The battle to save the last wild valley of the Val d'Ayas

The pristine Cime Bianche valley, in the Aosta Valley, is a special protection area but is threatened by a cableway connection.There are those who fight for its protection.

When you enter the valley, after the first steepest stretch of climb to access it, your pace slows down, your gaze rises and what strikes you is the silence, breadth and wild nature all around.What we see are kilometers of grassy plateaus as far as the eye can see, swamps, streams, lakes, rocks, and steep peaks.Human signs are practically absent:it's about one of the last non-anthropic areas in this Alpine region.There are no roads, ski lifts or permanent activities.At least for now, but we still don't know for how long because the valley of the Cime Bianche is threatened by a project that could destroy this still uncontaminated area.

The value of the Cime Bianche valley

We are at the foot of the Mount Rosa, the Cime Bianche valley is located in the upper Val d'Ayas and is known for being an alpine ecosystem with unique and rare naturalistic, historical and geological characteristics.Its value is such that it can be included in the Natura 2000 network, created by the European Union with the aim of protecting community biodiversity through the conservation of habitats and species in areas considered priority, through the creation of Special protection areas (Zps), like the one called “Glacial environments of the Monte Rosa group”, in which the Cime Bianche valley is inserted and protected.

The valley is protected by a very precise legislative cascade which does not provide for exceptions.

Annamaria Gresti, co-founder of the Insieme per Cime Bianche committee

There biodiversity of the valley that remains above 2,000 meters is striking at first sight, from the flowers that this year fill every meadow or rocky corner, to the birds of prey that circle in the sky near the peaks together with dozens of species of birds, to the mammals, from the marmots with their whistles, to the ibexes on the rocky walls, up to the wolf, now increasingly present and passing through these areas.

The three white peaks, which give the valley its name and which stand out above it (Gran Sometta, Bec Carré and Pointe Sud) are the emblem of the geological peculiarity of this area:the white that characterizes them is what remains of the coral islands of an ancient tropical sea, which reminds us of the incredible and very long evolutionary process that we risk tampering with, compared to geological eras, in less than the blink of an eye.

Walking in the Alps is truly like walking on the ancient seabed;a tropical sea from at least two hundred million years ago, well before the period of formation of the reliefs

History of the sea, Alessandro Vanoli

The Cime Bianche cableway connection project

This pristine environment, however, is threatened by human activities.Right here we discuss and carry out a project to build a huge interval cableway connection which would create the largest ski area in Europe.In fact, the plan envisages creating facilities that unite Valtournanche and the slopes of Cervinia (already connected with Zermatt in Switzerland) with Val d'Ayas which, being part of the Monterosaski area, is already connected via facilities with the valleys of Gressoney and Alagna.A mammoth work that would have significant impacts on this still intact Alpine ecosystem.

The story began between 2014 and 2015 with a first proposal for the project, and has been going on for ten years now.A long process with continuous progress and setbacks, as often happens in Italy, but which, to the detriment of "nothing will happen in the end", the plan was slowly but steadily carried forward.In fact, it had previously been included in the Regional Economy and Finance Document (Defr) of the Aosta Valley for the two-year period 2020-2022, starting the evaluation of the feasibility of the project, made public in May 2023.The objective of the region was and is to continue, so much so insert it into the Defr 2024-2026 like “strategic investment” for the future, and in the Regional Transport Plan disclosed on 23 July 2024 as it “will contribute to the reduction of vehicular traffic in the valleys”.

The feasibility study provides for compensation for environmental damage, so the impact it would have in a Special Protection Area is clear.

Annamaria Gresti

“We believe that 4 pylons are not invasive, just as cableway systems are not:these represent 0.4% of our surface area, with 3 million passages producing economy and jobs.Our position is therefore to move forward with this study, despite all the necessary attention we pay to climate change.We must find a fair compromise between the needs of producing economy and work for the people who work in the mountains and the protection of the environment", he had in fact stated Louis Bertschy, Councilor for Economic Development of the Valle d'Aosta Regional Council.“Climate changes require us to go higher and this will be an objective in the coming years”, of the same opinion also Luciano Caveri, councilor for mountain policies.

If we look at the future of the mountains, however, it is difficult to associate a strategic investment with skiing.With climate change underway, and if the trend of increasing average global temperatures continues along this line, all Alpine glaciers below 3,500 meters will disappear in the coming decades.Not to mention the exploitation of water resources which will become increasingly scarce.

“In numerical terms, with regard to the facilities and skiing, we are talking about a system worth 100 million euros, creating ten times more related activities,” said the president of the Valle d'Aosta region Renzo Testolin.“An industry that supports us on this path, also in the face of climate changes that will lead us to use our mountains in the best possible way even in the summer”.

Own in front of the climate changes in action we must protect biodiversity areas, keep them intact or restore degraded ones, not destroy them.Because the ecosystem restoration it is one of the most effective ways to counteract the effects of climate change, and wetlands, as is partly the case in the valley, are the environments that absorb the most CO2, making them essential at a time when the priority is to drastically cut emissions.And destroying them would mean releasing the greenhouse gases they trap. These natural environments are what sustain and protect us.

The Cime Bianche valley is the symbol of the resistance of the last still uncontaminated areas, the symbol of a conservation battle that knows no boundaries, which concerns everyone, because it is a common good, it is everyone's heritage, it has reached us and this invests us with the responsibility to keep it that way.

Annamaria Gresti

A climb up the valley

In this matter, fortunately, there are those who have not allowed themselves to be worn down by bureaucracy nor intimidated by plans and projects, and have kept their feet firmly on the ground in defense of the valley all these years, and continue to do so.

We will not give up until the valley enjoys a future as it is now, in its immensity.

Annamaria Gresti

The battle continues through mobilizations, protests, petitions, creating associations by uniting people, as the name of the committee suggests Together for Cime Bianche which carries out actions for legal protection also in front of the European Parliament, photographic projects and, obviously, through the journey.

And that's what we did on August 3, 2024.In almost 400 people went up and walked in the valley, a symbolic walk now in its fourth edition, to reiterate the need to keep it that way, remember its importance, and admire its beauties.Together with us on a clear day among the flowering meadows, different realities:many associations, from the organizers to some sections of CAI, Mountain Wilderness, Greenpeace, Legambiente, Fridays for Future, WWF, up to local citizens, mountain and conservation enthusiasts, and those who have lived and frequented the valley "always".“With civil commitment as the rudder”, as underlined by the organizers.

We were among them, among those who have loved the valley for decades, travel it and live it through its woods, its streams, its rocks, its peaks, its alpine flowers which this year put on a show with an explosion of colors.We are among those who consider the Cime Bianche valley a "Narnia" of the Val d'Ayas, a vast Alpine land that reminds us of the uniqueness, importance and power of the wild. A savage who must remain this way.

Long live the Cime Bianche valley.

The valley is a symbol of freedom, of the last corners of wilderness that still exist.

 

The battle for the Cime Bianche valley can be supported by signing the petition and participating in the fundraising for legal actions.