The ski site was originally built in 1964 to help kids from the village learn how to ski somewhere close to home before they tackled more challenging trails all around the Alps.
While it once enjoyed regular winter snowfalls, things had deteriorated in recent decades. It’s a situation currently being experienced in other French and European ski resorts as climate crisis is blamed for shortening ski seasons and reducing mountain snow and glacier cover.
“The lack of snow meant that the last time it ran was about 15 years ago and for just one weekend. Since then, it has not been used again,” Beauzon said of his village’s ski lift.
But things were not always like this, Beauzon remembers his youth, when activities were organized by the village during wintertime for kids at the ski site.
The local sport association would hold competitions at weekends, and open fun events for all comers on Wednesdays, followed by prize ceremonies in the village’s center square.
“Everybody could win a prize, all you had to do was get to the bottom, regardless of how,” Beauzon said.
The prizes were usually modest – a pair of socks, a chocolate bar – yet are joyful, he said. At the end of each skiing season, trophies would be awarded to the village’s strongest skiers.
http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/french-ski-resort-dismantled-ski-lift-scn/index.html
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