When the Céüze 2000 ski resort closed at the end of the 2018 season, the staff expected to return the following winter. Maps of the slopes were left piled beside a stapler; the staff schedule remained pinned to the wall.
Six years later, a yellowed newspaper dated March 8, 2018, lies folded on its side, as if someone had just been browsing it during a quiet moment. A half-empty bottle of water still sits on the table.
The Céüze resort in the southern French Alps had operated for 85 years and was one of the country’s oldest. Today, it is among the many abandoned ski resorts across France—part of a growing landscape of “ghost stations.”
More than 186 have already shut permanently, raising questions about how we leave the mountains—some of Europe’s last wild spaces—once the ski lifts stop running.
Snowfall at Céüze began to become unreliable in the 1990s. To remain financially viable, the resort needed to be open for at least three months. In its final winter, it managed only a month and a half. For the two years before that, it hadn’t operated at all.
Opening the resort each season cost the local authority up to €450,000. As the season grew shorter, the numbers no longer made sense. To avoid falling into debt, the decision was made to close.
“It was costing us more to keep it open than to keep it closed for the season,” says Michel Ricou-Charles, president of the local Buëch-Dévoluy community council, which oversees the site. Even under the most optimistic projections, the future looked bleak. “We looked into using artificial snow, but realized that would only delay the inevitable,” he says.
It took seven years before trucks and helicopters arrived to begin removing the pylons. Still, the local community mourned the small, family-oriented resort, which held generations of memories. As demolition began, people came to collect nuts, bolts, and washers as keepsakes of what they had lost.
Degrading Wild Terrain
In France, there are now 113 abandoned ski lifts, totaling nearly 40 miles in length—nearly three-quarters of them in protected areas. And it’s not just ski infrastructure. The Mountain Wilderness association estimates that over 3,000 abandoned structures are scattered across the French mountains, slowly degrading some of Europe’s richest wild terrain. This includes military, industrial, and forestry waste, such as old cables, bits of barbed wire, fencing, and outdated machinery.
The Céüze ski resort is quickly becoming one of these pollutants. The small wooden cabin at the base of the first button lift is shedding insulation. Ropes once used to mark the slopes hang in tatters, and pieces of plastic are falling off a pylon. The old sheds at each end of the ski lifts often still contain transformers, asbestos, motor oils, and greases. Over time, these substances seep into the soil and water.
Corrosion and rust from metal structures left over from World War II—such as anti-tank rails and metal spikes—have already altered plant species in surrounding areas. This may offer a glimpse of what could happen if ski lift pylons are left to rust over the coming decades.Don’t think you are creating things that will last forever; they will eventually become obsolete. Ask yourself: what will remain?
Nicolas Masson, Mountain Wilderness
“In Latin, we say memento mori—remember that you are mortal. Don’t think you are making eternal things; they will end up becoming obsolete,” says Nicolas Masson from Mountain Wilderness, an organization campaigning to dismantle old ski infrastructure to restore nature. “When you build them, ask yourself: what will remain?”
Some argue that resorts should be preserved as memorial landscapes, honoring generations who lived and skied there, while others believe they should be returned to wild landscapes by removing decaying machinery.
Ecologist Nicolas Masson is part of a campaign to dismantle old ski infrastructure.
Nature’s Recovery
The deconstruction of Céüze began on November 4, 2025, a month before the ski season would have started. The resort’s ski lifts were airlifted out by helicopter to minimize environmental damage and soil compression.
French law requires unused ski lifts to be removed and dismantled, but this only applies to lifts built after 2017. Most lifts last about 30 years, meaning none would be considered obsolete until at least 2047. The process is also costly: dismantling Céüze will cost €123,000. As a result, most abandoned ski infrastructure is left to decay in place. What is happening in Céüze is rare.
With pylons cleared and the resort closed for seven years, early signs of ecological recovery are already visible. A red haze floats over the white snow: winter berries of the dog rose are sprouting where the ski slope is no longer maintained.
The berries provide important winter food for birds like the rare red-billed chough, and their thorny stems are used for nest-building in spring. In summer, orchids and yellow gentians bloom across these hillsides. The surrounding hills are classified as Natura 2000, meaning they are home to some of Europe’s rarest and most protected wildlife.
Trees are also returning. “I don’t know if it will take 10, 20, or 50 years, but this is becoming a forest,” says Masson.
“A fraction of a degree changes everything in the mountain environment. It’s the difference between snow and no snow,” Masson adds.
Wild boar and roe deer living in these forests will benefit from quieter winters. Birds like grouse, which shelter from severe cold by digging into deep powdery snow—much like skiers prefer—are endangered across all French mountain ranges.
The dismantling of Céüze comes at a time when natural spaces are shrinking. Pierre-Alexandre Métral, a geographer at the University of Grenoble Alpes who studies abandoned ski resorts, says, “There is a lot of debate about the nature of this dismantling—is it just removing mechanical structures, or are we trying to restore the mountains to their original state?”
Ecological recovery can be full of surprises, he notes, pointing out that maintaining ski slopes can sometimes benefit certain alpine flowers. “If we let nature return spontaneously—in a wild, uncontrolled way—there is also a risk that invasive species, which tend to be stronger, could colonize the area faster,” says Métral.
The hills around the former resort are home to some of Europe’s rarest and most protected wildlife.
There is limited research in this area, but studies from the closure of the Valcotos ski resort in Madrid’s Sierra de Guadarrama in 1999 show it led to significant recovery of native vegetation and cleaner waterways, while reducing…Soil erosion. “These sites show us what the mountain could become in the future with further closures,” says Métral.
On the Brink
The question of what to do with these places will be faced across Europe’s mountains and around the world. Skiing is disappearing from many alpine landscapes. “Many lower resorts are already closed,” says Masson. “A fraction of a degree changes everything in the mountain environment. It’s the difference between having snow and no snow.”
Research suggests that with 2°C (3.6°F) of global heating, more than half of existing resorts risk having insufficient snow. Higher altitude resorts are vulnerable to permafrost loss, which threatens the pylons drilled into it. Some resorts, like St-Honoré 1500, were abandoned before construction was even finished. Even larger resorts, which typically have funds to invest in new slopes and artificial snow, are struggling to survive.
For some, the loss of Céüze feels premature. Richard Klein, who lives near Céüze, believes the ski resort could—and should—have been saved. “It’s a wonderful place to learn to ski—it’s the best. I think it’s really stupid they closed it,” he says. “There were always loads of people.” Klein believes the local authority should have started using artificial snow, adding, “Now it’s too late.”
Yet life has not disappeared from Céüze. In October 2025, the resort’s Hotel Galliard is being sold to a developer looking to open it for events, according to Ricou-Charles. A property developer has bought the children’s holiday residence, and a carpenter has moved into the old ticket office building. The rooms used as a holiday camp for children have cracks appearing down the side, but might open again in the future.
“Céüze will continue to live, despite the loss of the resort,” says Ricou-Charles. “We are not mourning Céüze because it is not dead.”
On winter weekends, dozens of cars still gather in the car park, with people enjoying quieter activities on the hillside, such as walking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and sledding.
Masson dislikes the term “ghost resort” because it suggests total abandonment, when what is happening in his area is more nuanced. “People continue to come,” he says. “We don’t need large machines to make mountains attractive.”
What happens at Céüze offers a glimpse into a future facing dozens of other small resorts and mountain landscapes across Europe. “What is our heritage that we will want to keep,” asks Masson, “and what is just a ruin we want to dismantle? That is a question we have to ask every time, and it requires some reflection.”
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs Ghost Resorts in the Alps
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What exactly is a ghost resort in the Alps
A ghost resort refers to a former ski village or town where the ski lifts have stopped running hotels and shops have closed and the infrastructure is slowly being abandoned Its a place where winter tourism has largely disappeared allowing nature to gradually reclaim the built environment
2 Why are ski slopes being left unused
The main reasons are climate change rising operational costs changing tourist preferences and sometimes overinvestment in the past For some smaller loweraltitude resorts its simply no longer economically or environmentally sustainable to make artificial snow and maintain lifts
3 Is this happening right now or is it a future prediction
Its happening now but its a gradual process Some smaller loweraltitude resorts in the Alps have already closed or drastically reduced operations The trend is expected to accelerate in the coming decades as warming continues
4 What happens to these places if theyre abandoned
Initially buildings and infrastructure decay Over time plants trees and wildlife move back in Trails get overgrown and the landscape starts to look more natural The area might shift to summer tourism or become a quiet residential area
5 Is a ghost resort a bad thing
Its complex Its bad for the local economy and community that relied on skiing However from an ecological perspective it can benefit nature by reducing habitat fragmentation pollution from snowmaking and overall human pressure on the alpine environment
Advanced Practical Questions
6 Which parts of the Alps are most at risk of becoming ghost resorts
Resorts at lower altitudes are most vulnerable because they face the greatest snow scarcity Smaller less famous resorts with fewer financial resources to invest in snowmaking or diversification are also at higher risk
7 Cant they just make more artificial snow to save the resorts
Artificial snow is expensive energy and waterintensive and has environmental impacts It also requires specific cold temperatures to work As winters warm the window for making snow gets shorter making it a less viable longterm solution for many resorts
