Ski raid in the Queyras: agriculture at the heart of the transition

From January 31 to February 4, two humanities and social sciences researchers from Grenoble Alpes University – Yann Borgnet and Mikaël Chambru – led a group of ski tourers into the Queyras mountains.

Along the way, they led discussions with local residents in an attempt to define the contours of the massif’s transition. The starting point for these discussions was agriculture, the theme chosen for the first edition of this initiative. Throughout their 3,500-meter-long itinerary, which took them from Arvieux to Abriès via the villages of Soulliers and Aiguilles, the group met a number of players involved in the area, including :

– Alain Blanc, former farmer and ex-mayor of Arvieux, talking about the historical links between tourism and agriculture in the massif.

– Christian Grossan, former mayor of Ceillac and president of the Queyras Regional Nature Park, who sees tourism as an opportunity to drive the region’s transition, restoring the once-dominant role of agriculture.

– Xavier Bletterie, in charge of agriculture at the Parc naturel régional du Queyras, presenting the many local initiatives around agriculture in the Queyras, like so many social innovations engaging the transition away from “all-ski” and “all-tourism”.

– Chantal Humbert, manager of Les Oules agritourism since 1985, on the close links between tourism and agriculture in her professional activity.

– Marie Constensous, Director of the Guillestrois-Queyras Tourist Office, discussing the place of tourism and downhill skiing – which remains a structuring activity – in the region, and the outlook for the coming years.

– Nicolas Crunchant, mayor of Abriès-Ristolas and mountain guide, explaining what the municipality is doing to initiate the transition of the region and make it less dependent on tourism.

The story of this ski raid can be found on Mikaël Chambru’s twitter feed. This initiative, which will be the subject of a 26-minute documentary to be screened at film festivals, was reported in the Dauphiné Libéré.

Find out more about this project and its Science and Society dimension.