See the world from home

Where did everyone go during this May Day holiday? Staying at home? Or traveling around? Starting from today, I recommend an article every night, so that we can travel around the world while staying at home!

The following is the first article. Let’s walk into the ski paradise town of Chamonix.

Mandela famously said: "Sports have the power to change the world." Indeed, at present, world events such as the Olympic Games are promoting new urbanization, innovating the development of the sports industry, and improving residents' lives. The multiple values ????in the transformation of methods are constantly being discovered.

"There is no city without sports, and there is no life without leisure." The introduction or hosting of events with global influence has been combined and applied by more and more city managers as a new strategy for urban development and governance.

The French town of Chamonix is ??located at the foot of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the European Alps. It is a small town with only 13,000 permanent residents, but it has a high global reputation. This is not only because the town was the venue for the first Winter Olympics in 1924, but more importantly because Chamonix is ??fascinating, charming and world-renowned for ice and snow sports, receiving more than 2 million mountaineers, skiers and daily tourists every year , known as the "Mecca" for ice and snow sports enthusiasts around the world.

In fact, the small town of Chamonix stands out from many ski towns in the Alps. In addition to having the honor of hosting the first Winter Olympics, it is also good at seizing the opportunity to host the Winter Olympics. Rooting in historical traditions, carrying forward the Winter Olympics heritage, deeply cultivating ice and snow culture, promoting the Olympic legacy to help improve the quality and expansion of the sports industry and the transformation of residents' leisure lifestyles, and driving the innovative development of the ice and snow economy, this is the key to its rapid emergence among various European ski towns. Secret.

A sports tourism destination that started with mountaineering

The small town of Chamonix has a long history and tradition of sports. In August 1786, local hunter Jack Barma and doctor Michel Pacal first climbed Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe at an altitude of 4,810 meters. The prelude to the development of alpine sports in the small town of Muni. Since 1821, the managers of the town of Chamonix have focused on the development of the alpine sports industry and established a tour guide company with local guides as the core to provide various professional mountaineering services to tourists from all over the world.

As its popularity as a mountaineering tourist destination increases, the world's first mountaineering guide school - the French National Ski Mountaineering School, the Alpine Police Training Center, the Alpine Military Academy, the Alpine Medical Training and Research Institute and other specializations Education and training institutions have successively settled in the small town of Chamonix, providing professional services and escorting the alpine sports events in the town. After more than a hundred years of development, the small town of Chamonix has become increasingly mature in alpine sports projects and professional services, becoming the most attractive alpine outdoor sports destination in Europe and even the world.

Ski enthusiasts

The magnificent turn of the venue for the Winter Olympics

Becoming the venue for the first Winter Olympics is a transformation and development of the small town of Chamonix important opportunity. In 1924, in order to prepare for the first Winter Olympics, the Chamonix town government added an ice rink for skating and ice hockey competitions and built a world-class ski coaching training center. If the hosting of the Winter Olympics has greatly promoted the development of alpine ice and snow projects and the improvement of reception service facilities, then by changing development concepts, condensing distinctive town themes, deeply cultivating ice and snow cultural resources, scientifically planning venue layouts, and taking differentiation The development path is an important strategy for the small town of Chamonix to quickly achieve transformation and innovation after the game.

After the Winter Olympics, the Chamonix town government formulated a scientific and detailed post-game utilization plan for the Winter Olympics venue facilities based on the town's natural resource endowment, and established a plan to create a famous European resort and winter sports resort. strategic goals of the center. In order to better enable the Olympic venues to serve residents and tourists, the town of Chamonix has scientifically transformed 13 large ski resorts and hundreds of snow trails with a total length of more than 100 kilometers, from primary green trails to intermediate red trails. With extremely difficult black trails, enthusiasts of all levels can find a ski trail that suits them here.

At the same time, the French ski school ESF (now the largest chain of ski schools in France and a world-renowned ski instruction organization) has been established in the small town of Chamonix, equipped with world-class ski instructors who can Provide targeted professional guidance for ski enthusiasts of different levels. In addition, the town of Chamonix has also taken advantage of its rich and concentrated climbing resources to build more than 5,000 new rock climbing routes and numerous ice climbing and mountaineering routes on Mont Blanc and Grand Chora, satisfying the diversified needs of residents and tourists. Exercise needs.

The first Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix in 1924 (photo from the official website of the Olympic Committee)

After long-term efforts to cultivate resources, improve facilities and improve services, today The small town of Chamonix has formed a series of outdoor sports brands such as alpine rock climbing, alpine skiing, mountaineering, alpine paragliding, alpine cycling, ice climbing, ice skating, ice hockey and other outdoor sports brands, as well as "accommodation services + leisure business services + medical rescue services + The multi-business integrated operation model integrating "Mountain Guide Service" has achieved a magnificent transformation from "Olympic Hosting Site" to "Sports Tourism Destination".

Give full play to and amplify the post-Olympic effect

The Olympic Games is not only a grand event of sports, but also an expo of sports culture. Olympic heritage not only includes tangible cultural heritage such as Olympic venues, sports facilities and related cultural facilities formed around the Olympic Games, but also includes intangible cultural heritage such as the entire ideological system and activity content of the Olympic Movement. How to understand and handle the relationship between competitive sports and national fitness? How to exert the post-Olympic effect and promote the development of the post-Olympic economy? How to truly integrate the cultural heritage of the Olympic Games into the real life scenes of residents in the host place, so that local residents have a greater sense of gain and happiness? These are important issues before all governments where the Olympic Games are held, and Chamonix has made fruitful explorations in this regard.

After the Winter Olympics, the Chamonix town government set up a working group to brainstorm and systematically study the protection and inheritance of the Olympic cultural heritage. After comprehensive research and expert consultation, the results show that the small town of Chamonix has neither the advantages of the small town of Herzogaurach in Germany, where the headquarters of world-renowned sports companies Adidas, Puma, and Schaeffler are located, nor the small town of Ronda in Spain. The town is the birthplace of modern bullfighting, and it does not have the brand leverage that the Wimbledon Tennis Championships have for the small town of Wimbledon. However, Chamonix has unique natural conditions, suitable altitude and fresh air, and is regarded as a paradise for skiing. The town enters the snow season starting in September every year, which can last until April of the next year. The daytime temperature in winter is suitable, and the outdoor temperature at noon can be maintained at about 2-5 degrees Celsius.

As a result, the local government finally established the ice and snow theme culture as the entry point, respecting the sports tradition of the town, digging into the cultural soul of the town, and integrating the Winter Olympics ice and snow cultural heritage into residents’ lifestyles and developing the ice and snow economy. strategic goals. At the same time, it also fully takes into account that ice and snow sports have certain seasonal fluctuations, and has adopted "ice and snow" as the main implantation of diversified industries to create alpine rock climbing, alpine skiing, mountaineering, alpine paragliding, alpine cycling, ice climbing, skating, ice hockey, etc. Outdoor sports industry cluster. In summer, Chamonix opens up 160 forest hiking routes suitable for different groups of people. In terms of water sports, projects such as canyoning, whitewater surfing, river tracing, and canyoning have also been developed, as well as amusement pools equipped with waterfalls, rapids, water jets, and massagers.

French National Ski and Mountaineering School

In addition, the town of Chamonix has formed a multi-format sports-specific consumption chain relying on sports-specific B&Bs, country hotels, outdoor training schools and sports goods stores. , allowing outdoor sports projects to interact with multiple industries such as medical treatment, rehabilitation, health care, photography and training, establishing a market-oriented profit model and a complete industrial ecosystem, comprehensively affecting the production and lifestyle of people in small towns. These measures have made Sha The century-old town of Muni continues to glow with vitality.

When sports take root in the region and integrate into the local area, it will surely inject new vitality, new momentum and new vitality into the region's social and economic development. Perhaps people's memories of places famous for sports such as Chamonix often start with an event, a club, a landmark sports building or even a sports star, but in the end it will definitely be because of a beloved sport, A group of like-minded fitness friends and an unwavering sports complex will always remember this destination. Whether it's a city, a town, or even a stadium. This may be the inspiration given to us by the French town of Chamonix.

Excerpted from the 8th issue of "Crowds" in 2019, the original title is "Enter the ski paradise town of Chamonix"

Author: Ye Xiaoyu (Author's unit: Nanjing Institute of Physical Education School of Industry and Leisure)