Ce jeudi, les rois des pistes, ils étaient en luge !
Due to insufficient snowfall, the ski slopes are currently closed in the small Gard resort. But between the sledding, the snowmen, the chocolate pancakes and the snowshoe walks, all under a beautiful sun, it didn't take much more for all those lucky people who, on this Thursday, December 26, had decided to come and spend the day in the snow.
“I'm finishing installing a new webcam. In a few minutes, its images broadcast online in real time will make all those who didn't have the good idea, today, to come and have a look around here salivate!”, smiles Julien Melo.
Perched on the roof of the Alti-Aigoual ski school in Prat-Peyrot this Thursday afternoon, December 26, this ESF ski patroller, technical advisor to the small Gard ski resort, is savoring his luck. “This morning, we could see Canigou and even the sea!”, he assures us, glasses on his nose, screwdriver in hand.
Opposite the green slopes, a new webcam has been installed in the resort. Midi Libre – C.S.
“Every year, if the sun is out, there is a massive influx of walkers from Gard, Hérault, and also Lozère during this holiday season when good meals follow one another. Between Christmas and New Year's Day, people have a visceral need for nature and fresh air!”
Snowshoe walk
On this sunny afternoon, there were a lot of them, at least several hundred, even a thousand people, most of them from Hérault, but also from Gard, who headed for Alti-Aigoual despite the closure of the slopes. A story of recharging your batteries for a day in the powder, like Catherine, who I met around 2 p.m., concentrating on putting on her very first pair of snowshoes.
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With family, most visitors traveled from Montpellier. C.S. – Midi Libre
“We knew that the slopes were closed, yes. But for us it doesn't matter! Our program today will be a magnificent walk in the national forest of Mont-Aigoual and above all the pleasure of being together!”, comments the son of the smiling fifty-year-old from Montpellier, who came from Nantes to visit his mother for the holidays.
The nose in the powder
While mother and son were heading towards the Col de la Caumette, things were getting serious a little further on for Andy, 6 years old. On the green downhill ski slope that is usually forbidden to sledders, the little boy from Nîmes was getting ready to set off for the very first time on a ski slope alone on his sled. “A mount that he usually uses in pairs with his big brother” his father explained before stopping to say to his son: “Lean to the left! Lean to the left!”.
A few seconds later, Andy, clearly surprised by his own speed, inevitably ended up his race with his nose in the powder, dying of laughter.
Sledding, snowshoes, snowmen, walks…even without skis, you're spoiled for choice! C.S. – Midi Libre
“For us, the day is perfect. We have fun, we laugh, we enjoy the sun and we also try to improve – a little – our downhill technique“, smiles the child's father. “The absence of skiers is a great advantage for families like us with young children”.
A little further on, around 3 p.m., a two-year-old girl (who looked adorable with her professional goggles, her pompom hat, and her orange jumpsuit) was finishing building a little snowman, helped by her mother. “What matters to us is not skiing, but rather spending time together. And to introduce our daughter to the snow, today is simply perfect” , commented the girl's father, immortalizing this simple, but nonetheless invaluable, moment with his cell phone.
“Mountain” solidarity
Julien Melo unhesitatingly describes their approach as part of the "mountain solidarity". For several months, some of the "large Alpine resorts" have shown particular generosity towards the small Gard resort Alti-Aigoual, a jewel for snow lovers in Hérault and Gard. Snowmobiles, snow groomers, markers, mattresses and nets have thus been able to be renewed free of charge here, thanks in particular to the generosity of the resorts of La Plagne, Les Menuires and Val d’Isère. "Because we are not competing with them. But here, in a small resort, we are training the clientele likely to go skiing tomorrow in the larger ones", analyses the technical advisor of the Gard resort.