In April 2018, a public meeting took place in Les Praz to present the ambitious project of replacement of the old Flégère cable car with a gondola.
Now, the new gondolas are almost ready. See you on December 14, 2019, for the great inauguration of the new Flégère gondola!
On April 14, 2019, the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc closed the Flégère ski area. But the day meant more than just the closing of the ski season, as the CMB dismantled the already famous Flégère cable cars.
The historic Flégère cable cars had been functional for the past 63 years before they were taken out of service with the purpose of being replaced by modern gondolas.
The new project was designed to both satisfy the high demand and to provide customers with more comfort, as the trip will be seated. The new gondola will offer 10 seats and a flow of around 2,000 people per hour at a speed of 6 meters per second.
The numbers? 20.5 million euros are spent to have the Flégère gondola ready for the 2019/20 Chamonix ski season.
And now, the gondolas are already there. There is still work to be done. "We cannot say that we are ahead of schedule, but we are on time", says Arnaud Trinquier, who will soon take over from Jean-Pierre Veillard, as operations manager at the CMB.
Twelve pylons, 2,200 linear meters and 897 vertical meters higher, were lifted in August 2019. Operation essential for the completion of the upstream station, which will be attached to the old building and had been designed for the comfort of the guests.
As for the bottom station, the boarding level, it is almost ready for the snow.
The safety commission will be on-site on December 12 to make sure everything is in working order and give the go-ahead.
So - rendez-vous on December 14th for the opening season of La Flégère!
