The La Bresse resort was the only one in the Vosges Massif open at the end of December, while the very mild temperatures led to a glaring lack of snow, forcing neighboring resorts to keep slopes closed.
But according to several environmental associations, "from December 19, piles of snow dumped on the parking lots of the Bresse ski resort" challenged passers-by, because it had "very little snow, a lot of rain" and the temperatures were much higher at 0°C.
Alerted on December 29 by local residents who had seen headlights on a road closed to vehicles in winter, the associations were able to “partially reconstruct the events”, they indicate in a joint press release.
Video.
In Grand Bornand, the snow does not fall from the sky, it arrives by truck
Screenshots from the resort's webcam show that one track had little snow late in the day on December 25, then much more during the night of December 26.
It was groomed at the start of the day and used as a toboggan run.
Photo traps, intended to capture the presence of wolves or lynx, recorded a dump truck passing empty on multiple occasions in the direction of the climb, and then coming back down filled with snow, indicate the associations, including Alsace Nature and Lorraine Nature Environnement.
At least eleven round trips would have been made.
“It’s a grotesque situation,” Fiona Mille, president of Mountain Wilderness, a signatory association, commented to AFP.
“Moving trucks to ski on a strip of snow gives a very bad image of the mountain.
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The operator denies
The CEO of Labellemontagne, which operates the La Bresse ski area, denied to AFP any involvement in this snow transport.
“We are not at all the author of these facts,” insisted Jean-Yves Rémy.
The snow was placed at the location of the toboggan run “either by artificial snow or by local transport”, but not by these practices, he explained, stressing that the station was “very involved » in the diversification of non-skiing practices.
In a “very exceptional” manner, the station can move snow collected during snow removal from its parking lots, but for “surgical” adjustments, specified Jean-Yves Rémy.
“We would never have gone to cross (by truck) an area with high environmental issues.”
The transport of 70 tonnes of snow would also have represented only 150 m2 of additional snow, a paltry total for a resort which has 33 slopes spread over 220 hectares: “We are certainly not going to be at fault for that” .
The ski area extends from 900 m to 1,350 m above sea level.
The report from the Court of Auditors made public on Tuesday highlighted a model of ski resorts “running out of steam” with regard to climate issues.
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The school holidays in zone C (Paris, Créteil, Versailles, Toulouse and Montpellier) begin on Saturday, and for the moment, only the stations of Gérardmer and La Bresse are partially open in the Vosges Massif.