ChrisC
Well-known member
James might want to accelerate his less touristic Alps ski resort visits since now even large to mid-sized resorts are beginning to be shut down versus continuous financial losses and government subsidies.
Alpe du Grand Serre has an almost 3000 ft vertical drop, a favorable N-to-NE exposure, an altitude similar to French ski heavyweights such as La Clusaz, Ported du Soliel (Morzine, Les Gets, Avoriaz, etc.), and Megeve, and is only 45 km/1 hour from Grenoble (or Alpe d'Huez/Les Deux Alpes).
Unfortunate closure.
Piste Map - Alpe du Grand Serre
Large French ski resort to close as snow shortage leaves it struggling to build a future
Alpe du Grand Serre in France's Isère region has seen snowfalls decline in recent years.
ParisCNN —
A large French alpine ski resort faced with declining snowfalls is to close after it failed to find funds to turn its pistes into year-round attractions.
The Alpe du Grand Serre ski station in southeastern France’s Isère region will not reopen this year after a vote by its local council to halt funding for plans to end reliance on winter sports, the council’s president told radio station France Bleu.
The resort, near the higher altitude Alpe d’Huez, is one of several lower lying ski destinations in Europe to face an existential reckoning over the past couple of years as the climate crisis, driven by humans burning fossil fuels, brings warmer, shorter winters.
Faced with steadily decreasing snowfalls, the town had championed a plan, Alpe de Grande Serre 2050, which had aimed to replace ski lifts and improve the station for both summer and winter sports.
“The closure of the station would be truly disastrous for the region,” Marie-Noëlle Battistel, member of parliament for the Isère region, said on local television station Télégrenoble last Friday, a day before the vote.
“There are nearly 200 jobs that depend on [it]. Closing a station of this importance sends a disastrous signal on a national scale.”
On Saturday, 47 members of Matheysine council, which includes the resort, voted to discontinue a contract with ski lift operator SATA Group. Only 12 members voted to keep operations running, according to numbers obtained from the council by CNN.
Alpe du Grand Serre has an almost 3000 ft vertical drop, a favorable N-to-NE exposure, an altitude similar to French ski heavyweights such as La Clusaz, Ported du Soliel (Morzine, Les Gets, Avoriaz, etc.), and Megeve, and is only 45 km/1 hour from Grenoble (or Alpe d'Huez/Les Deux Alpes).
Unfortunate closure.
Piste Map - Alpe du Grand Serre
Large French ski resort to close as snow shortage leaves it struggling to build a future
Alpe du Grand Serre in France's Isère region has seen snowfalls decline in recent years.
ParisCNN —
A large French alpine ski resort faced with declining snowfalls is to close after it failed to find funds to turn its pistes into year-round attractions.
The Alpe du Grand Serre ski station in southeastern France’s Isère region will not reopen this year after a vote by its local council to halt funding for plans to end reliance on winter sports, the council’s president told radio station France Bleu.
The resort, near the higher altitude Alpe d’Huez, is one of several lower lying ski destinations in Europe to face an existential reckoning over the past couple of years as the climate crisis, driven by humans burning fossil fuels, brings warmer, shorter winters.
Faced with steadily decreasing snowfalls, the town had championed a plan, Alpe de Grande Serre 2050, which had aimed to replace ski lifts and improve the station for both summer and winter sports.
“The closure of the station would be truly disastrous for the region,” Marie-Noëlle Battistel, member of parliament for the Isère region, said on local television station Télégrenoble last Friday, a day before the vote.
“There are nearly 200 jobs that depend on [it]. Closing a station of this importance sends a disastrous signal on a national scale.”
On Saturday, 47 members of Matheysine council, which includes the resort, voted to discontinue a contract with ski lift operator SATA Group. Only 12 members voted to keep operations running, according to numbers obtained from the council by CNN.