01: Introduction to the Cabinet of Curiosities

"A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopaedic collection of extraordinary objects which attempted to categorise the wonders and oddities of the natural world.”

The idea is to collect information, images, texts, articles and theses about mountain territories with a focus on Finhaut.

Students of all disciplines can consult these documents and immerse themselves in the Alpine world and the problems it presents.

You can find links to the various chapters of the Cabinet of Curiosities below or on the sidebar to the right on each page in the blog.

01: Introduction
02: Alpine Territories
03: Mont-Blanc Region
04: Focus Finhaut
05: Challenges
06: Vectors:
- 06.1: Urbanity
- 06.2: Nature
- 06.3: Energy
- 06.4: Society
- 06.5: Infrastructure

Have fun learning about the Alpine regions and remember you can share your discoveries with the other elop*7 participants through this blog.

02: Alpine Territories

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Modernity has revealed the fragility of this unique and self-sufficient world, made so distinctive by the way in which the customs of a society became embedded in its physical environment. Like a tidalwave, modern technology and the capitalist economy have fractured the coherence of the traditional mountain environment. The mountains have been appropriated from outside by people from the city and the plains, who mobilise its resources and redefine its strategic locations.

Mountain territories are under the sway of the city. Today this situation is being seriously challenged. Questions about the future of mountain territories are now being asked from a broader perspective.

03: Mont-Blanc Region

elop *7 “Alpine Mutations” based its study area on two cross-border valleys: the valley of Chamonix (France) and the valley of Trient (Switzerland). This territory connects two large towns of the Alpine region, Chamonix and Martigny. Situated at the foot of the Mont-Blanc massif, the territory has become the preferred Alpine destination for mountain sports.

This territory is divided into two drainage basins, one flowing towards Chamonix (Arve drainage basin) while the second slope starts with the Trient glacier and flows into the Rhône at Martigny.

The history of this cross-border territory marks it out as the birthplace of mountaineering. The ascent of Mont-Blanc by Saussure and Balmat (1787) gave rise to an economic boom based on tourism at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

Unfortunately, the emergence of skiing in the 1940s and 1950s heralded the end of this economy. The new sport of skiing required installations of all sorts: ski-lifts and extensive slopes. It is difficult to find a convenient spot in this valley to develop that activity. The hotels closed one after another.

However this crisis situation was offset by considered investments in high-quality hydroelectric installations, enabling the Trient valley to exploit energy resources in a rational way.

04: Focus Finhaut

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In bygone years, the population of Finhaut lived off the land in harmony with the
seasons. Historically, the village of Finhaut was connected to Chamonix by road and from 1908 by a railway track. The village of Finhaut then became, like Zermatt, on account of its situation, its climate and the comfort of its hotels, one of the most important destinations in the canton of Valais for a summer stay in the mountains.

Between the two world wars tourism came to a halt, it did not adapt to winter tourism and most of its establishments closed in the 1950s-60s. The construction of the two hydroelectric dams brought money into the region. Since the 1990s, thanks to the activity of the dam, Finhaut has retained a stable population of 350 to 400 inhabitants.

Nestling on the side of the mountain, Finhaut is very quiet, if not deserted. It is difficult to imagine the era of English tourists in the 1920s and the 19 hotels then in business. Today there are only two, and they are not doing particularly well.

In 2011, the commune’s budget rose from 3.5 million to 35 million CHF because of the renewal of a hydroelectric dam concession. The Trient valley now has a considerable budget to push through development and initiate an “Alpine transformation”. However it lacks a general analysis of its requirements and its territory, particularly on a cross-border scale in the context of the Mont-Blanc region.

05: Challenges

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Challenge 1
 
Strengthen the identity of the region around Mont-Blanc and its symbolic value
This region of Switzerland is historically and morphologically tied to the Mont-Blanc massif. The aim is to strengthen the identity, independence and coherence of this cross-border territory.

Challenge 2
 
Rekindle historic cycles: prepare a new transformation of the territory
The Finhaut of yesteryear lived from agriculture. Then, with the advent of tourists from England, it became a holiday resort and a very famous village. Since the 1950s, the region has lost ground competitively and become something of a backwater. Marked by the contemporary development of Alpine regions (dams, infrastructures, etc) and by the scattered development of tourist activities, this valley and Finhaut is in search of a global concept for its future development.

Challenge 3 
 
Develop expertise
We recommend considering a type of development, which fits in with the location, the environment, the resources, and above all the inhabitants. Consolidating skills, educating, training, showcasing the value of the inhabitants of mountain territories and their expertise will provide a way forward for development of the region.

Challenge 4
 
Do things differently...
„Invent a high-altitude culture, an ultra modernity, an urban and more professional mountain revolution, and return to the sources of the sacred mountain“
Words by Bernard Crettaz, sociologist - ethnologist  
The project aims to answer a variety of questions and to elaborate on opportunities that lead to long-term strategies as well as short-term initiatives:

How to approach the sustainable development of Alpine regions?
How to preserve and promote the spatial and atmospheric qualities of these territories?
How to initiate the transformation of a territory?
What strategies/steps must be followed to ensure a smooth transition?
How can inhabitants be integrated in this development?
What is the influence on the local economy?
How to deal with the climatic factors?
How will nature be managed?
Is energy part of the answer or part of the problem?
Are renovation or construction necessary? But what exactly: Buildings, Infrastructure, Public spaces?

06.1: Urbanity

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HISTORIC AND PRESENT-DAY SITUATION

The Trient valley became increasingly busy at the turn of the 20th century as a result of the stagecoach in 1861 and the railway in 1906, both of which promoted its accessibility. It was a summer rendezvous for the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie. The architecture of this region is strongly marked by large buildings typical of the architecture of the golden age of Alpine tourism.

Today, the large buildings have been or are being renovated (thanks to the wealth of the commune) and converted into collective housing. However these apartments are not highly sought-after. Finhaut has around 400 inhabitants including people working on the Nant de Drance worksite. In 2015, this work will come to an end. The commune must prepare for the future and be an attractive place to live capable of maintaining the infrastructures currently in place in the village.

“The lifestyle of those living in the Alpine space is no different from that of town dwellers. Everyone has the same needs.” Thomas Egger


GENERAL OBJECTIVES

Keep homes lived in throughout the year and develop a sustainable local economy.
It is important to underline the value of the main residence in mountain villages and to facilitate its existence, in order to maintain the number of inhabitants, shops and schools, and life in the mountains generally. It is a question of finding synergies between residents and tourists, valorising and facilitating the main residence in the mountains and limiting the number of closed shutters and ghost villages.


NEW PARADIGMS

Sustainable town in the mountains?
The urban fabric of Finhaut is a model of density. It would be possible to envisage developing here a small town / exemplary mountain district. Can this model of a dense and compact urban fabric be put to good use to recreate urban development in a more close-knit format?

06.2: Nature

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The Trient valley is marked by a steep gradient with the presence of scree, avalanche corridors and rock slides. Between these corridors, the land has been fashioned by agriculture. This method of exploiting the land has thrown up a number of structures, including mountain pastures and grazing land, forests and cultivated fields. Although today agriculture is no longer the main economy, it remains present as a secondary activity.

The abandonment of agricultural activity results in fallow land and changes to plant life. Fallow land has taken over but is impoverishing the biodiversity of these surroundings. In recent years the forest cover has increased, tending to close off visual communication between the bottom of the valley and high mountain pastures.

Mountain farming is extremely precarious. Mountain people left their farms at the end of the 20th century to go and work on the plain in new industries. There remains today a wide diversity of agricultural activities which, from high to lower altitude, range from pastures and agricultural terraces to orchards, meadows and fields in the valley bottom. Current changes in farming, particularly the trend towards consumers opting for local produce, offer scope for new possibilities.

The natural backdrop of the Trient valley is well preserved, since few development projects such as ski slopes, ski-lifts, etc, have impacted on the territory.

06.3: Energy

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In the past and nowadays
 
There are more than 200 dams in Switzerland which use mountain water to produce electricity. The exploitation of water in Alpine regions meets ever growing demand for electrical power. The different developments of dams in Emosson testify to the technical and visionary projects of engineers encouraged by the Swiss Confederation and the French government.

1925, Barberine dam development
At an altitude of nearly 1900 metres, was a shining example of engineering virtuosity. It greatly contributed to Switzerland’s energy self-sufficiency and to the electrification of rail transport.

1975, Emosson development
Water accumulated in the Emosson reservoir is used in two stages over the 1400 metre height difference between the dam and the Rhône Valley.

2015, Nant de Drance development
This project involves installing a pumping-turbine station between the dam at old Emosson and the Emosson dam to guarantee the security of the hydropower network even at peak times.

The Emosson dam produces a great deal of energy for the national grid. However, there appear to be no synergies between the region and this production of energy. While the use of water is excellent, timber production is under-exploited, and the production of solar and wind power is non-existent.

Could the Finhaut region become a model of energy production? In terms of production? But also in terms of consumption?
How could Finhaut become part of an efficient energy policy?

06.4: Society

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In the past and nowadays

The inhabitants of the Trient valley have often had to adapt and diversify their activities. In the golden age of tourism, mountain farmers became hotel owners, porters, launderers, coach drivers, guides and shopkeepers. At that time, the population of the valley increased due to the flourishing activity of the tourist industry.

In 1920 the population increased once more. This rise coincided with the start of work on the Barberine dam.

In 1970, the population rose from 12 incomers to 254. These Italian immigrants came to build the Emosson dam.

In 2010, for work on the Nant de Drance, the number of foreigners increased to around 400. In 2015 construction work will come to an end and the population of Finhaut will fall once again.

Since 2010 the commune has been looking ahead to its future.
On 22 December 2009 and 22 January 2010 the district council of the Commune of Finhaut presented a development project based on the construction of a SPA and thermal baths, together with hotel and accommodation structures with a capacity of approximately 400 beds.

This development project caught the attention of the Commune’s citizens and paved the way for reflections of a more general nature. A number of them decided to set up a think-tank to consider this proposal as well as additional or alternative developments which would best meet the needs of the population. To this end, they suggested that local residents should attend a meeting to make known their own views and ideas concerning the type of development they would like to see in their Commune.