Coachman in AvoriazThierry Marteau

INSPIRE

Thierry Marteau

modern day knight

This modern-day knight has come up with an ingenious answer to two burning issues: animal welfare and soft mobility.

Published on 10 May 2023

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Thierry Marteau

Thierry Marteau is a coachman in Avoriaz for more than 20 years. He is part of the few coachmen allowing the holiday makers to move in the resort.

We talk about

Coachmen

The coachmen have an important role in Avoriaz, they ensure the displacements by carriage in the station. The carriages which replace the cars for the holiday makers.

Episode 7

Thierry Marteau

Inspire by Les Portes du Soleil

On his side, Thierry went even further to ensure the well-being of his horses. Inspired by Swiss carriages which had electric motors, he developed a very ingenious system of electric assistance adapted to his material. After many adjustments and conclusive tests, his device became very useful to relieve the horse in its traction work. Thanks to it, the weight of the load to be drawn by the animal is lightened and the constraints of the slope are limited during the efforts in rise.

The INSPIRED

Thierry Marteau

the portrait

In Avoriaz, Thierry and the other coachmen have been key players in the area since the 1970s.
The “zero car” concept was born with the resort and the sleds appeared not out of compulsion, but as an innovative alternative way of getting around, one that is responsible and integrated with the natural environment. Here, the coachman’s trade is neither old nor forgotten. On the contrary, the authenticity of the activity invites itself in the middle of modern infrastructures and contributes to nourish the innovative and original spirit of the resort.

Avoriaz

The Resort

eco-responsible

This success is meaningful today, as the resort has become a spearhead for the Portes du Soleil domain in terms of eco-responsible actions and remains a national showcase for its environmental commitment.

You will have understood, the coachmen are an integral part of the history and identity of Avoriaz and are inseparable from the avant-garde landscape of the resort. And then, to see the overflowing imagination which animates Thierry Marteau today, no doubt that this handful of impassioned will accompany the evolution of the station still of very long years…