A documentary film of the summer upgrades at a top ski resort may not initially appear to be riveting viewing, but La Plagne, part of the giant French Paradiski resort, has just released such a film online to proive those pre-conceptions wrong!
The film, titled "200 days to get through summer," which was record during summer 2012, condenses eight months of work and a 13 million Euro spend by the lift company in to just 15 minutes.
"People were always asking us what we do after the winter season," said Jérôme Grellet (Director General of the Société d'Aménagement de la Plagne (SAP), "We usually answered that we wake the marmots up at the beginning of the summer then send them back to sleep at the end of the autumn. However, as you can see from the video, it's not all as simple as that!"
The scale of the works was particularly significant with a programme that included moving lift stations, building new chairlifts, extending the snow-making network, remodelling the slopes, maintaining the stock of vehicles (snow groomers, scooters, etc.) and inspecting the machines.
SAP employs about 140 permanent staff and 60 double season workers. 70 of them took part in the filming. Summer 2012 achievement included moving 150,000 cubic metres of earth, the equivalent of 15,000 lorry loads which, end-to-end, would cover the distance La Plagne to Grenoble. The video also shows a 25 ton lift station (4.5 metres wide and 15 metres long) being transported along mountain roads on the ski slopes in a single piece
All the summer work was carried out in-house in 2012. SAP Management said their decision to make the film was to highlight internal skills and to promote an image of pride in the company to its partners.
"These rare images show the daily life of the mechanics and electricians who work with passion in high-altitude conditions and difficult terrain that are sometimes worthy of the TV show "Ice Road Truckers," said a resort statement.
The video is available to view here:
The resort says that English subtitles will be added next week.
A further 9.5 million Euros is planned to be spent on upgrades this summer, but it's not been announced if a film is being made…