The Sancy has 3 ski resorts including 2 large (Super-Besse and Le Mont-Dore) and 1 small (Chastreix-Sancy). Cantal, 100 Km south of Sancy, has a unique resort: le Lioran. Super-Besse, Le Mont-Dore and Le Lioran are major resorts of the Massif Central, And it is these resorts that I invite you to discover now.
So, we will start by the Sancy, in Super-Besse.
SL Madalet 1/2
End of the SL Madalet 2. The SL Madalet 1 climb to permit access to SL Paillaret 1.2
On the right, Super-Besse
SL Paillaret 1/2
The connection with Le Mont-Dore is open, so we use the only SL Ferrand-Sud. A SL rather than a chairlift or funitel or other lift because they are a lot of wind and frost during all the winter above 1500m (1500m is the limit to which trees grow in Sancy and Cantal). And two SL are impossible because the SL Ferrand-Nord and Ferrand-Sud are in a protect aera.
Le Mont-Dore, with SL Dore 1, delete in summer 2012.
Arrival of the SL Dore 1
4SB Dore
SL Pied de la A, delete in summer 2012.
Now, the sector of Chômets
2SB Chômets
4SB Longes, the second CCM Finotello Chairlift in France (built in 2011).
Les Longes
Now, we climb for return in altitude. For this, three ways:
Way 1 : The cable-car Sancy 1, built in 1936 and still original except the cabins. It is the last manually operated cable-car in France. It works only in case of failure or revision of the cable-car Sancy 2. It will be renovated soon.
In operation (october 2011)
Way 2 : The cable-car Sancy 2, built in 1962.
left to right : SL Plateau, 4SB Dore, SL Ferrand-Nord (return to Super-Besse) and SL Pas de l'Âne
And the Way 3 : the 4SB Dore, built in 2002 and replace the SL Dore 1 (delete in 2012) and the SL Dore 2 (delete in 2002)
The slope of France championships "Gauthier de Teissières"
In background, SL "Dore 1" and SL "Pied de la A"
Pylon of the cable-car Sancy 1
Arrival of the 2 cable-cars
SL Pas de l'Âne
Puy de Sancy, 1886m, summit of Sancy and all Massif Central
SL Ferrand-Nord, return to Super-Besse
The North from Puy Ferrand...
...And the South from Puy Ferrand with SL Ferrand-Sud. In background, you can see the Massif du Cantal.
The same photo with best views in 2006.
SL Col de Couhay and SL Ferrand-Sud
SL Col de Couhay, built in 2005
45 minutes to wait for skiers returning at le Mont-Dore
Super-Besse, and SL Perdrix 1/2
2SB Cascade, built in 1965 by Poma. Seats are changed in 2001 by Gimar-Montaz-Mautino
2SB Falaise, built in 1967 and renove by Poma in 2005 with new seats and engine station
4SB Perce-Neige, built in 1998
4SB Bois du Loup, built in 2010
4SB Plaine des Moutons, built in 1989
And the Funitel of Perdrix, built by Poma in 2008, the only solution to replace the old gondola in a also windy massif
SL Bergerie and Funitel
And the old 6GB, build in 1974 by Weber, using Muller's grip, the last in France using this type of grip. It operated at 2.5 m/s with 1500 p/h and had a max speed of 3.4 m/s (photos taking in 2008 before it was broken and replace by the funitel)
Next post : A day at Le Lioran...