The French resort has set ambitious goals to reduce its ecological footprint. Solar panels, wind turbines, slowing of the speed of lifts at off-peak hours, diversification of activities… This British journalist is seduced by what she has seen on the spot.
“Studies estimate that due to climate change skiing as we know it will only be possible here until 2050.” These are not the devastated words of an ecologist, but those of Patrick Arnaud, the director of the Serre Chevalier ski area, in the Hautes-Alpes department. Listening to it in a setting of snowy peaks, with my 16-month-old son on my knees, this deadline suddenly seemed very close to me.
Is going skiing good for the environment? You can be pretty sure the answer will be a resounding no. But it’s not inevitable, as I was able to discover in Serre Chevalier.
It all started by ditching the plane in favor of the train. My family vacation started off green, as we left London on the Eurostar (according to the rail company, you can take the Eurostar 13 times before emitting as much CO2 as a flight from London to Grenoble or Lyons). In the process, we boarded an SNCF night train, and the next morning we woke up in our little compartment facing great alpine panoramas.
So we arrived by train in Briançon, where a bus was waiting for us bound for Chantemerle, in the heart of the valley. Serre Chevalier was to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the resort in 2021, but when the Covid crisis broke out and prevented tourists from coming, the estate managers decided to accelerate their ecological transition instead of feeling sorry for themselves. The four municipalities [qui composent la station de Serre Chevalier] – Briançon, Chantemerle, Villeneuve-la-Salle and Le Monêtier-les-Bains – had already committed to reducing their carbon footprint by 2030, but they finally decided to produce 30% of their electricity themselves. ‘by 2023.
“Everyone said we were crazy, that it was impossible, says patrickbut we are well on our way to surpassing that goal.”
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After leaving my little boy at daycare, I went to take the ski lifts. Patrick explained to me that ski resorts were the optimal place to switch to renewable energies. There are 300 days of sunshine a year, a lot of wind at high altitude, and the rivers equipped for snow cannons can produce hydroelectricity (which here represents 80% of renewable energy): they
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Phoebe Smith
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