We prefer to celebrate new seasons rather than New Year in Tignes. Just catch us in October when there’s a chill in the air and the nights are drawing in, when we start trying on our ski boots and scraping our snowboards, agitated as children at Christmas, dreaming of winter. New Year’s Eve? Just another night…
Not even a little bit true! We had an amazing New Year here at the Chalet Hotel L'Ecrin. Guests enjoying our New Year ski holidays came out ready to be wowed and our staff were full of party spirit. The ski resort put on a torchlit descent down the slopes in front of the hotel, and there were epic firework displays in the evening to get everyone in the mood.
The party includes a massive stage with DJs pumping tunes, ice bars, food and drink stalls, acrobats, stilt-walkers and performance artists wandering through the crowd, entrancing young and old alike. This year something special was added – huge inflatable sea creatures dancing and waving above the heads of the crowd. You try dancing under giant whales, squid, octopus and jellyfish without feeling that the new year is getting off to an entertaining – if a little strange – start!
For those who chose to stay back at the hotel, our winter host Lorcan hosted a ‘what did we learn this year?’ quiz, with questions relating to every month of last year and a music round dealing with all the biggest hits of the previous year, and all the biggest hits of many a bygone year. Wham! definitely had everyone up and out of their seats singing, along with complete disregard for the actual words or tune. Many teams got involved but two emerged as equals, with the eventual tiebreaker a dance-off, naturally. We saw in our midnight moment with glasses of bubbly, party poppers and a rousing chorus of Auld Lang Syne.
There were plenty of sore heads on New Year’s Day, but a champagne breakfast, a fresh layer of snow and a blue sky day on the mountain sorted out even the worst offender. Then it was back to the hotel for Chef’s second nine-course meal in two weeks – and he outdid himself, judging by the empty plates!
So now all the holiday’s guests have gone we can just chill out for a bit, yeah? Take a break, sleep a little? Not a chance. We’ve had new guests twice over, fresh snow, and a week of blue skies and more snow, and the mountain is empty. It’s been beautiful out there all year (all two weeks of it!) and we at the Christina resolve to make the most of it.
See Mark Warner’s New Year ski holiday offers.
Image credit: ©OPGP.
