A few words about our history…
A little bit of history…
Origin of La Clusaz :
La Clusaz comes from the word « Cluse », a narrow pass beetween two mountains. Old parchments call it « Clusa Locus Dei », God’s Narrow Place, which became La Clusa Lieu Dieu, used until May 1772. This name was given by the Abbots of Talloires on whom La Clusaz depended.
Origin of the Coat of Arms :
Many sheep herds were found in the parish of La Clusaz. The King of Sardinia, the Duke of Savoy, no doubt wished to evoke this pastoral activity when in 1602 he gave the village the right to use the arms of « a silver sheep on a green field ».
Life in the old days :
La Clusaz was a particulary poor village. The climate of the area only allowed the cultivation of barley and rye for bread, oats for animals, linen and hemp for clothes and potatoes for domestic food. The two main occupations were agriculture, including the making of reblochon, and forestry.
Some dates, events and champions…
- 1902 : The road relying Annecy and Thônes to the pass of Aravis opens. First tourists come from Great Britain, Paris and Lyon during summertime to see the « Mont Blanc » with mountain guides.
- 1920 : 3 hotels
- 1926 : The ski club is created with 12 members
- 1927 : 53 members are in the ski club
- 1928 : The skating rinkis is created
- 1931 : The Tourism Office is created
- 1934 : Construction of the first basic « cable-car »
- 1937 : Creation of the French Ski School
- 1938 : 9 hotels
- 1947 : 2 GMC trucks help tourists to go up to Crêt du Merle
- 1955 : Construction of the cable-car of Beauregard : real sign of the begginning of La Clusaz as a winter resort
- 1960 : 14 hotels, 15 ski instructors and 5 ski lifts.
Guy Périllat win the alpine combination Golden Medal of the Squaw Valley Olympic Games - 1962 : The hotel Beaulieu opens
- 1967 : The hotel Carlina opens
- 1973 : 1st ski pass for all ski lifts
80’s La Clusaz becomes the pilot resort of Freestyle Skiing.
- 1981 : The cable car of Transval opens.
- 1985 : Creation of the summer bobsleigh track.
- 1987 : Organization of the cross country skiing World Cup
- 1989 : Catherine Lombard and Raphaëlle Monod are world champions in Freestyle Skiing, André Masjewski is the world champion of Super Giant Slalom in Snowboard.
- 1992 : Edgar Grospiron win the first Olympic Golden Medal of mogul skiing of the Albertville Olympic Games. He was and will be three times the world champion, in 1989, 1991 and 1995.
- 1994 : First snow-making machines
- 1996 : Last free style skiing World Cup
- 1997 : Dismantling of the ski jump. A new sliding age begins…
- 1999 : Régine CAVAGNOUD win the down hill World Cup.
2000’s: a new era of skiing begins…
- 2000 : The cable car of Fernuy opens with 16 seats.
- 2001 :In February, Régine CAVAGNOUD becomes the world champion of Super Giant Slalom in Sankt Anton in Austria before dying in October in a tragic training session..
- 2003 : Candide Thovex in Freestyle Skiing win the X-Games in Half-Pipe. He won them twice the year before in Half-Pipe and Big Air and in 2000 also, the Big Air.
- 2004 : Organization of the cross country skiing World Cup
3rd water dam reservoir created in less than 10 years for snow-making machines - 2005 : Laurent Favre, in Freestyle skiing, wins the Slopestyle Tignes Airwaves
- 2005 & 2006 : Loïc Collomb-Patton wins in Freestyle skiing the Half-Pipe and Slopestyle Freeski Open
- 2006 : Organization of the cross country skiing World Cup
Anaïs Caradeux wins in Freestyle Skiing the Globe of the Half Pipe World Cup - 2008 : Sébastien Michaud, freerider, becomes the number-two-world-champion in Freeride World Tour after a lot of medals in Rip Curl Mountain Challenge…
Organization of the cross country skiing World Cup. Vincent Vittoz becomes the World Champion at home after receiving several medals during the World Cups in 2005, 2006 and 2007. - 2010 : Organization of the cross country skiing World Cup
- 2011 : Freeride World Tour Qualifier.
- 2013 : 1st edition of the Alps bike festival : 3 days of mountain bike competitions.
Currently: new tourist facilities….
- 2014 : Bossonet area : construction of a Telemix, a chairlift and a skilift for begginners, with a parking (85 spaces) and a building for skipass sales and skilockers
- 2017 : Replacement of the Merle Chairlift
- 2018 : Annecy, candidate city for the 2018 Olympix Games, did select the resort of La Clusaz to welcome the Cross Country tests.
Three persons from La Clusaz were selected for the PyeongChang Olympic Games : Anaïs Caradeux (half-pipe), Benoît Buratti (slopestyle) and Mirabelle Thovex (snowboard half-pipe).
For several years, a large mountain bike domain has been developing in La Clusaz. 18 circuits, 112 km of track and 3 lifts are now accessible to mountain bikers.
In December : opening of a new 750 square metre early childhood centre in the village.