20 years of history
MND, 20 YEARS OF HISTORY
entrepreneurship
innovations
people
The Group has continued to grow thanks to the integration of pioneering companies in their core business, the diversification of activities, industrial innovation and experience acquired through projects in France and internationally.
MND is also a fantastic entrepreneurial adventure which has seen a family business transform into a major industrial group for the development of mountain sites while retaining its values, its attachment to its Made in the Alps expertise and its agility in terms of innovation and development.
In 1963, the world of snowmaking is experiencing a revolution with the launch of the first snow fan gun by Linde.
SUFAG, the first company to design low-pressure snowmaking systems, was founded in 1983 and adopted this technology.
At the same time, the red snow gun brand ARECO, known for the energy performance of its systems, emerged in Sweden.
These two companies as well as SNOWSTAR, all leaders in their markets, will then be integrated into MND in 2013, thus making it possible to join the world’s top 3 in artificial snow.
Jacob Schippers develops “Gas Ex”. This revolutionary system makes it possible to trigger preventive avalanches from an office using a gas reserve.
Les Ménuires resort, in the French Alps, will be the first to test and put this brand new system into service.
Gaz Ex subsequently joined TAS (Technologie Alpine de Sécurité), which would become MND’s first company in 2004.
In Valloire, the Savoyard company PRISME, positioned in the high-mountain market and the development of tourist sites, is developing a new type of leisure activity: via ferrata.
Prisme, renamed TechFun, will join MND in 2012 and will complete the group’s overall offering with a leisure center of expertise, as we know it today.
Creation of LST (Loipolder SeilbahnTechnik), a German cable transport manufacturer, by Peter Loipolder who developed the chairlift with fixed clamp technology.
In 2012, LST will join MND to expand the group’s offering to cable transport solutions from chairlifts to ski lifts and carpets.
Creation of MBS: manufacturer and distributor of equipment for ski areas – signage, protective mattresses, etc. – the company specializes in supporting sports competitions on a global level.
In 2000, Xavier Gallot-Lavallée took over this family company. Founding entity of MND and today a leading subsidiary, MBS will become the major player in its market.
All of MND’s activities are relocated together on a new 5,718m2 site in Saint-Hélène-Du-Lac.
Today, this head office covers more than 5 hectares and allows MND to locate all of its design, engineering and production activities in Savoie and accommodates 300 employees.
On the occasion of the merger between MBS and TAS, Xavier Gallot-Lavallée created the holding company Montagne et Neige Développement (MND). The new group aims to become one of the leaders in ski resort safety.
MND completes its avalanche triggering system offering with the creation of the Daisybell, the first explosive-free helicopter-borne avalanche triggering system. This mobile solution makes it possible to secure slopes that are difficult to access.
Chamonix will notably adopt this system to secure access to the Mont-Blanc tunnel.
MND opens up internationally with the creation of its first subsidiary in the United States: MND America Corp.
In 2012, 6 other subsidiaries will complete and establish this new commercial dynamic, particularly in Italy, Sweden, Spain and Austria.
Today, 70% of MND’s activities are carried out abroad.
MND puts its historical know-how in securing slopes at the service of sport with, in particular, the equipment of the sites of the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, and the start of several partnerships with the Courchevel Sports Club as as official supplier of the Val d’Isère Sports Club for the Critérium de la Première Neige.
MND will remain a very committed player in the sporting environment with the support of ski talents like Victor Muffat Jeandet and Alban Elezi Cannaferina.
MND is listed on the stock exchange on October 18 on the EuroNext market in Paris, compartment C.
This key stage marks the creation of the global MND offer as we know it today: One Partner, Many Solutions, with the grouping of 4 areas of activity dedicated to each expertise and brand of the Group: ROPEWAYS, SNOW, SAFETY and LEISURE.
MND is expanding in Asia to support in particular the growth of winter sports in China. The pioneering Wanlong resort, located in the heart of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games area, is the first equipped with a 100% automated system of 400 snow guns.
On the outdoor leisure side, MND Leisure is developing the first zip line in the world with an intermediate pylon in Geilo, Norway, thus positioning itself as a provider of solutions for sites looking for diversification of activities.
Launch of the Obell’X™: the first removable avalanche triggering solution. This new innovation allows us to go even further to control the avalanche risk with reduced visual impact and minimal footprint. This evolution of the range of products dedicated to security makes it possible to meet the expectations of National Parks, very strict in this area, in the Dolomites in Italy or in the United States.
MND puts its cable transport expertise at the service of urban areas with the renovation of the Montmartre funicular, one of the busiest in Europe with 3 million passengers each year, on behalf of the RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens ). Extending over 3 years to guarantee continuity of operation and openness to the public, the contract covers the total restoration of the two machines as well as major general inspections of the two vehicles.
On the innovation side, MND is selected among ADEME’s Investments for the Future projects in order to develop Cabline®: the new generation of cable transport, energy efficient and high efficiency.
MND and Bartholet, a Swiss manufacturer of ski lift systems, are joining forces to strengthen their positions as a global player in cable transport.
This strategic industrial and commercial alliance will offer both companies the opportunity to access growing global markets.
In 2020, the BMF France teams will join the MND workforce.
MND confirms its dynamic in urban mobility and is entrusted by the city of HUY in Belgium with the construction of the new urban and tourist cable car in place of the existing one. This project is part of an investment plan and strengthening of tourist activity led by the city of Huy. Using the most recent cable transport technologies, the challenge was to preserve the historic elements of the site while modernizing the customer experience on board. After 3 years, the device will reopen its doors to the public in April 2024.
At the same time, MND won the construction of the 2nd line of the future urban cable car in Saint-Denis, capital of Reunion Island.
With the launch of its Succeed Together strategic plan in 2020, MND simplifies its brand identity for greater readability among its customers and harmonizes it, to be as close as possible to the territories where MND operates.
MND unveils its new FunCoaster monorail sled for tourist destinations and installs the first in the Bosco Gurin resort in Italian Switzerland.
MND wins the international call for tenders for the 4-season development of the Chimgan site in Uzbekistan, calling on the know-how of its 4 complementary centers as well as that of its subsidiary MBS. Co-financed by an inter-governmental loan from the French State supervised by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), this project aims to accelerate the tourist development of this area which aims to become the first mountain leisure site in Central Asia.
In the United States, the first 6-seater bubble chairlift is unveiled in the Waterville Valley Resort, the first detachable device on American soil for MND. Replacing the resort’s main chairlift, the 1988 ‚White Peaks Express‘, this new chair increases carrying capacity to 3,000 people per hour and provides both comfort and reliability with the latest 6-person bubble seats. Removable clamp technology and seat storage garage will improve system availability and reduce maintenance costs.
MND is expanding and inaugurating the extension of these buildings on its French site to increase its industrial capacities and develop new product lines dedicated to cable transport.
They are MND
Web series
To mark the group’s 20th anniversary, we have chosen to create a web series to highlight those who make MND! Each month, find the portrait of one of our employees.