Protecting glaciers, investing in public transport, adapting mountain agriculture … Citizen proposals to protect and bring the mountains to life in 2030 are numerous, as evidenced by the strong participation in the citizen consultation launched by Mountain Wilderness until March 30, on the Make.org site. The debate promises to be rich and exciting about the future of our mountains. This need to debate and actively get involved has become a priority in view of the challenges that threaten our valleys and territories of altitude.
On the front line of climate change, the mountains sound the alarm. The increase in temperatures dries up pastures, weakens forests and accelerates the melting of glaciers, threatening water from our rivers downstream. Natural snow that amazes young and old, and makes part of our territories economically, is now becoming rare on average altitude. A few tenths of more degrees, linked to our CO2 emissions, and the magic of snow turns into rain. The landslides are multiplying, impacting the high mountain and the valleys, cutting roads and railways.
In 2023, a collapse paralyzed the A43 and the Lyon-Modane line; In 2025, the Tarentaise suffered the same fate. Some territories are becoming more and more vulnerable, as in 2024, when the torrent flood of the stages scratched the Hameau de la Bérarde map in the heart of the written national park. Before that, storm Alex (2020) had already caused significant damage in the Vesubia and Roya valleys. Undeniably, climate change accelerates, calling into question the very habitability of our mountains.
Winter Olympics frozen in the past
Today’s choices shape the future of our mountains. The directions to be taken should be widely debated in the villages, valleys and at the national level with all stakeholders, like the General States of the Transition of Mountain Tourism, which took place in 2021. Debates and dynamics territorial gaining momentum in certain valleys, as evidenced by the file of Mountain and mountaineering title A mountain of citizen mobilization On this unprecedented mountain bubble. However, at the national level the lack of debates on the future of our mountains is obvious, like the decision taken without any consultation for winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2030.
More than a sporting event, these games reflect an anchored vision in the era of white gold. But can we still make 2030 children dream of sliding while the middle mountain stations are struggling to reinvent themselves? In a climatic context requiring urgent transitions, this choice may freeze our mountains in the past and slow down their necessary transition.
“My ambition for these games is clear: they must be in line with their time, fully aware of the ecological issues and anchored in the economic reality of our country”, wrote Martin Fourcade, sextuple Olympic Biathlon champion, this Monday, February 3, announcing the withdrawal of his candidacy for the presidency of the Organizing Committee of the Winter Games. In addition to greenhouse gas emissions linked to international travel, the artificialization of soils and impacts on the biodiversity of new accommodation infrastructure created, the specifications of the International Olympic Committee (CIO) is a reflection of practices high-level sportsmen that have become above ground, disconnected from the mountain environment. In 2030, do we have to make a mountain dream in a setting where snow will be 100 % artificial?
Reinvent our relationship to the mountain
Beyond the indignation, the disappointment that these Jop may arouse, their organization leads to pursuing a structuring policy centered on winter sports, whatever the price. Faced with recurring snow shortcomings, the policies carried out so far have pushed the stations and the villages to invest heavily, or even in debt, in an attempt to artificially compensate what nature can no longer offer. The snow cannons and water retention basins have become the norm. In Font-Romeu, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, 80 % of the ski area is covered with cannons. Other stations invest heavily to get the snow even higher and faster at altitude like the Jandri 3s in the two Alps (Isère), which cost 148 million euros.
In the middle mountains, without having been able to anticipate the choices of transition to operate, many go into debt and find themselves strangled. Stations, villages, valleys find themselves feet and hands linked by all-tourism, with a proportion of secondary residences which sometimes go up to 90 % making life a year impossible.
The splendid years of white gold are behind us, and the main challenge is to write a new future rather than staying turned towards the past. Ski will keep a place, but our mountains have many other wealth to value and make discover. The mountain stations of tomorrow could become entrance doors to these preserved spaces, playing a role of link between valleys and summits in a shared territorial project. They would allow the mountain to be discovered in all its facets: nature, sport, culture, crafts, gastronomy … The large buildings, often unoccupied, could become centers of reception and discovery of the mountain, offering various activities such as observation Wildlife, outdoor sports, star bivouacs or outdoor classes. One track among so many others to reinvent our relationship to the mountain, preserve it, while continuing to amaze us.
(tagstotranslate) Massive mountain
