LA PLAGNE SKI AREA: What Happens Next?

There's been quite a bit of change in La Plagne this year, with the remodelling of the Plagne Centre area, and the opening of the fast new chairlift by the stade de slalom and the new Traversée lift on the glacier.  Not to mention all the excitement of the 50th anniversary, the re-opening of the Derochoir piste.  Etc.

And there's more to come.  The ever-alert www.perso-laplagne.fr site has just brought us the latest news.  They thank the La Plagne Press Office for their advice.

Changes on the not-too-distant-horizon include:

1. The renovation of the Telemetro between Aime 2000 and Plagne Cetnre - more information to come on this shortly.

Aime 2000

2. The 3rd phase of the refrubishment of the galeries at Plagne Centre - which have been lovingly chronicled here.

3. The removal of the Coqs chairlift.  Skiers coming from Montalbert will be directed to the La Roche chair, via the Cornegidouille piste.  There are some concerns that this may cause overcrowding on the Cornegidouille.  It's narrow in places, with trees either side, and could become a bit of a nightmare with skiers of all abilities only having this option. So they are going to see how they go for a season.

4.  This is all part of the grand plan taking shape to prepare for the new Montalbert télécabine, planned for December 2014.  There appears to still be some heated debate around what this will mean for the three holiday villages on the piste down to Montalbert. But it looks like intermediate stations for the lift have been ruled out, at there will simply be a direct line between Montalbert and Le Fornelet.  There will however be a reworking of the pistes, and more artificial snow to link them to the gondola base station.

Montalbert

The new lift will see the end of the Montalbert and Fornelet chairlifts, although apparently they will be put to good use elsewhere in the La Plagne ski area.

In the words of www.perso-laplagne.fr:

"Let us hope that everything will be done to protect as much of the forest as possible along the line of the route, as well as the Tete du Fornelet site itself"

5. Meanwhile, the current Coqs lift is not being scrapped or sold.  It is going to be moved over to Les Bauches, where it will replace the old 2-person lift.  Since the re-opening of the Derochoir piste, this area has got much busier, so this will help ease the queues. The www.perso-laplagne.fr report speculates on exactly which path it will take.  In theory, its length (1250m) would allow a link with the 6-pack La Salla lift.  But then again the Carroley lift is going to be replaced in 2017, and there are various modifications coming in that sector, ahead of the construction of the new Carroley télésiege.