Tignes Ski Resort

Tignes traces its history back to the 13th century when it was principally a farming community located on the banks of the river Isère, at a height of 1,650 m. It was a typical Savoyard villages, which was  isolated until the building of the road crossing the Col de l’Iseran in 1936. The main activity during the summer time was cattle breeding.

After the Second World War the traditional life of Tignes soon changed due to countries need for electricity. The  natural resources of the mountains were ideal in creating hydro-electricity and in May 1946 the go ahead was given for the development of the dam at Tignes Les Brévières. This resulted in the formation of the artificial lake Chevril. In the process of creating this dam it effectively doomed the village of Tignes to be flooded forever. All attempts by the inhabitants of Tignes to save their village was unsuccessful and on the 26th March 1952 the floodgates were opened and the lake filled up and the ancient village of Tignes was lost forever. However every 10 years the lake is emptied to clean and repair the dam and during this period the village miraculously reappears in to view.

A new village was built a little further up the mountain by the natural lake and in 1957 the villagers decided to set up Tignes ski resort.   The main resort was built at an altitude of 2100m and consisted of of Tignes le Lac, Le Lavachet and Val Claret and then further down the valley Tignes Les Boisses and Tignes Les Brevieres.