La Sambuy
A small Haute-Savoie ski area above Lake Annecy that became an international symbol of climate-driven closure when its council voted in June 2023 to shut the lifts and dismantle them.
- Region
- Haute-Savoie
- Country
- France
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1960
- Year closed
- 2023
- Reason for closure
- Too little snow to sustain a season - the area was managing only around four weeks of skiing a year by the end - combined with an ageing lift fleet. The station needed roughly 400,000 euros a year in municipal subsidy and about 1.3 million euros of modernisation in 2024 alone, so on 20 June 2023 the Faverges-Seythenex council voted 22-9 to close it permanently.
History
La Sambuy sat above Seythenex, part of the commune of Faverges-Seythenex in the Haute-Savoie, inside the Bauges Regional Natural Park and about 15 km south of Lake Annecy. Development started in the 1940s and 1950s and the station proper dates from 1960, with a Montaz-Mautino double chair up to the Vargnoz added in 1963 and replaced by a Poma fixed-grip quad in 1989. The ski area ran between roughly 1,150 m and 1,850 m, a low altitude that proved fatal as the snowline rose: in its final years it could only open for about a month per season while costing the commune around 400,000 euros a year, and modernising the fleet was quoted at some 1.3 million euros. The council voted on 20 June 2023 to close, the chairlift ran for the last time on 10 September 2023, and the story was picked up worldwide as an emblem of low-altitude Alpine resorts running out of winter. Dismantling of the lifts was substantially completed between September and November 2025. The site keeps its summer luge run under private management and the commune is pursuing a four-season mountain-park model, while base-area businesses have struggled since the lifts stopped.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Télésiège de la Sambuy | Chairlift - Quad - Fixed | Poma | 1,755 m long, 679 m vertical; installed 1989 on the line of the original 1963 double chair and ran until 2023 |
| Télésiège du Vargnoz | Chairlift - Double - Fixed | Montaz-Mautino | 1,755 m long, 679 m vertical; the resort's main lift from 1963 until it was replaced in 1989 |
| Téléski du Vargnoz (Luge) | Platter | Montaz-Mautino | Detachable drag lift of about 140 m vertical; 1960 to 2000 |
| Baby Vargnoz | Surface lift | Beginner lift of about 40 m vertical; 1970 to 1983 | |
| Téléski du Flocon | Platter | Poma | 630 m long fixed-grip drag lift; 1983 to 2015, replaced in 2015 by a 168 m GMM drag lift of the same name that ran until 2023 |
| Téléski des Écureuils | Platter | Montagner | 607 m long, 157 m vertical; 1986 to 2023 |
| Téléski de Praz Rupt | Platter | Montaz-Mautino | 871 m long, 223 m vertical; 1988 to 2023 |
| Fil neige des Marmottons | Surface lift | Schippers | 47 m magic-carpet style beginner lift; 2015 to 2023 |
Runs
- Forêt (Red)
- Chevreuil (Blue)
- Goulet (Black)
Sources and further reading
More in France
Location
45.7085, 6.2783