REPORTING. In the La Grave station, the cable car project leaves no one cold

At the start of the winter season in the Alps, the sound of a drill escapes from the hangar of the “Téléphériques des glaciers de la Meije”. It contrasts with the silence of the end of November in La Grave (Hautes-Alpes) where almost all the businesses are still closed. This village nestled at an altitude of 1,500 meters, recognized worldwide for off-piste skiing and mountaineering in high season, is about to wake up with the arrival of the first snowflakes. Up there, at 3,173 meters, its cable car offers a sumptuous view of the white-covered Meije peak, its steep walls and the Girose glacier.

This still houses an old ski lift, commonly called “tire-fesses” in the valley. It tows skiers up to 3,550 meters and dominates the Ecrins massif. It runs on fuel oil and accelerates the degradation of the glacier, because the resort must groom a slope and plug crevasses to allow skiers to use it. Here, everyone has agreed on one point for years: the installation is an ecological disaster that must be dismantled. To replace it with a third section of cable car which would extend the current installation or with nothing at all? This is the dilemma that divides the 500 inhabitants of the village.

“Without this cable car, it’s death”

The town hall, the region and the Tourist Development Company of La Grave (SATG), which operates the area thanks to a public service delegation, judge that this extension of the cable car, which employs 30 people, is an essential condition for survival. of the station, the village and therefore local jobs. “Without that, it’s the death of La Grave. Businesses will close and people will go to work in town”warns the mayor, Jean-Pierre Pic (without label).

While the cost of the project is around 14 million euros (including 3.5 million of public money according to SATG), the company estimates that this extension is necessary to ensure the profitability of the cable car and fill its deficit, in addition to ‘be more respectful of the environment. “We are going to replace an old ski lift with a cable car that runs on electricity, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, touch less of the glacier, assures David Le Guen, commercial director of the cable car. So yes, doing nothing would have less impactbut [dans ce cas] In five or ten years, we’ll close.”

This is not the opinion of the opponents of this extension project. The La Grave differently collective brings together residents of the village and elsewhere. He questions the economic profitability and tourist interest of the third section after having commissioned its own economic study on the subject (in PDF). He especially denounces A project which “ignore climate change” and is moved by the development of the high mountains. The collective wants to make the Girose glacier a sanctuary by limiting flows there, while 65,000 people use the cable car each year, according to the impact study. “We would like La Grave to become an example, to show that we no longer need to touch a glacier and that we can do tourism differently”explain Thierry Favre and Aurélien Routens, members of the collective and residents of the village, in unison.

Experts’ fears

La Grave otherwise and several environmental associations and NGOs have filed appeals – rejected in summary proceedings, but not yet judged on the merits – to suspend the preparatory work before winter and cancel the third section project, the commissioning of which is normally scheduled for December 2025.

Opponents rely in particular on the work of researchers, some of whom have expressed their fear. The scientific council of the Ecrins national park has issued an unfavorable advisory opinion for the third section while two CNRS experts are concerned about the presence of the Dauphiné androsace, a protected plant, near the installation of the only pylon of the cable car which will be built on a rocky part (in addition to the arrival station at 3,550 meters), as reported by France 3. The public inquiry is in favor of the installation, but calls for vigilance on the subject.

This cable car project actually opposes two visions of the mountain at a time of global warming caused by human activities. The town hall and the operator say they anticipate the end of skiing and wish to extend the tourist season beyond winter and summer. They want to develop contemplative tourism by offering onlookers the chance to climb up to 3,550 meters with the cable car, which is not currently the case with the ski lift. Opponents denounce a headlong rush and a desire to focus again and again on skiing. They consider that this practice generates mass tourism with significant flows of cars and contributes to the real estate development of the mountain.

The specter of the ski factory

Beyond the glacier, whose melting appears inevitable, the cable car raises fears of a larger project which would cause La Grave, a small village in the Romanche valley, to lose its authenticity and wild character. Its opponents point out that the Alpe d’Huez Tourist Development Company (Sata), which 100% controls SATG, successively took over the operation of La Grave (2017) and Deux Alpes (2020), the immense resort which is located on the other side of the Girose glacier. Enough to resurrect the connection between the small off-piste resort and the neighboring ski factory and make La Grave an annex of the Deux Alpes, as some fear? “It’s a myth, an irrational fear, a pretext, sweeps away David Le Guen. We are fighting so that La Grave continues to be La Grave.”

To make the new installation profitable, the “anti-cable car” fear a development of local real estate. But not enough to foresee the appearance of high-end residences, or even large hotel complexes, according to the mayor. “Our opponents play on disinformation. Yes, there will be some construction. But if we make 250 more beds, it’s the end of the world.”he assures.

In this mecca of mountaineering, where some big names were already competing for the summits from the middle of the 19th century, the guides office high mountain, placed a few meters from the foot of the cable car, is also crossed by debate. Not decided at this stage. LThe opinion written by the 35 guides opposes the excesses which could be associated with this extension of the cable car, such as the connection with the Deux Alpes or the “development of summer skiing”. “We have not found a democratic solution, specifies Xavier Cointeaux, co-president of the La Grave office. There are disagreements and everyone has their own way of thinking, but we still manage to talk.”

“Friction but no trench warfare”

Speaking seems more and more difficult in the village, where some accuse others of not being from the area, therefore illegitimate for protesting. “There is friction at the bar and in the shops, but it’s not trench warfare”, tempers Jean-Pierre Pic. However, the climate gradually deteriorated until October 7, when activists from the Earth Uprisings, otherwise linked to La Grave, climbed onto the Girose glacier to set up a zone to defend (ZAD) and denounce “the artificialization of the mountain”. The action lasted several days, as reported by France 3. Some residents and merchants, irritated by the mobilization of these activists from elsewhere, responded with a demonstration of support for the cable car. Since then, the dialogue seems to have broken down.

The La Grave Otherwise collective, which is calling for a new public consultation, is already warning that a ZAD will be reconstituted after the winter if the work continues. “Whether the third section happens or not, I can’t wait to move on”, admits Xavier Cointeaux. In La Grave, the struggle is not new. The oldest remember that in 1976, a few months after the first section was put into service, the cable car station was targeted by plastic bombing.