Skip to main content
SeeChamonix

Work begins on the new Cornu chairlift

featured in News & reviews Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

Nobody can accuse the building teams in Chamonix of taking it easy this summer! What with the pedestrian town centre and the parking in Place Mont Blanc being re-modeled, the World Cup climbing wall going up, Hotel Alpina re-furb, the Prarion gondola being replaced and now work has begun on the Cornu chairlift up at Brévent.

A pleasant ramble in the area on Sunday revealed that the old lift has been completely dismantled, including the base station, and the foundations for the new base have been put in. The new lift will be a fast 6-man chair, more than doubling the capacity of the old (and painfully slow!) 3-man, which is great news for anyone that has spent a bitterly cold half hour, trapped on the old lift while being cranked back down to the base!

The new and improved model will also be about 100m longer than the original as the foundations of the new base station have been sunk in approximately 20 m below the depart of the 4-man Parsa chairlift. Sensible planning as it now eliminates the dangerous crossing of the Cornu and Blanchots pistes, where everyone seems to approach at warp speed in order to reach the chairlifts.

Seemingly hunters have expressed concern on the effect the building works will have on the local fauna and their breeding and nesting habits. However, at the time of writing, no marmottes or chamois had lodged official complaints with the Compagnie du Mont Blanc about the noise.

The new lift will be completed in time for the opening of the winter season in December 2006.