Aigoual and Aubrac closed, Pyrenees infused with artificial snow: ski resorts facing climate change

Les Angles, le 27 décembre : des pistes tracées grâce à la neige de culture. S.G.

Without artificial snow, no skiing. Faced with climate change, the Aigoual and Aubrac resorts remained closed at the end of the year, while Font-Romeu-Pyrénées 2000 was broke its attendance records the week of Christmas thanks to the equipment in 90% of its area, and favorable temperatures. An increasingly fragile economic and ecological model.

"The resort is closed due to lack of snow" : the home page of the Brameloup ski resort, on the Aubrac (Aveyron), desperately announces the color this Wednesday, January 3. Aigoual, in the Cévennes, was in the same regime, like Laguiole and Brameloup, on the Aubrac, sadly dotted with white patches at the end of the holidays. 

Jacques Alvarez, manager of the Font-Romeu/Pyrénées 2000 station, on the other hand, displays a broad smile: "We broke attendance records for the first week of the Christmas holidays". With 43,000 skiers, and 50,000, within the norm this time, to be confirmed for the next one, the resort is taking advantage of investments launched in 1976 to have, today, "535 snow cannons which cover 90% of the ski area" : "We were able to open 30 slopes, 83% of the area. But without artificial snow, it's difficult today to successfully start and end the season, assures Jacques Alvarez, who benefited from mild temperatures: &quot ;We can snow between – 2°C and + 2°C".

Result: "Global warming does not scare us", assures the Catalan,  while the estate is nevertheless living through the test of rising temperatures and the effects of increasing temperatures. an increasingly perilous economic and ecological equation for the resorts. At neighboring Les Angles, Jérôme Meunier is bound by the same constraints: “We didn't have natural snow for these holidays, but we were able to open on 800 m of altitude difference thanks to our anticipation, we is equipped with 400 cannons.

Until where and until when ? According to a report published last summer, under the direction of Météo-France and Météo-France ;l'Inrae, 89% of stations in the Pyrenees risk lacking natural snow if the planet warms by 2°C. And 98% of stations will be impacted if the increase is + 4°C.

"Last Chance Winter" for Aigoual

The issue is quantified: according to the study, skiing represents 30 billion euros in turnover in Europe, and 120,000 jobs.

"For it to be viable, you have to open 120 days", assures Jacques Alvarez, convinced that the model "can work". For Denis Boissière, co-manager of Alti Aigoual, interviewed by Midi Libre in mid-December, it is on the other hand "the winter of the last chance" , challenged by the lack of snow and the increase in energy bills, while 14,000 packages are needed to ensure balance this year.

Puigmal, the highest resort in the French Pyrenees, put into liquidation on November 30, did not succeed in the challenge of reconversion/diversification. Also deprived of natural snow, Formiguères was only able to open on December 30 thanks to the commissioning of a teleport which brings skiers to the top of the area, hikers and mountain bikers will enjoy outside season of this tool at 12 million euros, a last chance investment.

In a report published in December, the regional chamber of accounts "notes that climatic conditions show that the model based on revenues mainly from alpine skiing is fragile and not sustainable& quot;. In the daily L'Indépendant, Eric Charre, director of Trio, the public company which manages the resorts of Formiguères, Cambre d'Aze and Porté-Puymorens, assures that "diversification is a pillars" of its "business plan for the next thirty years".

Lac des Bouillouses, built in 1908

For Cécile Argentin, president of FNE (France nature environment) Occitanie-Pyrénées, there are limits to "pushing back the impact of climate change as far as possible". 

"Our resort will continue to work over the next thirty-five years", Jérôme Alvarez projects to Font-Romeu-Pyrénées 2000, familiar with the issue of lack of snow, and to controversies. "Controversies have always existed. And since the installation of our first cannons in 1976, it has been a matter of guaranteeing a four-month ski season. 

Here, it's possible thanks to the Bouillouses dam, "built in 1908", where 540,000 m3 purchased from the Midi hydroelectric company can be taken each year to make snow, i.e. & ;quot;1.5 cm to a depth of 18 meters”. 420,000 m3 have been used to date for the current season. 

"No product is added, and the water will be redistributed to the natural environment", assures Jérôme Alvarez, who knows the sensitive subject, in a department which lacks rain, "on the Roussilon plain", he specifies. It also announces a reasonable cost of making snow, now worked by snow groomers equipped with a digital tool that adapts to the terrain as closely as possible: "One euro for one cubic meter". And adds that the station employs 200 direct employees and 1,200 indirect jobs. "One euro of package represents seven euros of impact on the local economy", he adds again.

He only has one wish: to see the 20 cm of snow forecast for this Friday, January 5th. "A few flakes", according to the latest forecasts from Météo France.

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