News and investments

2010 – 2011

More than 10 M€ investment for your confort and safety

Works on the skilifts

  • Investments on lifts
2010 is the year when the works on the « Signal de l’Homme » began

After many years of service, the Lombards chairlift will be replaced by a brand new one, which will be shorter in order to reach the bottom of Fontfroide quickly, as well as the pistes of les Lys and le Gua. 2 million euros is the total cost for these works. In 2011, all the lifts of Fontfroide will be replaced by a new 6-man chairlift. Also the Alp’Auris chairlift will be renovated over 2 years: firstly the arrival station in 2010, and all the electrical equipment in 2011.

Fontfroide detachable chairlift

The Fontfroide drag lifts and the 4 seater chairlift have been removed and will be replaced with a unique 6 seater detachable chairliftwhich will be faster, more comfortable and will give more space on the piste. We now have 10 pylons instead of the previous 30.

The capacity of this lift is 2700 pers per hour

This chairlift is the final completion of the restructuring of Fontfroide which began in 2010

It is now quicker to reach the top of Signal de l’homme from the Gorges than it was with the old lift.

Amount of the investment 5,5 M €

  • More reliable lifts

SATA goes on replacing the electrical equipment of many lifts. In 2010, the Pic Blanc cable car and the Alp’Auris chairlift equipment will be completely replaced. Also  the 1st part of the cable car of Vaujany will have its electrical

equipment replaced . Although our clients can’t see all this work, it’s essential to keep our lifts safe and reliable. The total cost for such works is 600 000 euros.

  • Modernizing of the lifts

In order to guarantee the maximum service during your week, the lift company has done works to modernize the mechanics of the Chalvet and Piegut chairlift

The renovation of the Auris express chairlift will be completed this season with extensive mechanical work and a full roof at the arrival station

Amount of the investment 1,28 M€

Works on the slopes

  • A new slope

The SATA Company will create some new pistes below the new Marmottes chairlift. Also the slope called Les Ancolies will be finished with more grass, so as to increase the high mountain pastures – in Alpe d’Huez, “Alpe” means

“high mountain pastures”.

New piste Pre Rond

Intermediate skiers can now discover the wonderful scenery from the top of Signal de l’Homme in the Auris area

Relax and ski on the slopes of this majestic mountain!

Amount of the investment 220 000€

Piste des Chevreuils

At the bottom of the Alpette slope, discover our new addition in the Olmet forest.

From middle altitude, thanks to 16 snow making machines, you can enjoy skiing right back down the village of Oz en Oisans

Amount of the investment 1,3 M€

  • Improving the slopes

We have to re-profile the piste going down to Huez en Oisans to improve its interest and its width : we will install some new snow guns there in order to provide an itinerary from the Pic Blanc of about 2000 m. Another slope, la

Cristallière situated under the Herpie chairlift at 3060 m will be improved to be open with very a little snow. The cost for that is 800 000 euros.

  • Guarantee of snow coverage

The reservoir of water situated at 2300 m is going to be brougth into  conformity with the new statutory texts and will therefore be so improved. The SATA Company is following up the modernisation of the very first snow guns

installed in resort in order to improve the productivity while limiting the energy consumption. This is another important action for the environment and for the preservation of the activity and jobs in the resort.

Total cost: 1 M€.

Snow making on the piste to Huez

Ski down to Huez with no problem!

31 new snow making machines will provide a fantastic descent from the top of the Signal or indeed from Pic Blanc for the experts.

Amount of the investment 1,2 M€

The information of the customers

An important investment is going to be realised this year. We have to increase the information to the customers using the ski area. Information on the opening times, advice on the busy sectors, a follow-up after incidents on the ski

slopes, etc… All this will be more advanced and made more transparent. The information was already developed in 2009/2010 with the application Iphone: this accesses information on the openings of slopes, weather forecasts

and gives an access to the webcams of the domain and information and events in resort.