Tiny french alpine ski resort saved by volunteers

Sixty locals from Entremont-le-Vieux have been taking turns to help at the small resort of Granier in Savoie, which only has four runs: two green, one blue and one red.

Volunteer Violaine Rey said: “We understand why the local authorities pulled out. Running it is so expensive, what with electricity, snow plough, lifts, maintenance, insurance and wages, it’s impossible to make a profit. Even covering costs is difficult.

“But we love our ski resort and it belongs to the commune so there’s nothing to stop us running it.”

She said they started with nothing.

“We just created an association and asked for volunteers. The first thing we had to do was launch an appeal to raise €15,000 to get the resort open this season and we raised that really quickly.”

Weather permitting, they are open at weekends and through the Zone A school holidays (February 16 - March 4) and they would like to open more next year.

The village has a population of around 600, many of whom commute.

Ms Rey said: “We had become a bit of a dormitory village. We knew opening the ski station would be economically good for the village but, in fact, we found it was also good socially.

“It was a long time since we had all been united and facing the same direction to do something together.”

There are so many jobs to do, from making crêpes in the snack bar to maintaining the snow plough, that there is a job for everyone.

“Having put so much effort into setting up the association, organising the volunteers and getting the station open, the first few days were nerve-wracking.

“The weather wasn’t wonderful and we wondered if anyone would come.”

They need not have worried.

Even on bad days, they are still receiving around 100 visitors, and twice as many on good days.