The summer ski season only lasted two months.
The Grande Motte glacier in Tignes (Savoie) had to close this Friday a month in advance because "the melting is increasing", reports France Bleu Pays de Savoie.
Initially the Tignes glacier, which opened on June 18, was to remain open for 6 weeks until July 31.
“The Grande Motte glacier has, in fact, slopes at an altitude of almost 3000 m.
The latter are accessible even during the months of June and July,” boasts the station’s website.
But the conditions are no longer met.
"It's really atypical"
“The melting is accentuated, we have seen it throughout this winter, we have had half as much snow as usual, the parts of ice are visible today, generally these are conditions that we find three or four weeks later in the season, we have about a month ahead in terms of melting, and in terms of nature in general, the floral species that appeared at the end of July, we saw them from the end of June” , according to Frédéric Bonnevie, the director of the Tignes piste management, quoted by the radio.
Read alsoGlobal warming: a resort in the Vosges anticipates a future without snow
The reason ?
Global warming, advances Frédéric Bonnevie: "It's really atypical, we see that the climate transition is well and truly in place, we have to adapt, no relentlessness, we did that as long as it was feasible, but there, there are storms every night, the degradation of the glacier is taking place little by little, that's why we made this decision, it's totally accepted”.
Its neighbour, the Pisaillas glacier in Val d'Isère, remained closed for lack of snow.
