Puigmal 2900 (Err-Puigmal)
The highest ski domain in the French Pyrenees, sunk by nine million euros of debt in 2013, reopened by enthusiasts in 2021 and put into judicial liquidation again at the end of 2023.
- Region
- Pyrénées-Orientales
- Country
- France
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1970
- Year closed
- 2023
- Reason for closure
- Closed the first time in 2013 when the intercommunal operator ran up debts of more than nine million euros after heavy investment in 2004 and 2007 met years of poor snow. A group of backers from Toulouse and Bordeaux reopened it on 21 December 2021 on a restricted model, capping attendance at 1,500 a day and running only part of the week, but the snowless 2022-23 winter and rising energy costs finished it: the Perpignan court ordered judicial liquidation at the end of 2023.
History
Err-Puigmal 2600, marketed latterly as Puigmal 2900, sat above the village of Err in the Pyrénées-Orientales, a couple of kilometres from the Spanish border on the flank of the Puigmal d'Err, which reaches 2,910 m. Developed from 1970 and given chairlifts in the early 1990s, it ran between 1,835 m and 2,665 m, the highest ski area in the French Pyrenees, with 320 hectares and 35 km of piste across 35 runs graded five black, fourteen red, five blue and three green, plus two snowparks and four boardercross courses, much of it cut through fir and pine. Two chairlifts, seven drag lifts, two rope lifts and a snow rope served it. Big investments in 2004 and 2007 were not repaid by the winters that followed and by 2013 the intercommunal operator was more than nine million euros in debt; the authorities gave up and the station closed. It became a symbol of the Pyrenean stations that overreached, then had an unexpected second life when a group of backers from Toulouse and Bordeaux reopened it on 21 December 2021 with an explicitly eco-minded, low-volume model - a cap of 1,500 skiers a day and only part-week operation. Two thin winters and an energy price shock ended that too, and the Perpignan commercial court ordered its judicial liquidation at the end of 2023. Individual lift and piste names are not compiled in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift | One of two chairlifts, installed in the early 1990s | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift | The second of the two early-1990s chairlifts | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | The domain had seven drag lifts, two rope lifts and a snow rope alongside the chairlifts. Individual names, manufacturers and build years are not compiled in accessible sources |
Sources and further reading
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Err-Puigmal
- https://www.altitude.news/business/2023/10/20/puigmal-2900-station-ski-pyrenees-liquidation-judiciaire/
- https://www.ici.fr/infos/societe/puigmal-la-fin-du-reve-d-une-station-ecoresponsable-2373219
- https://www.grizette.com/station-de-ski-pyrenees-puigmal-2900/
More in France
Location
42.4111, 2.0583