On the slopes of the resort of Les Angles in the Pyrénées-Orientales, February 4, 2023 (AFP / RAYMOND ROIG)
A post office, four doctors, around fifty shops and craftsmen, 1,200 jobs in winter: Les Angles, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, is teeming with activity thanks to its ski resort, while the mountain villages are struggling to maintain their economy and public services.
The mayor of this town of 500 inhabitants at 1,600 meters above sea level, Michel Poudade, rails against “ski bashing”, criticism of environmental movements, judging them “disconnected from the reality of those who aspire to live” at the foot of the peaks of the Pyrenees.
“The ski resort is what makes it possible to maintain life. Without that, it is the announced death of mountain villages, the desert”, launches this native of Angles, shirt collar open, without hat or gloves , under a snow shower.
The ski activity generates 1,200 local jobs, 800 in the summer, and 70 million in turnover in the municipality. According to the government, 120,000 jobs in France depend on the opening of ski areas.
Despite the lack of snow due to the mild start of winter, Les Angles did well, with 75% of the ski area open, thanks to artificial snow.
– “Essestial” –
While ecologists announce the imminent end of ski resorts, greedy in energy and water, Mr. Poudade, predicts a necessary future for them.
The ski activity generates 1,200 local jobs in Angles, in the Pyrenees-Orientales (AFP / RAYMOND ROIG)
At the exit of his village, a dozen plaques of practitioners are affixed to the wall of the medical center: doctor, physiotherapist, osteopath, nurse. “When we decided to come and settle here for our retirement, what tipped the scales was that we found all the essential infrastructure, we had an appointment with the doctor today for the next day. Better than in town”, testifies Lydie Marty, a 64-year-old retiree.
A few kilometers further, in the village of Matemale, Mathieu Salesne has opened a craft brewery. The demand, in winter and summer, is such that it has quickly expanded and created two year-round jobs, he says while offering a hot beer, with a hint of honey, an alternative to traditional wine. hot.
Since the decline of mountain agriculture, textiles and mining, “the ski activity is essential to the life of the valleys, it is the main employer”, underlines Pierre Torrente, geographer at the University Toulouse Jean-Jaurès and president of the Transition des Territoires de Montagne association.
The challenge, he recommends, is now to break with single-activity skiing, “based on a high-risk raw material, due to weather conditions and random snowfall”.
To make the transition, the resorts must, for example, help farmers to settle, promote the sale of their production in short circuits, and establish “multi-activity in the valleys by 2050”.
Until then, adds the expert, “some stations will last a short time, those which do not meet the financial or climatic conditions, and which are under infusion (of communities), as long as there is an infusion “.
In 2022, the turnover of the municipal authority of Les Angles managing the ski area reached 11 million euros. “And 3.9 million were donated to the community,” celebrates the mayor. “It’s a whole territory that benefits from the prosperity of the station”.
– Controversial spread –
The heart of the village of Les Angles has kept its character, stone houses from the 12th century, narrow streets around the church.
At the foot of the ski area, the main street lined with restaurants, vacation homes and ski equipment rental shops, rises and then meanders along the mountainside in the middle of plush wooden chalets.
The town of Angles in the Pyrénées-Orientales, February 4, 2023 (AFP / RAYMOND ROIG)
For the station to retain its rank, pleads the mayor, “we must diversify, invest, go upmarket”.
A new construction project has recently triggered an outcry in the village, located in the Regional Natural Park of the Catalan Pyrenees.
“It is a completely disproportionate real estate development project, at the expense of agricultural land and nature”, warns Jean-Luc Sautier, from the Bien vivre collective in the Catalan Pyrenees.
“We must curb urban sprawl, we are not going to continue to disfigure the mountain. We must densify, rehabilitate up to date. There is a construction bulimia, while the craze for alpine skiing is declining”, continues he, hoping for a change in the mentality of elected officials.
He notably calls into question the investments devoted to the production of artificial snow, believing that we “burn money in unsustainable investments”.
© 2023 AFP
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