Industry News
In 2020, the small ski resort of Céüze 2000, France, closed its lifts permanently after 85 years of operations. The local residents had five years to come to terms with the end of skiing at their village before the first lift towers were taken down. On Tuesday, November 4, 2025, the day finally arrived: the Hautes-Alpes Department began dismantling the aging lift infrastructure. It was the symbolic end of an era at the small resort near Gap in the Hautes-Alpes region, however, residents are embracing life “after the snow.”
The resort was located between 1,550 and 2,000 meters (5,065-6,562 feet) in altitude near the town of Gap and featured 24 runs and nine ski lifts at its peak. With first skiing originating in the 1920s, the resort was then developed with lift infrastrucutre in the 1930s. Céüze experienced a boom into the 50s and 60s and kept expanding into the 80s before the resort started to struggle, as climate change brought ever less snow to the region. A decision to install artificial snowmaking encountered bureaucratic difficulties. The delay in a time with limited snow resulted in less income and therefore financial difficulties, which ultimately resulted in the first decision to close the resort in 2007. The decision was met with public resistance and residents voted to keep the resort going, however, by then the lack of snowmaking infrastructure was disastrous in snow-poor winters, ultimately breaking the little resort’s neck. Despite several attempts to revive the resort, no lifeline was extended and the decision was made to close the resort for good.
The decision to remove around 25 pylons that once served the surface ski lifts is the culmination of over a decade of debate and study by the Communauté de communes Buëch‑Dévoluy, the local authority overseeing the site. “This dismantling is not a defeat—it’s a choice. A choice for nature, for durability and for a mountain freed of infrastructure that no longer makes sense,” said Michel Ricou-Charles, President of the local community told French newspaper L’Echo Touristique.
The operation has a budget of €137,000, voted in September 2024, and involves a dedicated public-works firm to remove the lift stations, pylons and related material—an effort expected to span about two months. It is expected that around 90 tonnes of scrap material will be taken away by heli-transport from the site, to avoid heavy machinery trampling fragile terrain. It is hoped that some of the materials can be reused in other resorts or recycled as scrap. Local environmental group Mountain Wilderness, which has helped dismantle many obsolete lifts at abandoned alpine resorts, is advising the project. “We’d like this to be the start of a broader trend,” said spokesperson Jean Gaboriau.
While the lifts vanish, Céüze’s story isn’t ending—it is evolving. The terrain is shifting toward hiking, ski-touring, rock-climbing and nature-based recreation. Locals highlight that the area remains alive and that they aren’t creating a “ghost station.” “We’re simply returning the mountain to what it was before heavy infrastructure took over,” Ricou-Charles noted. Locals have rallied behind the decision. “It’s well overdue,” local guest-house owner Nathalie Ghesquière said in an interview with medias24.com. “The old lifts looked ugly and were not ecologically sound. Once they’re gone, this place will be better for winter excursions and summer hiking.”
Céüze is one of many smaller alpine ski stations confronting the combined pressures of climate change, cost increases and shorter snow seasons. According to research published in the Journal of Alpine Research, over 180 ‘micro-domains’ in France have closed permanently since their peak years. Céüze is demonstrating that returning to sustainable mountain recreation is a viable option.
