Environment

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Environmental and ecological discussion, particularly of things like weather and other natural phenomena (especially if they're not breaking news).

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‘Ghost resorts’: as hundreds of ski slopes lie abandoned, will nature reclaim the Alps? (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 day ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/environment@beehaw.org

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When Céüze 2000 ski resort closed at the end of the season in 2018, the workers assumed they would be back the following winter. Maps of the pistes were left stacked beside a stapler; the staff rota pinned to the wall.

Six years on, a yellowing newspaper dated 8 March 2018 sits folded on its side, as if someone has just flicked through it during a quiet spell. A half-drunk bottle of water remains on the table.

The Céüze resort in the southern French Alps had been open for 85 years and was one of the oldest in the country. Today, it is one of scores of ski resorts abandoned across France – part of a new landscape of “ghost stations”.

More than 186 have been permanently closed already, raising questions about how we leave mountains – among the last wild spaces in Europe – once the lifts stop running.

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[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Curious how this will go down here in the US. I expect a lot of resorts east of the Rockies will have to shut down because they're at low elevation. For the Western US it might take longer with the high elevations.

[–] chahk@beehaw.org 1 points 20 hours ago

Wonder how climate change deniers will spin that one.