La Plagne acknowledges the consequences of global warming and reconfigures its altitude area.
The resort of Tarentaise, which welcomes an average of 2.5 million skiers, opens on December 10 and for the last winter the flanks of the Chiaupe glacier.
The major landslides that occurred there this fall have confirmed the members of the Société d'Aménagement de La Plagne (SAP) in a choice that is both strong and symbolic: to abandon the exploitation of the historic glacier zone.
It will be "returned entirely to nature" after dismantling the ski lifts (3250 m) from next summer.
A decision all the same experienced as a heartbreak by the actors of the Savoyard resort and the locals, attached to these thousand-year-old giants intimately linked to the history of the Tarentaise and its development.
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End of an era
The Chiaupe glacier.
At the top and on the far right, the Glacier chairlift, one of the three ski lifts that will be dismantled.
Olivier Allamand
"It hurts, but it was irremediable"
testifies, resigned, Stephan Malignon.
A ski instructor and mountain guide, this resident of the valley attached to this natural heritage saw the glacier melt at breakneck speed.
“I remember teaching skiing up there in the summer!
When I talk about it, it seems far away, yet it was barely 20 years ago, ”
explains the 52-year-old Savoyard.
Before testifying:
“when you live in the mountains, global warming is very concrete.
Indeed, like all the white giants of the world, the masses of ice formed by the settling of the layers of accumulated snow are in sharp decline
,
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The current gondola would reach 50 years of operation and the Société d'Aménagement de la Plagne had to decide on its renewal.
But the examination of the conditions revealed that the pure and simple replacement would have required titanic work with, as explained by the general manager, Nicolas Provendie:
"a very strong impact on the site and no real guarantee of result in the face of a geological evolution that we do not control”
.
The decision to modify the route of the second section of the apparatus and to abandon part of the ski area was therefore taken.
The historic area of the glacier will be entirely rid of its ski lifts: 9 hectares will thus be, as the director likes to imagine:
“returned to nature”.
Concretely 9 buildings, 2430 m of aerial cables and 35 pylons and poles which will be dismantled.
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Our guide
Towards a
"
new experience
"
of high altitude
The future "Glacier Gondola", shifted to the left compared to the current one, will therefore arrive on the Bellecôte ridge, 200 m lower (3000 m), overlooking the eponymous north face and well known to outdoor experts. -track.
Above all, it will offer direct access to the red La Combe run, which is more accessible for skiers than the only current run at the summit, which is reputed to be very technical.
If the ski area is slightly amputated from 3 slopes, the new panorama will be greatly increased: Mont-Blanc, Mont Pourri, Beaufortain and a beautiful part of the Vanoise will be revealed to the public of skiers and pedestrians, winter and summer.
The travel time on the two sections will also be halved.
The first snows of this end of autumn stopped the work whose overall envelope flirts with 30 million euros.
They will resume in the spring.
After a last lap on the glacier.
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