Access to one of Chamonix's most iconic ski areas has been hit ahead of this winter after a fire in the leading French ski resort destroyed a cable car station and severely damaged one of the ski area's main lifts.
The fire broke out at 1.40pm on Tuesday 11 September at the Lognan station, at 1,972m the mid-point of the Lognan and Grands Montets cable cars, and has ravaged machinery and the station's Rider Cafe.
The blaze started during routine renovation work. A statement from the resort explains that the fire spread almost instantaneously throughout all the buildings of the station, creating severe damage to the infrastructures of the two cable-cars.
Of the eight cables which equip the two sections of the cable-car, five gave way as a result of the heat generated causing one cabin at the top of the Grands Montets to plunge onto the glacier below, while the second cabin was immobilised on its bearer cables.
On the lower section between Argentière and Lognan, one cabin is retained by its bearer cable and the other by the tractor cable.
Helicopters dropped water to try to put out the blaze but were unable to stop it spreading. The fire could reportedly be seen 20 miles away.
The area was closed to the public at the time, and nobody was injured during the blaze.
However, the Compagnie du Mont Blanc, which owns the lift, has announced that, despite the damage, the Grands Montets ski area will still open this winter season. The Plan Joran lift will provide access from Argentiere while the new beginner's area, as well as the Bochard, Herse and Retour Pendant lifts will be available. Reportedly, only the top two unpisted runs of Grand Montet will be out of reach by lift.
Nevertheless, repairs to the mid-station will take many months and will involve replacing cables and damaged cabins.
Meanwhile, in Germany, a cabin of the new Zugspitze cable car was severely damaged during an emergency exercise. According to the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, nobody was injured.
The new flagship cable car, which was only opened in December 2017, and which can carry 580 passengers per hour to the summit, has been shut down indefinitely and could be out of action for several months.
For now, visitors to the Zugspitze will have to use the rack railway. The 'Gletscherbahn' cable car to the summit is also still operating.
