SAM Magazine—Val d’Isère, Savoie, France, Dec. 12, 2017—POMA has signed a €38 million (roughly $44.5 million) contract with The Compagnie des Alpes (CDA) to build five ropeways, one each at Val d’Isère, Tignes, Méribel, La Plagne, and Serre Chevalier ski areas. Construction for all will start this summer, and opening is planned for December 2018.

The five new lifts will be produced and assembled in the French Alps. The cabins will be manufactured by Sigma, a POMA group subsidiary. “We invest in France at our ski areas to increase their appeal and meet our guests’ expectations,” said David Ponson, director of ski area management at the CDA. “For 2018 installations, we chose the French manufacturer POMA for their expertise and state-of-the-art technology, as well as for our long-standing, successful international partnerships.”

At Val d’Isère, the La Daille gondola will be replaced by a new high-performance gondola with a capacity of 2,800 passengers per hour. It will be the first in France to be equipped with 50 Premium Symphony 10-passenger cabins and one VIP cabin. They are very bright, and feature heated seats.

At Tignes, a new gondola will connect Brévières to the Boisses area. The lift is part of the program to completely overhaul the base area, and will replace three lifts that will be dismantled. Thanks to the OWA (Operation Without Attendant), this new gondola lift will run without operating staff in the bottom station from 5 p.m. to midnight.

At Méribel, a new, high-speed detachable bubble lift, complete with heated seats and headrests, will replace the current POMA Plan de l’Homme DCL6 located at the foot of the resort. It will be the first lift of its kind in France. The bottom terminal will be equipped with a high-capacity 45° transversal boarding system, to relieve congestion at the foot of the slopes and provide skiers with easier access to the ticket counters and ski schools.

At la Plagne, a new high-capacity, six-passenger detachable chairlift will replace the POMA Inversens, a fixed-grip quad installed in 1987. It will transport up to 3,600 passengers per hour at nearly 1,000 feet per minute. The bottom terminal will be equipped with a high-capacity 90° transversal boarding system. It will also have a clean and silent DirectDrive motor, which reduces power consumption by five percent and noise by 15 decibels. The bottom station will be located inside a building to protect the chairlift departure station from snow slides.

At Serre Chevalier, the six passenger Côte Chevalier detachable chairlift with DirectDrive motor will replace an existing surface lift and a fixed-grip chairlift. It will connect two major sectors of the ski area, with 106 carriers and a transport capacity of 3,000 passengers per hour.

“These five installations and their innovations showcase our shared expertise that will determine what the future holds for our French and international clients,” said Jean Souchal, president of the POMA executive board.