The Tignes ski lodge that guests can’t get enough of: This Dragon's lair is one to linger in

There we were, three hours into the schlep up to Tignes by bus from Geneva, when the phone rang. It was the ski hire shop inquiring about the journey. “I hear you are a bit delayed. Just let us know when you are ready to pick up your kit and we'll send the van round to collect you from the lodge.”

That was the first hint that there might be something different about this trip. For a family like ours, that indulges the communal passion for skiing with a curfew on the credit card, and cobbling together the component elements of holidays independent of tour operators, a call of this nature was something of a surprise. It would not be the last.

I happened across the Dragon Lodge via a deep trawl of Google. It turned out to be something of a spiritual home for Tignes seasonaires, at the heart of the largely British community of itinerants that migrate to this part of the Haute Savoie when the clocks change. More than once, we were joined for dinner by one slope-style guru or another.

Meanwhile the staff – manager Will Hughes, chef Dave White and kitchen domestique Frankie Melgund – presented a curious amalgam of eccentricity, commitment and longing. The tone is set by 39-year-old Will, a figure of almost legendary status in Tignes and the wider snowboarding community. He counts among his accomplishments a past as a semi-pro boarder. He and his colleagues share a love of the snow, a desire to be anywhere but the middle of the road, and an intuitive grasp of the requirements when a group of strangers fork out to enter their environment for one week a year.

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I have done my share of chalet holidays in the Alps. My first, in Kitzbühel during the late 1980s boom, was via a south London outfit called Bladon Lines, whose idea of chalet hosting was to send out a posse of girls from the Prue Leith school serving up industry standards with bows on their shoes.

What most of these packaged “homes from home” lacked was authenticity. You could never quite escape the reality of the transaction. In Tignes, there is no sense that the Dragon Lodge is actually being run as a business. It's like entering the home of friends, and that is a skill that develops over time, and only when the host has a genuine attachment to his post.

Handily placed a short walk from the Maison de Tignes, the central hub of all things Le Lac (the main village), the property is leased by John Bassett, a Cardiff-born, Brighton-dwelling member of the snowboarding priesthood entering his 16th season as an independent operator. It began as an apartment in neighbouring Val Claret and is now in its third home, a traditional three-storey building with marvellous views across to the Tovière lift.

Other, finer creations have risen around it, most notably three stunning numbers directly behind, which feature the standard accoutrements that attend wealth these days: namely, outdoor hot tubs. Panoramic windows are intended not only to permit guests to see out but to allow those on the other side to see in. Interiors dressed by Liberty with original art and subtle lighting, are, of course, seductive, but not in my view as persuasive as the rustic embellishments of the lodge.

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Our party of four was joined by a family of five, a group of three professional women, a 30-something couple and a 23-year-old boarder from Bristol. It was an eclectic mix with no guarantee of gelling, but it did. This was in part a result of the effort expended in researching the place online. The website is at best basic and there is no great desire to market the product. And that is the Lodge's appeal. It's a secret that endures via the cult of repeat guests, more than 60 per cent are returnees.

If a London banker elects to book eight months in advance to secure a bunk bed in the eaves when he might, on a good year, stretch to the grand palaces behind, then there must be something about the place. It wouldn't be the breakfasts, which are hearty but rudimentary; nor the afternoon teas, which happen (but not always) at the same time. It might, however, have something to do with Dave's dinners, as good as any served in the Alps.

Dave, 27, is a career thrill-seeker, experimental in the kitchen and bonkers on the snow. He has overseen projects for high-end brands such as Mark Warner, worked super yachts and hotels in Corsica, and was the 2014 slope-style ski champion of Great Britain. As well as executing a back flip on his second run on skis, Dave counts among his finest achievements his appearance on MasterChef: The Professionals, which ended with a bone marrow main course.

Frankie is a 30-something teenager in the final stages of qualifying as a ski/snowboard instructor. As a relative of mountaineer George Mallory on his mother's side, you might conclude that Frankie is following genetic prompts. If so Mallory must have been the most modest, polite, considerate fellow to tackle the world's highest peak. One hopes for a better ending to Frankie's adventure. Mallory was lost to the world for 75 years, his preserved remains discovered in 1999 on Everest's North Ridge.

The Alpine peaks that rise above Tignes are comparatively inviting. The Grand Motte glacier continues its retreat (more than 30 per cent has degraded since the 1960s), although Tignes is the only ski resort in the world with a Green Globe certificate, awarded this year for its commitment to the environment. More than 100 lift towers have been removed and slopes have been planted with more grass to integrate the ski runs in winter. There is still no finer high- altitude playground in Europe.

Considering we timed our arrival with the worst early season snow since records began, the vast Espace Killy terrain stood up better than it might. The slopes above Bellevarde and Le Fornet in Val d'Isère served us particularly well. The paucity of snow delayed the opening of lower resorts such as Morzine and Les Gets.

Meanwhile, skiers in La Plagne were grateful for the proximity to Tignes. While the pisteurs-come-alchemists – aided by more than 300 snow cannons – do a marvellous job in keeping the wheels of the resort turning, some runs off Tovière down to the Marmotte lift that connects with Val d'Isère were beyond use.

There was drama, too, including a snowmobile, called to bring my daughter off the mountain on a stretcher. Elizabeth, a capable skier, fell foul of that last run of the day, twisting her knee on the Solaise piste.

And then there was the great non-departure. Weather chaos touched more than 20,000 people on changeover day. The road between Tignes and Bourg St-Maurice was closed, bequeathing a frantic Saturday rearranging transfers and flights. There was not a bed to be had in Tignes, except at an emergency shelter hastily convened. “Don't worry,” Will said. “We'll work something out.” And he did, at the lodge.

Getting there

Tignes can be accessed from Lyon or Geneva, served by a wide range of airlines from the UK.

Transfers from Geneva start at £76 return via BensBus.co.uk.

Alternatively for those with more time, trains run from London St Pancras to Bourg St Maurice (03432 186 186; eurostar.com), with regular local bus transfer to Tignes Le Lac.

Staying there

Dragon Lodge opens 28 November (0870 068 0668; dragonlodge.com). A week costs from £290pp half board, rising to £590 in peak weeks.

Skiing there

Ski and boarding lessons are offered by British instructors at Ultimate Snowsports (07772 690746; ultimatesnowsports.com). A six-day Espace Killy ski pass costs €270 (£191) or €228 for Tignes only (tignes.net).