Ask the best snowboarders, or those most-traveled, to name a world-famous ski resort that has done the most to accommodate snowboarders. A frequent answer will be Tignes in eastern France.

Tignes, at its peak, is more than two miles above sea level. The lift is at 3,350 meters, which translates to about 11,000 feet. This has led Tignes patrons to describe "the closest slopes to the sun. At this height, combined with the effect of the Grande Motte Glacier, the climate remains so cold that there is deep light powder available for virtually the entire year. Another statement that snowboarders use to describe Tignes is as follows: "When it snows elsewhere in the Alps, it dumps on Tignes."

Many top resorts are known to accommodate only the highest caliber snowboarders and skiers. Tignes prides itself on providing vacation opportunities and fun for snowboarders of any level, down to beginners. Lessons for beginners are offered in English.

Still, for the snowboarding maven, Tignes is it. There are more than 180 miles of pistes available at Tignes, and so many off-piste places that Tignes annually hosts the Free Ride World Tour.

The Tignes area is so vast and high that freestyle snowboarders may take a lift and ride straight to a chalet, to the Tignes resort center or to one of 20 mountain restaurants. Runs are as long as 9 miles.

For snowboarders who wish to stay closer together, Tignes offers a pair of pipes and a vast terrain park.

In fact, expect some company regardless. Tignes possesses 47 lifts that are able to handle 75,000 boarders and skiers per hour. Just to make sure the slopes remain lightly powered, more than 200 snow cannons are at work at Tignes.

Tignes is so popular, in fact, that there are daily 85-mile bus runs from Geneva International Airport in Switzerland.

Sources:
http://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/France/Tignes.html
http://www.alpineelements.co.uk/snowboarding-holidays/resort/tignes.html
http://www.snowboardingholidays.net/location.php?LocationID=1266
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/snowandski/4030838/Snowboarding-the-worlds-best-resorts.html