Two mountain resorts in the French Alps: Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse in the Isère and La Sambuy in Haute-Savoie are undergoing removal of their ski lifts, sparking protests, legal disputes, and heated debate about the future of small-scale skiing in a warming climate.
At Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse, the community council of Cœur de Chartreuse has approved the removal of several lifts, including the Essarts gondola and the Fraisses and Charmant Som chairlifts. The most recent chairlift, the Combe de l’Ours, installed in 2006 but closed since winter 2023, was sold for €1.6 million to the larger Val-Cenis resort in Savoie, which outbid the original lift manufacturer Poma. While dismantling is expected to cost the intercommunal authority nearly €246,000, recycling and resale of materials will offset part of the expense.
Back in 2006 the Combe de l’Ours became a local cause celebre. The department didn't want to finance the lift due to fears about climate change in the Chartreuse mountains. Poma finally offered the six seater high speed chairlift for € 4.5 million, the price of a four seater fixed lift at the time. The new lift had the advantage of needing less maintenance than a four seater fixed chair. The lift enabled a new, higher entrance to the ski area with more reliable snow cover than the center of the village. However with a costly gondola lift to maintain as well as the new chair St Pierre's aspirations were beyond its means. The village is situated at just 900 meters altitude. A series of poor winters left the local community in financially difficulty and Covid was the final nail in the coffin. Other small ski areas that have kept their surface drag lifts are better able to cope with challenging snow conditions. Running the lifts when snow is on the ground but without expensive technical controls and maintenance.
The project to dismantle the resort's lifts has not gone unchallenged. Former mayor Yves Guerpillon and local residents attempted to block the removal works this summer, even using vehicles to prevent trucks from reaching the site. Tensions rose when opponents accused the authorities of continuing dismantling under the guise of “site security.” Gendarmes were called to intervene, and legal action followed. However, on August 14, the Grenoble administrative court rejected an emergency suspension request, ruling that the sale and dismantling did not constitute urgent harm to the commune’s finances. For the current mayor, Stéphane Gusméroli, the decision allows long-delayed development projects to move forward, while opponents insist the fight is not over. After the operation the resorts four main lifts will be gone, leaving just a few drag lifts at altitude run by volunteers and accessed by a shuttle bus from the village. Ideal for the local kids to learn to ski.
A similar story is unfolding in La Sambuy, near Annecy, where the local council voted in June 2023 to permanently close the small resort, citing chronic deficits of around €400,000 per year and increasingly unreliable snow cover. The dismantling, scheduled between September and November 2025, has been entrusted to a local company for €184,000. During this period, access to the site will be restricted for safety reasons as heavy machinery and even helicopters are deployed to remove lifts.
The closure has sparked strong opposition from the association “Tous ensemble pour la Sambuy” (TEPS), which counts about 400 members. They argue that the resort’s main chairlift remains vital for year-round access to the mountain and for local life and tourism. TEPS has filed multiple legal challenges, including a suspension request to be heard on September 11, and has called for demonstrations in Faverges-Seythenex. “The chairlift is the backbone of the station,” claims the association president Jacques Laurent, stressing that dismantling would mean closing the mountain to many residents and visitors.
For local officials, however, the dismantling is both a financial necessity and an adaptation to climate change. “Snowfall is increasingly uncertain. At some point, decisions must be made,” explained Sambuy mayor Jacques Dalex. Similarly, in Chartreuse, intercommunal leaders argue that maintaining costly ski infrastructure for short and unpredictable winters is no longer viable, and that the territory must “turn the page” toward new forms of mountain tourism.