Super Saint-Bernard
A Swiss ghost resort below the Grand-Saint-Bernard pass, killed in 2010 by the cost of bringing its 1962 Giovanola gondola up to code; the cabins, pylons and buildings are still rotting on the mountain.
- Region
- Valais
- Country
- Switzerland
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1963
- Year closed
- 2010
- Reason for closure
- The Menouve gondola dated from 1962 and could not be brought up to current Swiss safety standards in time. Around 25 million Swiss francs was needed to renew the lift system and the owner could not raise it, so the resort shut permanently in 2010 after 47 years. Dismantling has been estimated at close to 2 million francs and has still not been carried out.
History
Super Saint-Bernard stood at Bourg-Saint-Bernard, in the commune of Bourg-Saint-Pierre in the Valais, at the mouth of the Grand-Saint-Bernard tunnel. Albert Monnet had the Menouve gondola built in 1962 and sold it on to the commune, and the resort opened in 1963, running from 1,900 m to 2,770 m for 850 m of vertical on north-facing terrain that took around 14 metres of snow a year and held it from autumn into late spring. One of its runs dropped over the frontier into Italy, and the mountain earned a reputation among off-piste skiers well beyond its size. The commune decided to close it in 2002; the hotelier Claude Lattion bought the station for one Swiss franc and kept it going, but the 1962 gondola could not be made compliant with modern safety rules without roughly 25 million francs of investment, which he could not raise, and it shut for good in 2010. Nothing has been taken down since. The three lifts, the cabins and the base buildings have been left to rust and rot, the site has become a magnet for urban explorers and for groups who have set about wrecking what remains, and the commune has been left with a dismantling bill approaching 2 million francs. Ski tourers now skin the old pistes, and the French ski brand Black Crows filmed the resort for its Ghost Resorts series. Piste names are not recorded in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Télécabine de Menouve | Gondola - 4 passenger | Giovanola | Continuous-movement detachable gondola, 2,559 m long with 843 m of vertical rise, 49 cabins and a capacity of 600 people an hour; ran from Bourg-Saint-Bernard at 1,932 m to the Col de Menouve at 2,775 m. Built 1962, decommissioned 2010, still standing. It used a gravity-operated grip designed and later patented by Giovanola engineer Marc Dufour |
| Unnamed lift | The resort had three lifts in total at closure; the names, types and dates of the two smaller lifts alongside the Menouve gondola are not recorded in accessible sources |
Sources and further reading
- https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Saint-Bernard
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_St-Bernard
- https://www.seilbahninventar.ch/objekt.php?objid=40575&lang=fr
- https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/13223143-le-cassetete-du-demontage-de-lancienne-station-de-ski-de-super-saintbernard-vs.html
- https://www.lenouvelliste.ch/valais/bas-valais/entremont-district/bourg-saint-pierre-commune/super-saint-bernard-la-station-abandonnee-renait-dans-un-film-de-ski-nostalgique-1439546
More in Switzerland
Location
45.9004, 7.1953