(Picture Credit M Colonel and Chamonix Mont Blanc Tourist Office)
Construction work has begun on a state-of-the-art new gondola at Plan Joran being built at the Chamonix Valley’s Grands Montets ski area and scheduled to open in December.
The new POMA built lift will be faster and can carry more people than the old ones it replaces. Each gondola cabin will be able to carry up to 10 people (compared to only four on the old lift) and will travel at six metres per second on the 2.35km long ascent from the base station at an altitude of 1242m to the top station nearly 900 vertical metres above at 2138m.
The new lift replaces two older lifts for greater convenience and lower environmental impact. It is part of a 477 million Euro investment programme by the Compagnie du Mont Blanc, to be rolled out over 40 years by the company following an agreement signed with Chamonix resort last December.
Extensive renovation work are also ongoing at the Aiguille du Midi and a new beginners area at a snow sure 2000m altitude at Planpraz (Brévent-Flégère ski sector) is also due to be unveiled next winter.
