It’s unprecedented. In Val d’Isere, the Pisaillas glacier, which was to open this Saturday, remains closed for the whole summer.
The decision was taken on Wednesday by the municipalities of Val d’Isère and Bonneval-sur-Arc. Lack of snow made skiing conditions too dangerous. This situation is due to a winter with little snowfall on the glacier, and a month of May that was far too hot. “We had a snow deficit on this really precise part all winter. The glacier took a lot of wind. And the month of May was historically hot”explains Cédric Bonnevie, the director of the Val d’Isère piste management.
The municipality is saddened by this situation, which had never happened before. “This glacier has always been open. At one time, it even opened until mid-August”, says Patrick Martin, the mayor of Val d’Isère. According to his figuresthe glacier hosted up to 700 people a day Last year.
The first affected are the clubs, which must therefore go to train elsewhereand in particular the Val d’Isère sports club, used to the Pisaillas glacier. “We were careful, since the beginning of May we were watching the weather conditions, so we already had plans B. We took options on Italy because the glacier of Les Deux Alpes is already very full”explains its director Ingrid Jacquemod.
Faced with global warming and melting glaciers, mountain stakeholders have no choice but to adapt. One of the solutions envisaged by Val d’Isère is to extend ski season to Mayafter the station closed at the end of April, so that the clubs can still train for a few weeks.