 Poster: A snowHead
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Courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/groups/1091258158997687/
Tignes dit au revoir à la Compagnie des Alpes : et si Chamonix s’en inspirait ?
La station savoyarde de Tignes franchit un cap historique : dès le 1er juin 2026, elle reprend la gestion de ses remontées mécaniques via une Société Publique Locale (SPL) baptisée Altta, rompant 37 ans de partenariat avec la Compagnie des Alpes.
L’objectif ? Garder la maîtrise des bénéfices générés par un domaine qui pesait 72,8 millions d’euros de chiffre d’affaires en 2024, plutôt que de reverser une simple redevance à un groupe privé.
La commune indemnisera la CDA à hauteur de ~103 à 110 millions d’euros pour les remontées mécaniques, et prévoit 610 millions d’euros d’investissements sur 30 ans, dont une part pour diversifier les activités au-delà du ski. Les 300 salariés de la filiale locale seront intégrés dans la SPL, avec l’ambition de maintenir une vie locale à l’année.
Un signal fort à l’heure où le changement climatique fragilise l’économie des stations alpines  ️ et un modèle que d’autres communes de montagne observent avec attention.
Alors que la DSP de l’aiguille du midi arrive à échéance fin 2028, pensez-vous qu’une telle reprise en main publique serait envisageable, ou souhaitable ?
Transl. by Deepl as I can't be bothered
Tignes bids farewell to Compagnie des Alpes: should Chamonix follow suit?
The Savoyard resort of Tignes is reaching a historic milestone: from 1 June 2026, it will take over the management of its ski lifts via a local public company (SPL) called Altta, ending a 37-year partnership with Compagnie des Alpes.
The aim? To retain control of the profits generated by a domain that was worth €72.8 million in turnover in 2024, rather than simply paying a fee to a private group.
The municipality will compensate CDA to the tune of €103 to €110 million for the ski lifts and plans to invest €610 million over 30 years, part of which will be used to diversify activities beyond skiing. The 300 employees of the local subsidiary will be integrated into the SPL, with the aim of maintaining local life throughout the year.
This is a strong signal at a time when climate change is weakening the economy of Alpine resorts ️ and a model that other mountain municipalities are watching closely.
With the Aiguille du Midi public service delegation agreement due to expire at the end of 2028, do you think such a public takeover would be feasible or desirable?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Very interesting.... I don't know enough about how ski resorts are managed to know whether a "local model" on these lines is already in place in other substantial resorts. I know that some little places have failed to make a go of it - but perhaps because of the nature of the domain (small) rather than the management model.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Big row with. Val next door over share out of lift pass income stream
Tignes mayor seems to think it’ll all work out in the end
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@snowornever, these are not rare!! It usually does, via pragmatic necessity.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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This is a bit of an odd one.
How will it work when you go to either Tignes or Val D'Isere? Will you have to get two different lift passes - that's just crazy.
Honestly, if in Val I could forget going to Tignes because it's so busy now, but like I am in a week, when going to Tignes I really want to be able to go over to Val side.
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@gixxerniknik, Megeve and St Gervais have similarly fallen out but the lift pass works in both.
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@gixxerniknik, one has to imagine that they'll grandfather such arrangements, perhaps after a bit of argy-bargy and a handful of Putin-style minor assassinations. There are loads of high rise apartment windows in Tignes that one might "fall out of" if one wasn't careful and the floor a bit wet and slippy.
Mind you, Les Houches fell out with the Compagnie du Mont Blanc and spent a few winters in purgatory.
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@gixxerniknik, it shouldn't be a problem. In Trois Vallees there are at least 3 different lift companies (S3V, Meribel Alpina, Setam) but they seem to operate well together so the distinction is fairly invisible to skiers.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@gixxerniknik, It will work just like it did until 2007 ish when STVI was taken over by Compagnie des Alpes. Its just IT - they just have to decide on the split of income.
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What's a little more interesting is that there was a trend towards big operating companies, errr, operating.
In Chamonix, the licence to operate the Aiguille du Midi, which represents a significant portion of the CdMB's profits, is up for review next year. There is a distinct whiff of panic around this, not least as the mayor and various senior functionaries are under investigation for corruption wrt contracts awarded, etc.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I worry that it will be difficult, and then this gives Vail et al their opening. Hope not!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@abricotine, not sure I see how that would happen, anyway, and anyway, Vail's model business doesn't readily translate into Europe (as operators).
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| snowornever wrote: |
| Big row with. Val next door over share out of lift pass income stream |
So what's new?
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You know it makes sense.
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| under a new name wrote: |
| Tignes bids farewell to Compagnie des Alpes: should Chamonix follow suit? |
Intriguing development, and I guess the question is whether the CdA is operating in the interests of the resort or is profiteering. As you point out, the point when the licence comes up for renewal is the time to reconsider.
I have followed the recent spat between St Gervais and Megeve (which to be fair seems to involve personal animosity) and one of the points made by the St Gervais Maire is that the Megeve side, run by CdA, has been taking the revenue but not investing. In St Gervais, over the seven years we have known the place there have been four lifts completely replaced. Is the track record of Tignes and Chamonix investment or profit taking?
I am not sure what the position is for Les Houches which I had thought was also CdA, but doesn't collaborate with the rest of the Chamonix valley for its lift pass.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Even the tiny villages around Les Saisies were forever falling out, and not only about skiing and lifts. It's a thing.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Origen, were they separate communes? It's the Maires who get very self-important and anxious to defend their (small) patches.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@j b, Les Houches is on the Mont Blanc Unlimited, not on Le Pass. Often in poor weather Le Pass holders can use it though.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| under a new name wrote: |
| Les Houches is on the Mont Blanc Unlimited... |
I realise that, but it is as accessible from Chamonix as Le Tour which is on the standard pass. Whereas the other areas on the MBU pass are further away, like EMB and Courmayeur.
And as I understand Les Houches has the same operator as the rest of the valley (CdA, known locally as Compagnie du Mont Blanc) whereas much of EMB (St Gervais/Combloux/Les Contamines) and Courmayeur are different. Just seems a little odd.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Just to add into the mix this also involves Sainte Foy who are involved in creating the new company , SF share of the business is 5% or a touch less . SF operators lease was also up and were given notice they decided to go into admin a few weeks before the start of the season . I understand that this more about the future overall of tourism in the valley and not all about skiing . SF Marie area is very big and adjacent to Tignes . It will be interesting if Val D’I join them in the future .
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@j b, I can't claim to understand the decision making but CdMB owns 72% of Les Houches operating. CdA owns (only?) 37.49% of CdMB.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| under a new name wrote: |
| I can't claim to understand the decision making but CdMB owns 72% of Les Houches operating. CdA owns (only?) 37.49% of CdMB. |
You sent me running to Google, but what I found there is equally confusing.
But those percentages look to me that Chamonix could take CdMB out of CdA if there was a benefit in doing so. It seems that the Montenvers train was taken out of CdMB a few years ago (now department I think).
(But the latter is ironic. As I read it, the CdMB was created by incorporating a number of smaller lift companies - and mountain restaurant groups - into the Compagnie de Montenvers since that was the only one with the appropriate corporate structure and then renaming it to CdMB. Which now has lost its original assets).
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| j b wrote: |
| under a new name wrote: |
| Tignes bids farewell to Compagnie des Alpes: should Chamonix follow suit? |
Intriguing development, and I guess the question is whether the CdA is operating in the interests of the resort or is profiteering. As you point out, the point when the licence comes up for renewal is the time to reconsider.
I have followed the recent spat between St Gervais and Megeve (which to be fair seems to involve personal animosity) and one of the points made by the St Gervais Maire is that the Megeve side, run by CdA, has been taking the revenue but not investing. In St Gervais, over the seven years we have known the place there have been four lifts completely replaced. Is the track record of Tignes and Chamonix investment or profit taking?
I am not sure what the position is for Les Houches which I had thought was also CdA, but doesn't collaborate with the rest of the Chamonix valley for its lift pass. |
St G have certainly invested heavily since we first went there in 2020, megeve had plans to replace the drag lift near the altiport and the two lifts that connect to that drag and the la rosiere run, was meant to be ready two years ago, not even started yet, as for the old yogurt pot lift up to combloux its a wonder it still works the fibre glass is rickety to say the least. Any business that doesn't invest fails
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@robs1, yes, though to be fair I assume Megeve still have those plans (and more to the point, the money available) to upgrade those lifts which have run into some sort of never-ending planning conflict. The aim I think is to dispense with the Lanchette and Rochefort drags by building two new chairs, one from the present bottom of Lanchettes to the top of Jardin (which would disappear) and the other from the bottom of Petite Fontaine (again no longer needed) to the top of Rochefort.
But as you say the Le Jaillet gondola is a museum piece, and the two chairs running up to Cote 2000 are painfully old and slow. They are all just going to get worse and worse.
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@under a new name, heard last night that the new elections soon for the Tignes Marie could be vital some 0f the candidates are against the latest move and if elected the decision could be reversed.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Le Grand Renard, Thats a rumour spread by one of the official candidates and he has been officially called out. The contract has been signed to dispense with CdA and would cost millions to reverse.
Its not from the equivalent of the Monster Raving Loony spoof candidate who's putting all sorts of comedy facebook AI generated spoofs - so as a water park on the Lac du Chevril, the demolition of the New Club Med and a few othe amsuing ideas.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@chocksaway, @Le Grand Renard, exactly, these things aren't (usually) announced without considerable decisions taken.
@j b, TBH I have no idea how CdA related tp CdMB. Other than shareholdings. Its all a bit French. At ~38% holding, influential but not decisive?
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@chocksaway, Hee hee thank you
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