• A parade of dump trucks filled with snow… This is what the inhabitants of Grand-Bornand (Haute-Savoie) experienced last week.

  • But where were they all going?

    On the place which will host, from December 15 to 18, the biathlon world cup stage.

  • An association for the defense of natural heritage denounces this practice.

    The organizer responds.

It snowed in Grand-Bornand!

Well almost.

Only a small part of the Haute-Savoie resort is covered with its white coat: that which will host the Biathlon World Cup event, from December 15 to 18.

The snowflakes did not choose their destination on their own.

They were transported there by dozens of dump trucks last week.

“It lasted about four days and I had counted that it passed one per minute, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.,” recalls

Carole Ormond from

20 Minutes .

The president of the association for the preservation of natural heritage "Protégeons La Joyère" found this ballet "very shocking".

“It's like in China, like what was denounced at the last Beijing Olympics.

It comes down to using technology to compensate for what nature no longer gives us.

»



Precisely, these convoys carried artificially created snow last winter and since stored in several huge holes covered with sawdust.

A total of 24,000 tons were needed for the course.

“Half comes from the reserve located on the competition stadium and therefore does not require any transport”, specified André Perrillat-Amédé, president of the organizing committee of the event and mayor of Grand-Bornand.

In a press release, the elected official said he understood "that the images of the transport of stored snow arouse strong reactions, but it is also important to specify that this transport represents less than 1% of the CO2 emissions of the event (4,500 tonnes in 2021).

Or, according to the station's calculations, 38 tons, roughly the annual production of four French people.

But in a few days.

“This recourse to snowfarming exists everywhere”

Other arguments put forward by the organizer: this snow will be used again for cross-country skiing in season and above all, he had no choice.

In its specifications, the International Biathlon Federation (IBU) requires the holding of a scheduled competition, snow or not.

With precise measurements for the track: 50 centimeters thick for widths ranging from 4 to 9 meters.

“The calendar for this event may then be badly chosen, the IBU should take this into account,” remarks Carole Ormond.

“This recourse to snowfarming (snow reserve) exists everywhere”, we qualify on the side of the French biathlon team.

“We were in Finland last weekend for the first stage of the World Cup and there was already artificial snow.

It's really only from January that the tours take place on natural snow.

But at that time, we are going to Oberhof, Ruhpolding (Germany) and Antholz (Italy)…”

Either in historic resorts for this sport, when Grand-Bornand only hosts the World Cup for the fifth time in history.

For these four days, 250 athletes and nearly 60,000 spectators are expected.

“The organization of the collective movement of spectators from the valleys […] weighs for more than 80% of our carbon footprint”, recalls the organizer, aware that “any event, and in particular of an international scale, has an environmental impact not negligible”.

"It's true but that does not prevent you from asking questions, especially in this period of sobriety", reacts the president of the association "Protégeons La Joyère".

The world's most famous trail runner, Kylian Jornet, agrees.

"Snow sports are definitely the most affected by climate change," he tweeted.

“They should lead the world of sport towards a more sustainable transition instead of ignoring what is happening.

»

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