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The new Alp POUM presented a few months ago, includes the construction of a cable car to connect the La Molina train station with the Pista Llarga ski area of the winter resort. A project that not only seeks to facilitate the arrival of skiers by rail, but also to unite the three residential areas of Barri de la Estació, Verge de Les Neus and Supermolina.
This is a project that has been in the works for several years with the aim of recovering the connection by ski lift that existed so that skiers could reach the slopes directly from the train station.
Proposed stops for the new gondola lift at La Molina
In 1946 , the first chairlift in Spain was inaugurated in La Molina. Named Turó de la Perdiu because it crossed a forest with that name, it was a milestone in skiing. It started at the Xalet that the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya had built in 1926 at elevation 1,567 and from there it made a slow journey to the Turó, where new ski areas were being developed.
But to get up there the skiers, who mostly arrived by train from Barcelona, then had to travel a path, sometimes covered by carts, sometimes, depending on the snow, on donkeys that were rented by the farmers of the area.
So only two years later a second chairlift was inaugurated connecting the train station at elevation 1,425 with the Turó de la Perdiu lift. It was a singlepeople where long queues formed when the train arrived full of skiers, and although its route was only a little more than 1 kilometer, it took about 25 minutes to reach the end.
But it was always better than carrying the skis on a donkey up the mountain, plus it was a better guarantee of arrival even if there had just been a heavy snowfall. Then the construction of the road, and above all the development of private cars, meant that skiers arrived in their own vehicles and parked directly on the slopes. At the end of the 70's that chairlift stopped running, although it was left there in case it might be needed again someday.
And that time has come. The current trend is to prevent vehicles from reaching high altitudes on the mountain. In addition, car ownership is becoming less and less of a priority for young people, especially in big cities where more and more restrictions are placed on their circulation. So to facilitate the arrival to the ski resort of La Molina, it was put on the table a few years ago to rescue this old chairlift, but modernized to modern times.
The Plataforma Salvem La Molina had already been promoting this project for some time and the City Council of Alp joined in 2020, but warned that alone they can not pull forward an investment of this caliber.
The Pla d'Ordenació Urbanística Municipal (POUM) of Alp presented at the end of last November, finally proposes that it will be a cable car for public use. The objective is to link the three residential areas of La Molina, in addition to boosting the demographic development of the area.
Thus, a cable car with four stops is included:
The gondola lift will have its last stop between the Pista Llarga and Fontcanaleta chairlifts.
The arrival of a gondola lift in this area will be accompanied by the expulsion of vehicles from the Pista Llarga core. What is now a large car park lot and a transit area for vehicles and buses, which in winter has to be regulated by traffic agents, will become a large pedestrian plaza at the service of residents and visitors.
Aso, the POUM delimits the PAU of Pista Llarga that includes the transformation of that car park lot as a space of opportunity to turn it into a large landscaped space that concentrates spaces for rest, play and events at the service of neighbors and visitors. It includes the redevelopment of part of Avenida de la Supermolina towards Plaza de los Pirineos.
At the same time, a subway car park lot will be built at the entrance traffic circle, about 150 meters from the ski lifts.
Finally, another of the objectives of the Alp - La Molina POUM is to be able to create accommodation for new residents. In fact, it is proposed to build some 679 dwellings, of which 179 will be subsidized housing, in addition to other regulated rental housing.
The Pista Llarga car park lot will become a car-free pedestrian plaza.
Fair but possible deadlines for the new gondola lift that should connect the village of Benasque with the ski slopes of Cerler. If all goes well, the manufacturer will be awarded this summer, and in autumn they will start working for December 2025 to be able to release it.
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