Major French Ski Resort Closes for Good

Alpe du Grand Serre, a French ski resort, has closed permanently ahead of the 2024-2025 ski season as fellow European destinations tangle with ongoing climate change impacts.

The Guardian reports that the decision stemmed from Alpe du Grand Serre lacking enough funds to become a year-round destination. Since 2021, nearly 3 million euros have been funneled into the creation of hiking and biking trails at the resort, but local councilors decided that they couldn’t continue paying the high price associated with these improvements. The project was two years from completion.

Alpe du Grand Serre’s closure threatens 200 jobs, leaving local community members dependent on the resort in a lurch. “We still have loans to pay as we’ve only been here four years. Who will pay them? Our lives have been ruined. That’s what is going to happen to us,” the owner of a grocery store in nearby La Morte told The Guardian .

Coraline Saurat, president of the local authority, questioned the feasibility of ski resorts operating without state backing. “The state is not giving us any concrete support for the future of the resort or for a transitional operation,” said Saurat. “Is it up to local authorities to run the stations? That’s a real question today. I don’t think we’re up to the challenges we represent.”

Two fundraisers have been launched to preserve Alpe du Grand Serre. One accepts private donations, and the other accepts corporate donations.

The financial quandary Alpe du Grand Serre faced isn’t unique. According to Euronews , low and mid-altitude resorts throughout Europe have been forced to invest in all-season attractions as snowfall becomes less reliable. Some, like Alpe du Grand Serre, aren't surviving this transition.

According to geographer Pierre-Alexandre Metral of Grenoble University, 180 French ski resorts have closed due to climate change, poor management, and the inability to compete with larger destinations since the 1970s. In 2023, La Sambuy, another French resort, decided to close and dismantle its lifts. Last month, Skilift Schratten Flühli, a small ski area with two lifts in the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland, announced that it would cease operations .

Reduced snowfall and ski days is the primary crux associated with climate change. A study published in Nature Climate Change last year found that of 2,234 European ski resorts surveyed, between 53% and 98% could face snow supply challenges without snowmaking, depending on the amount of global warming.

The percentage range of impacted resorts decreases to 27% and 71% with snowmaking, although an increased reliance on snowmaking poses another challenge: boosted demand for water and electricity, the latter of which can contribute to carbon emissions.

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