Back to the land of childhood. “In my Savoyard country, the peaks lead to the banks” by Anne-Laure Bovéron

There are little paradises that we flee. Voluntarily, without a glance or almost. It took the teenager that I was the geographical distance to reveal to me the beauties of this little corner of Savoy, so familiar that I had forgotten to contemplate them. The distance also accentuates a lack: that of the snow and the serene brilliance that it gives to winters.

As children, my brother and I would ski, sled, and even carry garbage bags down the fields and streets of Mouxy, our village of 1,300 inhabitants at the time, nestled on the hillsides of Aix-les-Bains. Snowflakes fell in abundance on the village, perched at an altitude of just 400 m. Now, even at 1,500 m, the Revard sometimes struggles to turn white for long. For this resort in the Bauges massif, the first built in France in 1908, the winter season is inexorably getting shorter.

“Twenty years ago,” Daniel Appell, a mountain guide, tells me, “I used to go to the slopes from my house on touring skis. The snow covered everything at -15°C. It was sublime. There aren’t many days like that anymore. The situation is changing.” And the first victims are to be deplored: alpine skiing and its economic model inherited from the 1960s. A third of the 61 Savoyard resorts are located below 1,800 m. They are living their last years of operation in fifteen years. Twenty years, perhaps. The Revard resort is no exception despite the northerly orientation of its 14 slopes. It was here, in the 1990s, with the school and my parents, that I learned to ski like many of my neighbours in the valley. As every time I go up there, I see us again hurtling down the black Ébats slope in one go.

Since the 2010s, snow cannons and a wider range of activities, from snowshoeing to biathlon, have been trying to maintain winter life… However, no one is fooled. “We have to accompany skiing with its natural death, but it’s not easy,” admits Peggy Viola, deputy mayor of Montcel and representative of the Grand Lac urban community with the Mixed Syndicate of Bauges Stations (SMSB) in charge of tourism development in Savoie Grand Revard (which includes Revard, Féclaz and Saint-François-de-Sales). Changes take time in a region where families have lived with and from skiing for generations. “If there is no more snow,” Jean-Luc Desbois, director of the Bauges Massif Regional Nature Park, told me, “attracting people will be difficult. We will not be able to redevelop an economy with such dense spinoffs.”

Some are banking on early springs. After walking up the ski lift for the tubing activity, which I have never seen working in its seven years of existence, I walk along the start of the slopes, Place de la Crémaillère. In the distance, between the trees resplendent in shades of green, is Mont Blanc. In front of his shop, the only one open all year round in Revard, Laurent Maillet cleans the mud off three mountain bikes returning from rentals. On weekends, his entire fleet is stormed. “The 2024 summer season started in March: given the lack of snow, customers asked me to take the bikes out,” he explains to me, sheltered from the chilling westerly wind. So-called four-season tourism is therefore trying to make its way by promoting hiking, opening a chairlift for walkers and cyclists in the spring, creating themed trails, etc.

In addition to these outdoor activities, others, which are difficult to quantify and control, are gaining momentum, such as bivouacking. “On hot nights, people from Aix come up to sleep here, in the cool,” jokes Daniel Appell. Hikers too. So many practices that generate conflicts of use between inhabitants of the massif and the valley, farmers and foresters, regular sportsmen and women and curious passers-by. All this in a fragile ecosystem that needs to be preserved. In addition, seasonal labour needs to be found in a region where full employment is a reality. Not to mention that it is difficult to make the opening of infrastructures profitable in mid-season, with a scattered and fluctuating clientele. So many parameters that probably explain why projects, which I have been hearing about for years, are still sleeping in boxes. One of them proposes to rebuild, at the foot of the Revard belvedere, the Lang chalet in Courchevel. A piece of Savoyard architectural heritage. However, a visit to this astonishing chalet on stilts, combined with a fun session of “four-season sledding” – a project also awaiting completion – could push visitors to spend more than 25 minutes on average on site.

Full speed ahead to the lake

But today, the heart of the tourist activity has moved. It beats below the Revard, at the Lac du Bourget. I leave the hypnotic view of the largest natural lake in France, lying at the foot of Aix-les-Bains, to begin the 33 km of descent that will take me to it. They begin with bends under a canopy of tender buds. Direction, the banks of this emerald expanse, crossing three villages, including mine, and the charming town of Aix-les-Bains. A woody scent penetrates the interior of the car, and chases away a tenacious memory: on the bus that took us back to school, the smells of the sick friend on the way there combined with the scent of sweat and wet ski suits. Skiing no longer seemed so precious to me! I was waiting for summer and its rare – but dear to my heart – lakeside picnics.

For a long time, the people of Aix feared the wrath of the lake, darkening and billowing in the blink of an eye. In 1994 and 1995, it took me a windsurfing course at the municipal nautical club and the summer ritual of a pedal boat trip with my friend Céline to tame it beyond swimming. Now, the locals no longer seem to fear it. Optimist, water skiing, rowing, kayaking and windsurfing coexist with fishing boats, pleasure boats and cruisers, the lake’s primary tourist activity. They all share this playground, between sport and well-being. “The first tourist is the local,” likes to point out Michel Frugier, president of the territorial attractiveness agency and elected official defending, among other things, the tourist issue at the level of the city and the Grand Lac agglomeration. See you at the lake, the population of the Aix basin (80,000 local residents in 2023, a figure that has increased over the last ten years), tourists and spa visitors seem to be saying.

The Savoyard Riviera

The lake, however, has come a long way. In the 1980s, it was saved from asphyxiation. In 1998, Michel Barnier, then president of the Savoie general council, came up with a fifteen-year plan. The developments I enjoy today are the result of this. Like the exceptional waterfront path completed in 2011. Last year, 400,000 people passed through it. My friend Céline uses it to get to her offices in Bourget-du-Lac. “Before, I wouldn’t have dared to take my bike out; the main road was dangerous. This walk allowed me to rediscover the lake. The colours, the sky, the water are constantly changing, I never tire of it. It’s easy to be amazed.”

It must be said that everything lends itself to it. The territorial attractiveness agency has worked in this direction. I am always surprised, and seduced, when getting off the train each time I return to my native land. Colorful drawings of the lake welcome travelers. When you discover them, you only want to run to the shore! Since 2016, we have been talking about Aix-les-Bains, Riviera Alpes. Riviera meaning the mountain that flows into the water, exactly like Mont du Chat and its wild coast. Regional, French and international tourists have also taken the bait. They flock in summer, with a peak in August. “Last year, tourism brought more than 162 million in economic spinoffs and represented 2,100 jobs,” explains Michel Frugier. As the sun sets behind the Dent du Chat, many local residents are at the lake in mid-June. Some walk along the promenade, others slip into the water, others, like this little boy with a backhoe, enjoy the beach. Sitting not far from him, I watch the grey wagtails looking for crumbs between the pebbles of Rowing beach and mallards joining the reed beds. In this corner of Savoie, if the beauty of the snow slowly fades, other panoramas sparkle with more vigor.