The company that runs the lifts, Crans-Montana Aminona, stopped the service after accusing Crans-Montana and two other communes of failing to honour an agreement negotiated last year to pay 800,000 francs in annual fees to help cover running costs.
The dispute was resolved on Thursday afternoon thanks to the mediation of the canton of Valais economy minister Christophe Darbellay who brought the opposing sides together for a meeting in Sion, SRF Swiss public television’s Schweiz Aktuell programme reported.
Konflikt um Bergbahnen in #Cransmontana beigelegt. Die Bahnen werden den Betrieb am Freitag wieder aufnehmen.https://t.co/i6YqRAksf0 ^ff
— SRF News (@srfnews) April 5, 2018
Darbelley told the media Tuesday’s decision to suspend the ski lift service indefinitely had caused consternation.
“We had to find a solution quickly to end the crisis,” the canton Valais minister said.
According to Darbellay, the two sides signed an agreement that will hold for three years. He did not say how much the communes had agreed to pay the operator.
Following the two-hour meeting it was announced that the lifts would resume running on Friday and continue in service until the end of the ski season on April 15th.
To make up for the inconvenience to skiers caused by the lift closure the daily ski pass will cost just 5 francs on Friday and parking will be free, according to the Crans-Montana website.
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