Although you now have to pay to walk on the groomed trails of the Clarée valley, the obligation is only timidly announced. Materialized by a simple piece of laminated A4 paper and stapled to the trackers' cabin at the Névache campsite, the communication surrounding the new pricing is not immediately obvious. And it is surely voluntary; time for those practicing Nordic activities (excluding cross-country skiing) to get used to the idea of paying and understand the benefits. If the Mountain law has introduced “the cross-country ski fee” into the customs of cross-country skiers since 1985… for hikers on the other hand, the “escape pass” is completely new. The dog walker can rest assured, no municipal agent in charge of the ski area is going to pursue him with a ticket in hand. But he could be asked to change route, out of respect for other users and out of respect for the snow groomers.
Everyone in the same boat
With this new commercial product, Nordic Alpes du Sud and the partner municipalities wish above all to replenish their coffers and give preference to those practicing Nordic activities who need a prepared slope to indulge in their leisure activities (or their work). as part of an outing supervised by a professional). “That seems logical to me. There is no reason why founders should be the only ones to pay for everyone. From the moment we take a marked, groomed, secure route, this means that there are production costs, operating costs, investments. It’s not free,” observes Marc, a cross-country skier from Névach who takes advantage of his retirement to slide almost every morning during the winter. And if Marc wants to share the trail with fatbikes or with hikers, he also and above all wants to share the commissioning costs.
“I don’t agree. Everything pays off. Sledding and snowshoeing are part of our life in the mountains, part of our heritage. We're not going to pay for everything, all the time. What are our taxes used for? », asks Michelle, who came specially from Briançon to enjoy walks at the bottom of the valley in Clarée with her grandchildren and who cannot imagine for a moment having to contribute “for everything and anything. That’s enough.”
