queige Randens La Ravoire Rochefort La Rochette Rognaix Rotherens Ruffieux Saint-Alban-de-Montbel Saint-Alban-des-Hurtières Saint-Alban-des-Villards Saint-Alban-Leysse Saint-André Saint-Avre Saint-Baldoph Saint-Béron Saint-Bon-Tarentaise Saint-Cassin Saint-Christophe Saint-Colomban-des-Villards Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise Sainte-Hélène-du-Lac Sainte-Hélène-sur-Isère Sainte-Marie-d'Alvey Sainte-Marie-de-Cuines Sainte-Reine Saint-Étienne-de-Cuines Saint-Franc Saint-François-de-Sales Saint-François-Longchamp Saint-Genix-sur-Guiers Saint-Georges-des-Hurtières Saint-Germain-la-Chambotte Saint-Girod Saint-Jean-d'Arves Saint-Jean-d'Arvey Saint-Jean-de-Belleville Saint-Jean-de-Chevelu Saint-Jean-de-Couz Saint-Jean-de-la-Porte Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré Saint-Julien-Mont-Denis Saint-Léger Saint-Marcel Saint-Martin-d'Arc Saint-Martin-de-Belleville Saint-Martin-de-la-Porte Saint-Martin-sur-la-Chambre Saint-Maurice-de-Rotherens Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne Saint-Nicolas-la-Chapelle Saint-Offenge-Dessous Saint-Offenge-Dessus Saint-Ours Saint-Oyen Saint-Pancrace Saint-Paul Saint-Paul-sur-Isère Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny Saint-Pierre-d'Alvey Saint-Pierre-de-Belleville Saint-Pierre-de-Curtille Saint-Pierre-de-Genebroz Saint-Pierre-d'Entremont Saint-Pierre-de-Soucy Saint-Rémy-de-Maurienne Saint-Sorlin-d'Arves Saint-Sulpice Saint-Thibaud-de-Couz Saint-Vital Salins-les-Thermes Séez Serrières-en-Chautagne Sollières-Sardières Sonnaz La Table Termignon Thénésol Thoiry La Thuile Tignes Tournon Tours-en-Savoie Traize Tresserve Trévignin La Trinité Ugine Val-d'Isère Valezan Valloire Valmeinier Venthon Verel-de-Montbel Verel-Pragondran Le Verneil Verrens-Arvey Verthemex Villard-d'Héry Villard-Léger Villard-Sallet Villard-sur-Doron Villarembert Villargondran Villarlurin Villarodin-Bourget Villaroger Villaroux Vimines Vions Viviers-du-Lac Voglans Yenne

v t e Olympic venues in freestyle skiing 1988: Canada Olympic Park (includes bobsleigh/luge track), Nakiska (demonstration) 1992: Tignes 1994: Kanthaugen Freestyle Arena 1998: Iizuna Kogen Ski Area 2002: Deer Valley 2006: Sauze d'Oulx-Jouvencaux 2010: Cypress Mountain 2014: Freestyle Skiing Center and Snowboard Park 2018: Bokwang Phoenix Park