The conversion of ski resorts into mountain resorts to obtain greater profitability not only in winter but throughout the year is an upward trend.
Vallter 365 is an initiative that wants to turn this Pyrenean resort located in the Ripollès region into a sports and leisure destination, which would allow it to be open 365 days a year.
Inaugurated in 1975 and managed by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (FGC), it annually receives around 50,000 visitors. The administrations want to increase that figure and propose several actions to revitalize a facility whose operating model “is not considered sustainable either economically or environmentally.”
Among other measures, in memory of FGC a new gondola is projected that would go from elevation 1,500, in Setcases, to 2,535 altitude, in the Marmotes area, with a stop at elevation 2,000, the current core of the station .
A cable car that would become the only way to access the station and that would make it possible to eliminate the passage of vehicles through the Capçaleres del Ter i Freser Natural Park. The current road, which collapses in winter and is owned by the municipality, would become a service road and track for bikes and mountain bikes.
According to an FGC report, 1.3 million kilos of CO2 would be reduced each year. The road that would get rid of vehicles and collapses belongs to Setcases, a municipality with about 200 inhabitants, which cannot afford the investments that the road would require.
The FGC proposal also includes a new car park and service building at elevation 1,500 (there are currently six parking spaces separated by one kilometer at an altitude of 2,000 meters), a panoramic viewpoint at an altitude of 2,535 meters with unique views over the coast Brava (a project that is already in progress) and the disassembly and removal of some aged chairlifts and ski lifts.
The new surface car park would be moved to elevation 1,500 to avoid geological risks such as avalanches or torrential flows, which do exist today, with the car parks at around 2,000 meters above sea level.
The project has not yet been officially presented, nor is there an action schedule, which would cost approximately 35 million euros, of which about 15 million will be used to replace two lifts that are at the end of their useful life.
The director of Vallter, Enric Serra, highlights the importance of changing the operating model “to guarantee the economic and environmental viability and the future of the station” which currently, due to its age, requires a minimum annual investment of one million euros.
In this sense, he points out the need to be able to operate this station 365 days a day; in winter with skiing and in summer also using this gondola. “This will generate wealth in the territory and many business opportunities for private initiatives,” explains Serra.
The Stop JJOO platform opposes the construction of the gondola and considers that this project “is a facelift so as not to have to assume the economic and environmental infeasibility of the snow sector.” Its spokespersons add that Vallter presents “million-dollar losses each year” that end up being assumed by public funds.
They also maintain that the project would affect a nesting area for protected species and an important livestock area and would have a landscape impact on the Parc Natural de les Capçaleres del Ter i del Freser.
Stop JJOO asks that the entire project and its total budget be made public, that it be the people of the region who can decide the future of the Vallter station and that a debate be opened on what the socioeconomic model of the Ripollès region should be .
