Three Innovations To Design The Mountain Of Tomorrow At Mountain Planet 2022
On April 26, 2022, Mountain Planet, the international mountain development trade show, will open its doors at Grenoble-Alpexpo (France) and unveil the latest technological innovations and trends in mountain development. Every two years, in the heart of the French Alps, this international event brings together 900 exhibitors and brands as well as 23,000 professionals from over 70 countries. With less than 3 months to go before its opening, Mountain Planet invites you to meet and discover three pioneers for tomorrow’s mountain through their innovations for a safer and even greener mountain.
IDM locally recycles rubber liners from French ropeways thanks to its Ecovertis patent,
Based in Annecy (Haute-Savoie), the French company IDM manufactures spare parts for all brands of chairlifts, surface lifts, snow groomers, and snow-making equipment. After two years of investment in R&D, IDM has launched a patented process to recycle the rubber liners found on line rollers—those rollers found on line towers that support, compress or guide the rope. The liners are transformed into anti-slip rubber flooring, which can then be installed anywhere, but mainly gondola lift stations.
Today, IDM’s patented Ecovertis process recycles all 80 tonnes of liner from French ropeways every year and transforms them into 6,000 m2 of anti-slip and recyclable rubber tiles. These tiles, called Ecoverclip, are made from 75% recycled rubber and 25% natural rubber. They are designed near Lyon by the family-run company, Plymouth, which specializes in processing and recycling rubber products. Ecoverclip tiles have an average life span of 20 years. With its patented process, IDM reduces the number of cargo shipments of floor coverings from Asia by 50% thanks to recovery operations in the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region. Compagnie Des Alpes, thanks to the process’ innovative, short-circuit technology and regional re-industrialisation, has just signed a partnership agreement with IDM. Société d’Aménagement de La Plagne (SAP), part of the Compagnie des Alpes group, is inaugurating this collaboration by equipping the Funiplagne bottom station with 130 m2 of Ecoverclip recycled tiles in January 2022.
For more info: idm-france.com
Climsnow: Climate insights for ski resorts
Developed jointly by Météo France, the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (INRAE), and the research firm Dianeige, Climsnow is a unique application that provides tangible information to mountain areas that are wondering about the future evolution of natural and artificial snow cover. Climsnow can design different climatic scenarios and quantify, at various times, the reliability of snow-making—natural groomed snow, with/without snow-making—its variability and the capacity of each resort to maintain its operations, according to given efforts and resources. Using the information provided by Climsnow, strategic investment plans based on projections of the future state of the snow pack can be made. Climsnow has already been applied to more than 100 French resorts, in the Alps, Jura, and Pyrenees Mountains.
For more info: climsnow.com
API-K rolls out its K-IP beacon across Europe to avoid getting lost in the mountains
API-K has created a high-precision technological beacon with location tools and services that use innovative geo-positioning technology and real-time tracking to locate someone anywhere in mountainous areas with a very high degree of accuracy, including dead zones. KI-P is intended for mountain professionals—rescue services, ski lift companies in ski areas, ski schools, isolated workers—and to practitioners of many outdoor sports such as ski touring, ski mountaineering, trail running, hiking, mountain biking, cycling, walking, etc. Called K-IP, this high-tech beacon weighs barely 88 grams and is connected to the GSM, SigFox and LoRaWAN®* long-range networks.
It allows accident victims or people in distress to instantly alert contacts—employers, designated emergency contacts, etc.—through an SOS button. The emergency contact person then locates the person’s position and can intervene or alert emergency services to request an intervention. Emergency services will then be guided precisely to the person needing assistance, regardless of cell coverage. The built-in smart sensors—accelerometer, barometer—in the beacon send an alert to the designated emergency contact in case of physical failure such as a fall, impact, loss of verticality, prolonged immobility, etc. K-IP has an autonomy of more than 4 days in use and more than one month on standby. It is detectable, even buried under snow, up to 6 meters deep. K-IP is MADE IN FRANCE (French Alps). For mountain professionals, Api-K is already used by 10 ski lift companies to protect their personnel and equipment: Les Orres, Alpe d’huez, Chamrousse, Les 7 Laux, Val Cenis, Aussois, La Clusaz, La Giettaz, Crans Montana, Vercorin. More than a dozen other French ski resorts are currently discussing API-K options for this winter. By spring 2022, API-K will have coverage all over Europe with its innovative geo-positioning and real-time tracking technology.
For more info: api-k.com
More than 100 exhibitors will present innovations at the show, which will be detailed in the 2022 Innovation Book, which will be distributed at the entrance to the show on the first day.
Created in 1974 in Grenoble, France, MOUNTAIN PLANET is a trade show for mountain development and industry. The next edition will take place from April 26 to 28, 2022 at Alpexpo, the event park in Grenoble, France. It is a major event and international meeting place for mountain development, showcasing the most recent innovations and trends in the market, and taking place every two years. Every two years, it brings the entire global mountain ecosystem—manufacturers, elected representatives, local authorities, accommodation providers, ski area operators, and more—together. It allows industry professionals to unveil their latest innovations and technological advancements to bring economic and environmental sustainability to mountain development. Every edition of MOUNTAIN PLANET hosts over 900 exhibitors and international brands. It covers a surface area of 50,000m². More than 23,000 professional visitors from over 70 countries participate.
