Invited on franceinfo on Tuesday, the PS president of the Pyrénées-Orientales departmental council, Hermeline Malherbe, believes that “the survival” of ski resorts “goes through the diversification and pooling of stakeholders.”
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The sustainability of many ski resorts is compromised in the medium term, warns the Court of Auditors in a report published on Tuesday February 6. She points in particular to climate change, which is leading to a reduction in the thickness of the snow cover which will melt by 10 to 40% in mid-mountains by 2050.
“Survival requires diversification and pooling of actors”, estimates, on franceinfo, Hermeline Malherbe, PS president of the Pyrénées-Orientales departmental council. For the president of TRIO Pyrénées (bringing together the resorts of Formiguères, Espace Cambre d’Aze and Porté-Puymorens) “we are no longer in the skiing air but in the mountain air”.
Summer sledding, hiking, mountain biking
Hermeline Malherbe specifies that when resorts invest in a ski lift, it must serve both winter and summer. “so we work on activities like summer tobogganing, hiking, mountain biking.” She adds : “Access to summits via a ski lift is more eco-friendly than going there in your own car.”
The difficulty according to the president of the departmental council was to “convince all-ski players to move towards something else”but it is now “triggered”although the process may take time.
The Court of Auditors proposes to charge more for ski lifts to finance this diversification. That “is one of the solutions to be studied” according to Hermeline Malherbe. It underlines the importance of sharing finances, which must be done by users, “whether they are skiers or engaged in outdoor activities”.
