Day 172, 23 December 2012, Tignes, Espace Killy - Les Alpes Francaise. Today we looked out the window in wonderment - almost half a metre of snow had fallen overnight at our little chalet in La Reculaz, on the shores of Lac du Chevril (pictured). There is now around a metre of snow sitting on the rooftops around us and it looks like layer upon layer of puff pastry. Many buildings even have signs advising that snow might fall from above. But truly it's not the snow that poses the biggest threat - we've seen some icicles clinging to eves that would have to measure a metre or more - wouldn't want to be under the pointy end of one of them! In any event, the scenery looking over the lake was breathtaking - almost a shame to leave the chalet behind but Club Med Tignes, Val Claret awaits. The drive (further) up the mountain was astounding - we are smack in the middle of the the hugest peaks we've ever seen and just a stone's throw from the Italian border. We arrived at Club Med to a warm welcome and our room was ready 3 hours early which was great - as was the discovery of the softest, most enormous bed of the trip so far. And a bath. Happy beyond belief before we even started to explore. We are in an incomparable ski-in / ski-out spot right next to the lifts - can't wait to put that to the test tomorrow morning. We spent the afternoon roaming the resort, planning our cocktail consumption for the week and generally getting underfoot until dinner. Not so's anyone would notice though. Out of 500 odd guests, 220 are mini-guests. The perils of skiing during Christmas week in France we suppose. C'est la vie. Dinner was superb and the skiing begins tomorrow. Assuming the cocktails don't win the day. You see that's the beauty of Club Med - everything's included. And also the problem with Club Med - everything's included - truly - how many mojitos can two people drink in a week....
PS - For the exceedingly wealthy who want to air out their bank accounts, it is possible to buy good/better/best wine... best we've seen yet was a St Emillion for €999. Having enough dosh to apparently buy a resort would seem to defeat the purpose of an all inclusive holiday. Hope to be in the position to find out one day.