2023-06-26 18:19:00
Next season’s skiers will be surprised. The defenders of Isola 2000 have been waiting for this for more than ten years: work. The legal standoff with former ski resort manager Riccobono, which froze the scene for a decade, ended last year.
The mixed syndicate of Mercantour resorts is officially the owner of the snow front and can do with it what it wants. What it does not deny: its president, Christian Estrosi announced at the end of 2021 an investment plan of 50 million euros. The first excavator hits started at the end of the season.
What is this 50 million euro plan?
Objective: to modernize and ensure the production of snow and therefore the operation of the resort.
This five-year program of 50 million euros is “the continuity” investments made since the creation of the joint syndicate, continues Christian Estrosi, who feels reinforced in his choices by the explosion in demand. “This year we achieved the highest turnover since the creation of the joint syndicate in 2001, with 8.5 million euros in package sales” in Auron and Isola 2000.
What works are scheduled?
Work began in April and is due to be completed in October. (Photo AL)
Between now and 2027, the restructuring of the ski area includes: an overhaul of the snow front, development of the summer/winter fun offer in the Belvédère-Roubines sector with a four-season luge, replacement of the Pelevos gondola by a six-seater chairlift and the creation of a second hillside reservoir, in order to pass “from 75 to 90% guaranteed snow cover”develops Christian Estrosi.
What work has started?
A first phase of work began in April: that of the redevelopment of the Isola 2000 snow front.
With in particular an idea in mind: to put a little order. “There will be a space where beginners will be more comfortable, explains Stéphane Hansen, project manager. Before, there was only one track, where good skiers crossed paths with beginners. Now there will be three different spaces.”
“It will allow to manage the flows, continues the mayor of Isola, Mylène Agnelli. Before, everyone was going all the way down.”
In concrete terms, the ski lift and the short snow front ski lift have been removed (the long snow front ski lift has been retained). And two covered carpets which will act as ski lifts: one of 50 meters (with a flow of one thousand people per hour) and another of 190 meters (with a flow of 1,300 people per hour). In addition, the nine snow cannons are replaced by as many others, “more productive and less water-consuming”.
What changes for the coming season?
The prime contractor ensures that this first tranche will be delivered in October. Next season’s skiers will therefore be entitled to a brand new snow front. And covered carpets, equipped with LEDs, should play a central role: unlike ski lifts, they are allowed to turn at night. “It will allow us to develop activities in the evening, such as tobogganing, welcomes the mayor. Not every evening, but on Saturdays or public holidays. They will also be accessible to bicycles in the summer..
Where is the place?
In parallel with the work carried out by the mixed syndicate, another project was launched following the end of the legal standoff: the renovation of the Place d’Isola 2000. The final work will take place in 2024.
But changes are expected this winter. “We have removed the pylons and we will install a temporary tourist office, explains Mylène Agnelli. The current one is in the galleries, and does not have access for people with reduced mobility. Until now, the square was a place where people unloaded their equipment, while everyone passes by. The idea is for her to be pretty.”
“If there is no more snow, there will be water”
90 million euros since 2003, to which is added this new envelope of 50 million euros, just on Isola 2000. Is these public investments carried out by the joint syndicate of Mercantour resorts legitimate, when climate change questions the snow cover?
This is particularly what questions Climsnow, a very thorough study on the snow cover of the resorts of the Southern Alps for the 2035-2050 horizons, commissioned by the Southern region, of which Christian Estrosi is deputy president. A very meticulous scientific work, which identified the prospects on a case-by-case basis. The authors underlined in our columns that what was a source of concern, Isola 2000, was its snow front, at low altitude and facing south.
Christian Estrosi defends ski resorts as engines of mountain activity in the Nice Metropolis. And maintains that the demand has never been stronger. The forecasts ? “I don’t have a snow problem here. Today there is snow. And all these investments will be amortized before the day when there will be no more snow. And if ever there is no more snow, there will be water”. Hear: to produce artificial snow.
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