Update Thursday, the 28th of March, 2019:
Today, the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc has announced that the Bochard gondola would not reopen on Saturday, the 30th of March, as it was previously expected.
Despite the favourable weather conditions, winter temperatures have made it difficult to inject sealing materials into the Bochard gondola's anchorage system, lengthening drying times.
The Compagnie du Mont-Blanc will announce next week when the Bochard gondola reopens.
Original news from Monday, the 25th of March, 2019
During the press release which was held on the 15th of March 2019, the Compagnie du Mont Blanc announced the closure of the Bochard gondola for safety reasons.
As of March 22nd, CMB announced there is additional work to be undertaken this week and estimated the reopening of the gondola for Saturday, the 30th of March, 2019.
This will be confirmed during a press release which is to be delivered on Friday, March 29.
Closure of the Bochard gondola for safety reasons
The Bochard gondola is located on the Domaine des Grands Montets in Chamonix and it connects Lognan (1.972m) to Bochard (2.765m).
On the 15th of March, the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc decided to close the gondola as a precautionary measure, after conducting the regular geometric and geophysical measurements on the ski lifts installations.
The results of these regular evaluations revealed that one of the six tie rods of the anchor points of the Bochard gondola's arrival station is severely affected.
The culprit is climate change. Not only does global warming impact the snow cover, but it also reflects in several other phenomena, including the melting of permafrost.
The changes in the permafrost structure led to a great pressure being put on the concrete cantilever beam on which are fixed the three arrival pylons of the Bochard gondola.
The Bochard gondola expected to reopen on Saturday, the 30th of March
On the 22nd of March, the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc declared that the necessary has been undertaken to strengthen and support the beam at its extremity, thus easing the tension on the tie-rods.
Additional work will be conducted during this week and the gondola should reopen on Saturday, the 30th of March.
The Compagnie du Mont Blanc will deliver another press release on Friday, the 29th of March, to confirm the exact date of the reopening of the Bochard gondola.
