This is the shocking news of this Friday, October 5 evening. At the end of a vote that we knew was crucial, the Community of Commune of Matheysine approved by 48 votes to 12 the closure of the Alpe du Grand Serre ski resort.
Created in 1938 with a first ski lift and the Hôtel du Grand Serre which would later give its name to the resort, the La Morte resort has for 85 years seen generations of skiers pass by on the slopes of the Grand Serre mountain. In 1939, Émile Allais, on tour in the French Alps, described the most recent of the Dauphiné resorts as “very beautiful resort with splendid slopes in fresh, powdery and excellent snow, lending itself admirably to large turns flowed at speed“. For those who have skied the slopes of the valleys, the parche or the cloutons, we can say that our friendly national champion was right!
However, the resort had suffered from a chronic deficit for many years, and the difficulties had increased with the low snowfall at low altitudes over the last two winters.
The “four seasons” reconversion project which included an ambitious valley cable car/elevator project, with the objective of moving the snow front to higher altitudes, will therefore not see the light of day. A continuation of the activity would also have involved a management delegation to SATA, which was the only candidate for the resumption of management of the ski lifts (SATA also manages the areas of Alpe d’Huez, Les Deux Alps and Grave).
This is sad news, first of all for all the residents and people involved economically in the Alpe du Grand Serre territory, it is of them that we obviously think first, but also for the Isère skiers, who see an option that had no shortage of advantages disappear.
Many questions remain regarding the concrete implementation of this end of activity, the dismantling of the installations, the future of the territory but also of the cross-country ski area.
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