MND Group, a leading supplier of innovative mountain development and urban mobility solutions, and Société d'Aménagement de La Plagne (SAP), a Compagnie des Alpes subsidiary, today announce that the new Envers detachable chairlift will open to the public by the end of January 2017.

Mid-April 2016, SAP ordered a 6-seater detachable chairlift from LST, an MND Group company specialised in cable transport. This latest generation chairlift comes with state-of-the art technology significantly enhancing performance and safety while cutting operating and maintenance costs. 

MND has invested several million euros over the last 24 months and hired over 20 engineers and R&D technicians based in Savoie in order to develop this new innovation, which is protected by a number of patents. Having successfully completed operating trials on its test bench early in the year, over the last 6 months MND completed the industrial stage of this chairlift, the first to be installed under the partnership signed with the La Plagne resort.

The chairlift must be fully installed by the Christmas holidays. SAP is responsible for installing the chairlift and will mobilise its entire technical team in order to complete the task within the required deadlines. Following a final commissioning and certification phase lasting approximately 6 weeks, the chairlift will open to the public in late January, just in time for the February rush of skiers during the half-term school holidays.

Jean-Yves Salle, SAP CEO, said: "SAP was won over by LST's state-of-the art technology. This new chairlift will cope better with changing volumes of skiers and will shore up facilities to cater for increased accommodation capacity in Montalbert and Aime 2000, while also satisfying all safety, comfort and design requirements. Installing every new chairlift is a genuine technical and timing challenge and our installation people, who know the environment perfectly, are fully mobilised so as to provide skiers with world-class, effective and safe ski lifts once the season is in full swing.”

Xavier Gallot-Lavallée, Group Chief Executive Officer, commented: "I would like to applaud the tremendous work done by the LST people, who have succeeded in developing an innovative, robust, attractive and economical chairlift. We are particularly proud to deliver this initial detachable solution for La Plagne, a subsidiary of the Compagnie des Alpes and the world's No. 1 ski resort. We continue to actively develop our detachable range and hope to announce shortly the sale of new lifts for next year.”

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