Rendez-vous in Tignes for the 2013 Winter X Games

With its X-tra large ski area, the Espace Killy (renowned for its exceptional off piste skiing) and excellent infrastructures and services at an altitude of 2,100m, it has everything required to host important international sporting events:

A little history:

1979: 1st freestyle skiing World Cup and 27 of the following annual events
1986: 1st freestyle skiing World Championship
1992: Olympic Games - freestyle skiing competitions (moguls, jumps, etc.)
2004: Tignes Airwaves: biggest event dedicated to alternative sports in Europe

So, back to the present! The dates have at last been confirmed… The next edition of the Winter X Games Tignes will take place on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of March 2013! More than 125 athletes from the four corners of the globe will be in Tignes for this unmissable annual event.

The program:

- Men’s and women’s ski and snowboard SuperPipe
- Men’s and women’s ski and snowboard Slopestyle
- Snowmobile freestyle demonstrations!

Want to get involved?

If being a spectator leaves you feeling a little left out, then the X-Park has been constructed by the X Games’ partners to let everyone have their turn!

After dark!

After such an adrenalin-filled day, no-one wants to go to bed early! The evenings continue with X-Fest entertainment – DJs and other animation organized to keep you up till the early hours!

A little look behind the scenes

Shapers: the snow professionals:

Chris Gunnarson and Franck Wells, from the American company SPT (Snow Park Technology), have studied in much detail, using GPS technologies, what will later become the competition sites. These two professionals have been traveling around the freestyle planet for 15 years with their state-of-the-art equipment, creating competition sites for the world’s top athletes. The X Games have always been their favorite playground...

XXL construction for an XXL event:

Construction work started in July 2009 to make a king-size superpipe out of a classic half-pipe. Three weeks of excavation, one week of drainage, one more week to finalize the shape (50 meters uphill and 20 meters downhill) repositioning of electric cable trenches, etc… There was a lot of work to do on the half-pipe to make it look like the superpipe in Aspen... but what a spectacular result! Two new snow cannons were also installed at the top of the pipe to ensure optimal snow cover.

The Slopestyle course also needed some redevelopment and rocks needed moving to build a track dedicated to snowmobiles ("uphill road") Installation of new snow cannons at the bottom of the Double M slopes was the finishing touch…

A monster to help the shapers:

For the first edition of the X Games in Tignes in 2010, the shapers had to transport the only machine able to give the superpipe its X-tra large size (a Zaugg Pipe Monster) all the way from the US. Its mission: transform a classic half-pipe into a 7-meter high and 220-meter long superpipe! No simple task!

Since then, Tignes bought the Zaugg Pipe Monster meaning it no longer has to cross the Atlantic when the shapers need to get the pipe back in shape to its XXL dimensions...

With its X-tra large ski area, the Espace Killy (renowned for its exceptional off piste skiing) and excellent infrastructures and services at an altitude of 2,100m, it has everything required to host important international sporting events:

A little history:

1979: 1st freestyle skiing World Cup and 27 of the following annual events
1986: 1st freestyle skiing World Championship
1992: Olympic Games - freestyle skiing competitions (moguls, jumps, etc.)
2004: Tignes Airwaves: biggest event dedicated to alternative sports in Europe

So, back to the present! The dates have at last been confirmed… The next edition of the Winter X Games Tignes will take place on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of March 2013! More than 125 athletes from the four corners of the globe will be in Tignes for this unmissable annual event.

The program:

- Men’s and women’s ski and snowboard SuperPipe
- Men’s and women’s ski and snowboard Slopestyle
- Snowmobile freestyle demonstrations!

Want to get involved?

If being a spectator leaves you feeling a little left out, then the X-Park has been constructed by the X Games’ partners to let everyone have their turn!

After dark!

After such an adrenalin-filled day, no-one wants to go to bed early! The evenings continue with X-Fest entertainment – DJs and other animation organized to keep you up till the early hours!

A little look behind the scenes

Shapers: the snow professionals:

Chris Gunnarson and Franck Wells, from the American company SPT (Snow Park Technology), have studied in much detail, using GPS technologies, what will later become the competition sites. These two professionals have been traveling around the freestyle planet for 15 years with their state-of-the-art equipment, creating competition sites for the world’s top athletes. The X Games have always been their favorite playground...

XXL construction for an XXL event:

Construction work started in July 2009 to make a king-size superpipe out of a classic half-pipe. Three weeks of excavation, one week of drainage, one more week to finalize the shape (50 meters uphill and 20 meters downhill) repositioning of electric cable trenches, etc… There was a lot of work to do on the half-pipe to make it look like the superpipe in Aspen... but what a spectacular result! Two new snow cannons were also installed at the top of the pipe to ensure optimal snow cover.

The Slopestyle course also needed some redevelopment and rocks needed moving to build a track dedicated to snowmobiles ("uphill road") Installation of new snow cannons at the bottom of the Double M slopes was the finishing touch…

A monster to help the shapers:

For the first edition of the X Games in Tignes in 2010, the shapers had to transport the only machine able to give the superpipe its X-tra large size (a Zaugg Pipe Monster) all the way from the US. Its mission: transform a classic half-pipe into a 7-meter high and 220-meter long superpipe! No simple task!

Since then, Tignes bought the Zaugg Pipe Monster meaning it no longer has to cross the Atlantic when the shapers need to get the pipe back in shape to its XXL dimensions...