The only snow sector doing business this season
The head of one of the largest snowshoe factories in the world says that in a month he has received more orders than in a normal year
Nobody likes the Covid-19 epidemic and the death it causes, but Philippe Gallay, head of one of the world's largest snowshoe manufacturers, acknowledges that it has been good for business . Your company's sales have exploded.
In France, where the TSL firm run by Gallay is based, and in other countries, governments have closed or limited the use of ski resorts, chairlifts and cable cars. With no mechanical means to get around the slopes, skiers and snowboarders have turned to an old-school solution: humble snowshoes .
Last month, the Gallay factory in Annecy, in the French Alps, received orders for 100,000 pairs of snowshoes , three times the amount that, before the pandemic, it would produce for an entire year.
"We are buried by orders," Gallay said. "But it is a good stress ... When it comes to Covid-19, we are the lucky ones, we have to admit it."
Gallay has changed its factory to run 24 hours a day and has hired ski instructors and lift operators, out of work due to the virus, to increase its employees to 80 from the usual 20. Even so, it cannot meet the demand. It has a portfolio of 40,000 orders.
At the Semnoz ski resort , a half-hour drive from Annecy, the equipment rental shop runs out of snowshoes around 9.30 every morning, said Gregoire Chavanel, the station's director. Snowshoeing is "the only thing to do this season."
Under the French blockade, schools and non-essential shops are open and high-level professional sports are allowed. There is a curfew from 6:00 p.m. every night, with closed theaters, cinemas, gyms, restaurants, cafes and bars. But the ski slopes are open to those who wish to climb them on foot.
Lucie Godineau, who lives in a nearby town, trudged through the dust on her snowshoes. Normally, I would use skis, but with the lift out of service, that's out of the question.
"I miss it," he said of alpine skiing. But he has come to terms with reality, at least for this season. "They are snowshoes and nothing else."
