Vaujany


Vaujany is a commune in the canton of Oisans-Romanche, in the Isère department in southeastern France. The village is picturesque, with excellent views of the Grand Galbert mountain at the head of the valley.

Population

Economy

The hydroelectric dams of Grand'Maison and Verney pay Vaujany annual rents of just over 3 million euros. This money has enabled the commune to fund the continuing development of leisure facilities. Vaujany is linked by cable car and gondola lift to the Alpe d'Huez ski area, so Vaujany benefits from winter sport and summer mountain tourism. Two runs drop down into the valley from the ski area above, and a short connecting lift from each run takes skiers to the village.

Grande Boucle Féminine stage finishes

Vaujany has been a frequent mountain-top finish in the Grande Boucle Féminine bicycle race. It has been used on 13 occasions – every year from 1992 to 2003, and again in 2005.
YearStageStart of stageDistanceStage winner
20056Allemond6.5 km Priska Doppman
20035L'Argentière-La-Bessée108.5 km Fabiana Luperini
20028Courchevel113.6 km Valentina Polkhanova
200113Guillestre135.5 km Fabiana Luperini
200010Lans-en-Vercors76.5 km Séverine Desbouys
19999La-Chapelle-en-Vercors129.8 km Valentina Polkhanova
19989Gap120 km Fabiana Luperini
19975Valloire86 km Fabiana Luperini
199610Guillestre125 km Fabiana Luperini
19954Albertville114.7 km Fabiana Luperini
199411 Rasa Polikevičiūtė
199311Le Fontanil Cornillon77.8 km Marie Purvis
19928Serre Chevallier70.4 km Cécile Odin

Cable car accident

During a test run of a new cable car, one week before its expected opening date on 13 January 1989, the cable car fell into the valley below while the cabin was passing a point from the arrival station. There were eight technicians on board the lift, all of whom died. They had all worked for SATA or Poma. An expert witness at the trial claimed that the design was a poor-quality copy of a Swiss system, leading to design problems which rendered the operation of the cable car unsafe. Poma did not have much experience building this style of lift at the time and had agreed to complete the construction in ten months, compared to the two years proposed by some of its rivals, leading to claims that corners had been cut in the construction of the lift. The consulting engineer also suggested that there was a lack of communication between the companies. On September 9, 1996, five people were charged with manslaughter at the criminal court of Grenoble; these were Jean-Pierre Cathiard, Serge Tarassof, Reylans Michel, Denis Creissels and Jacques Lombard. As part of the trial, four experts highlighted many mistakes made by Poma, most of which were based on the stabilizer, which had been copied from another company before having further issues added to its design.