Chamonix Looks Forward to New Grands Montets Lifts

27th November 2020

Last modified on May 13th, 2021

The blaze stopped lift assisted skiing from the top of the Grands Montets station at 3300m.

The only solution was for people to skin up the 300 vertical meters from the top of the Bochard or Herse lifts.

Now the new lift has moved a step closer.

The Compagnie du Mont-Blanc has entrusted the new Grands Montets project to the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano.

His past work includes The Shard in London, the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

Renzo Piano is passionate about this ambitious challenge and has worked on a global project including not only the reconstruction of the cable cars, but also a reconfiguration of the departure station in Argentière.

The current building, will be replaced by a more compact cable car station in a better location for public transport users, to include a direct access to and from Argentière village and train station.

The Grands Montets and the Argentiere ski area remains on of PlanetSKI’s favourite areas in the mountains.

It ended up being the final place we skied last winter as the pandemic spread in early March.

We had headed over from our winter base in the Aosta Valley to the steeps of Chamonix.

From Aosta to Chamonix

Chamonix, France. Photo credit – PlanetSKI

Chamonix, France. Photo credit – PlanetSKI

Given that the Plan Joran gondola is already the main lift for transporting skiers from Argentière to the mid-station of Lognan (1965m), the additional lift for this section will be a cable car.

The redesign of the mid station of Lognan will considerably free up space on the snow front and improve customer flow management by making it easier for skiers to bypass stations.

Skiing in Argentiere

For the 2nd section, a mechanical lift with detachable cabins for ease of boarding and disembarking, type 3S installation, is a probability.

These cabins will offer a more comfortable journey to the summit station and, compared to the old cable car, hourly transport capacity will be moderately increased.

This project will ultimately offer a “4 seasons” access to an exceptional high-mountain location, whether it be for mountain professionals, hikers or sight-seers.

“The Compagnie du Mont-Blanc is working with determination and passion to imagine and carry out a fully integrated future project for the Grands Montets site,” said the resort of Chamonic in a statement.

“This large-scale project must respond to the challenges of ecological transition by collectively imagining sustainable mechanisms for the next fifty years.

It is hoped to complete the project by winter 2023/24 season.

The precise timeline is still dependent on negotiations with one of the three insurance companies involved.