Training, equipment loans, sharing of expertise, staff exchanges, commercial cooperation… A few months after launching its national mentoring programme, Domaines Skiables de France is taking stock of its progress. Around forty partnerships are now underway between French ski areas. Behind these partnerships lies a single ambition: to provide smaller resorts with greater resources to tackle economic, technical and climatic challenges, whilst preserving the vital role they play in mountain regions.
A few months ago, the idea might still have seemed, above all, like a nice notion: to organise on a national scale the informal solidarity that has always existed amongst mountain professionals. Now, the sponsorship scheme devised by Domaines Skiables de France (DSF) is entering a new phase: the practical phase.
There are currently around forty twinning arrangements in place between volunteer stations. Some are already beginning to yield very tangible results: staff exchanges, skills transfer, technical assistance, staff training, the provision of equipment and even cross-selling opportunities.
Solidarity that is no longer confined to good intentions
The scheme is based on a fairly simple observation. Small ski resorts play a crucial role in the French skiing ecosystem: teaching people to ski, providing local recreational opportunities, boosting the local economy, and safeguarding jobs in the valleys… Yet they do not necessarily have the same human, technical or financial resources as the large ski areas.
Yet they must meet the same regulatory, technical and environmental requirements, against a backdrop of rising costs and greater variability in snowfall. DSF therefore aims to create a genuine leveraging effect by making available to them some of the experience and expertise accumulated by other operators.
Sponsorship is therefore based on three pillars.
The first relates to strategy and management: business models, human resources, public service contracts, year-round diversification, the energy transition and adaptation to climate change, notably through the use of tools such as Climsnow.
The second is much more operational: piste safety, ski lifts, piste grooming, artificial snow, preventive maintenance, relations with suppliers and equipment maintenance.
The third focuses on CSR and local integration, ranging from carbon assessments to biodiversity, including water sharing, the decommissioning of obsolete equipment and the circulation of second-hand equipment.
The aim, therefore, is not so much to ‘advise’ small organisations as to give them access to technical expertise that they do not always have the capacity to develop in-house.
La Rosière and the Ballon d’Alsace: the sponsorship deal has already resulted in a special offer for skiers
Among the first initiatives presented by DSF, the partnership between La Rosière Domaine Outdoor and the Ballon d’Alsace demonstrates just how far this solidarity can go. On 8 and 9 September 2026, teams from La Rosière visited the site of the Syndicat Mixte Interdépartemental du Ballon d’Alsace. The latter operates, amongst other things, seven ski lifts and has snow-making equipment.
The agenda for the discussions included: organising the sector, identifying support mechanisms and sharing experiences between teams. However, the discussions have already moved beyond a purely technical framework.
A first, very practical measure has been agreed: reciprocity between the two ski areas. Customers from Savoie will thus be able to enjoy three days’ skiing at the Ballon d’Alsace, whilst skiers from the Vosges will be able to enjoy the Espace San Bernardo, the Franco-Italian ski area to which La Rosière belongs. This initiative is interesting for more than one reason. It shows that sponsorship is not just about sharing expertise between technicians or managers: it can also lead to commercial links that are directly visible to skiers.
From the Tarentaise to the Drôme: passing on skills… and resources
Another very practical example is the partnership between the Stations de la Drôme and two operators in the Tarentaise region. On 7 July 2026, Christian Morin, chairman of Stations de la Drôme, signed a partnership agreement with Didier Bobillier, managing director of SEVABEL, a subsidiary of la Compagnie des Alpes which operates Les Menuires, and Raphaël Luzy, deputy managing director of the Régie des pistes des Belleville, which operates in Saint-Martin-de-Belleville, Les Menuires and Val Thorens.
Teams from the Tarentaise travelled to Font d’Urle and the Col de Rousset to explore these areas and identify areas for cooperation.
Here again, the content of the agreement demonstrates the extent to which the term ‘sponsorship’ encompasses tangible actions: technical training for staff, ad hoc supplies of spare parts and equipment, staff support at certain key times, exchanges of expertise and the development of joint communication initiatives.
In other words, when a small operator faces a one-off difficulty, the response can take on a collective nature. This pooling of resources takes on particular significance in a sector where certain skills are highly specialised and where maintaining a high level of technical expertise entails costs that are difficult to compare between a large estate and a resort operating just a few ski lifts.
Morzine and Mont Serein: fostering a shared culture
In Morzine and at Mont Serein, the partnership began with a meeting. A delegation from Morzine visited the Mont Serein ski area to discuss matters with the local teams. The visit provided an opportunity to compare experiences, methods and best practice before discussing the next stages of the partnership. This human dimension may seem less spectacular than lending a piece of machinery or making a member of staff available, but it is probably one of the key driving forces behind the scheme.
Because behind the ski resorts, it is, above all, the teams who need to be able to contact one another, compare their practices and quickly identify the person most likely to provide an answer.
Font-Romeu – Les Estables: one of the first pairs had already paved the way
In our first article on the scheme, I Love Ski reported in particular on the merger between Font-Romeu Pyrénées 2000 and Les Estables, one of the first officially confirmed partnerships alongside that between Chamrousse and Saint-Hugues-les Égaux, announced at Mountain Planet on 21 April.
This first example had already helped to illustrate one of the distinctive features of the scheme: the mentor is not there to replicate their own model. A large or medium-sized estate obviously does not operate in the same environment as a small farm. Rather, the aim is to share methods, compare tools and help the other farmer identify solutions suited to their own circumstances.
Do not let any territory ‘fall behind’
For Anne Marty, Chair of Domaines Skiables de France, this is precisely the aim of the programme. “With this sponsorship programme, we are building on what is already the strength of our industry: a very tangible sense of solidarity between large ski areas and small resorts. The aim is simple: to ensure that no region is left behind in the face of the climatic, economic and social challenges affecting mountain communities.”
The choice of words is important. It is not simply a matter of preserving ski lifts: behind these ski areas lie training centres, jobs, local businesses, ski schools and, more broadly, the local economy.
DSF also wishes to extend this approach to other stakeholders: local authorities, suppliers, farmers and ski schools, building on existing partnerships relating to the sharing of water, mountain pastures and landscape conservation.
A spirit of solidarity that already existed, but which is now taking on a new dimension
However, the sponsorship scheme is not starting from scratch. For more than twenty years, the industry has had, in particular, Nivalliance, a mutual insurance fund to cover the risks associated with snow conditions, which is 100 per cent funded by ski resorts. According to DSF, more than 23 million euros have been redistributed since 2005 to the operators most at risk.
Added to this are the simplification measures aimed at the 100 smallest farmers, the second-hand equipment platform and the voluntary schemes to dismantle obsolete installations.
What is new, therefore, lies not so much in the emergence of solidarity as in its structuring. What was previously a matter of personal relationships, mutual aid between neighbours or one-off initiatives now takes the form of an organised, identifiable network capable of mobilising the skills available across the entire profession.
In Valence, the small resorts at the heart of the DSF Congress
The 2026 Domaines Skiables de France Congress, held this week in Valence, also served to accelerate this initiative. All small resorts were invited to attend the congress free of charge, and a special session was dedicated to them on the morning of Friday 25 September.
The message being sent by the industry is far from insignificant. For whilst much of the discussion about the future of skiing is, understandably, focused on adapting to climate change, energy efficiency or major investments by large ski areas, this initiative brings another aspect of the French mountains back into the spotlight: local ski resorts.
They do not have the same resources. They do not necessarily target the same customer base. But they are often the first point of contact with snow and skiing for thousands of participants.
With around forty sponsorship agreements already in place, DSF is therefore seeking to transform a long-standing culture of mutual support into a genuine collective tool. And the first examples show that this solidarity is no longer merely a statement of principle: it now takes the form of expertise, spare parts, staff, training, skiing days… and, above all, time devoted by one resort to another.
Perhaps this is ultimately where the strength of the scheme lies: in reminding us that, regardless of their differences in size, altitude or business model, ski resorts are all part of the same ecosystem, and that it is in their shared interest to preserve it.
