Le Grand-Bornand (; frp, Bornan) is a commune in the eastern French department of

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is Ann ...

. The commune is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

and takes its name from the river that runs through it. The inhabitants of Le Grand-Bornand are called Bornandins.

Geography

Located on the western slope of the Aravis

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

not far from

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and ...

, Annecy Lake and Switzerland, Le Grand-Bornand is a summer and winter

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort ...

which developed around an old village. Le Grand-Bornand is in a wide part of the valley which has allowed it to develop - the village of Petit-Bornand, located downstream, is in a narrower part of the valley. The commune of Le Grand-Bornand is made-up of three areas: the Bouchet valley, the Chinaillon valley and the village of Le Grand-Bornand located at the junction of the two valleys. The hamlet of Chinaillon to the north east of Le Grand-Bornand is the main ski centre. The valley of Bouchet is located upstream of the village along the course of the river Borne.

Nearby

Nearby villages include

Manigod Manigod (; frp, Manegôd) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Eastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 998. Geography The linked area of Manigod consists of several different ski areas: La ...

Thônes Thônes () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, and is the ″capital″ of local cheeses Reblochon and Chevrotin. Geography The Fier flows northwestward through the middle of ...

, La Clusaz,

Saint-Jean-de-Sixt Saint-Jean-de-Sixt ( frp, Sent-Jian-de-Sixt) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. It lies in the Aravis Range of the French Alps. The inhabitants are the ''Saintjeandais'' or ' ...

and the larger

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

and

Annecy Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nickname ...

History

* 1569: Church fire * 1715: Opening of a school * 1755: End of the dispute with neighbouring village La Clusaz on the delimitation between the territories of the two villages * 11 March 1817: Violent

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

causes

property damage Property damage (or cf. criminal damage in England and Wales) is damage or destruction of real or tangible personal property, caused by negligence, willful destruction, or act of nature. It is similar to vandalism and arson (destroying prop ...

* 28 October 1923: Creation of a

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

club, the "société des skieurs bornandins". * 24 August 1944: 76 troops from the Vichy government's

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

, condemned to death on 23 August by a

court martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

of the

French Forces of the Interior The French Forces of the Interior (french: Forces françaises de l'Intérieur) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation ...

and after a parody of a trial, are publicly shot close to the Peseretaz wood. 44 were buried in a cemetery created on the spot in the Bouchet valley. * 14 July 1987: A brutal and unforeseeable flood of the Borne river, following a violent storm over the mountain, submerges the valley and devastates in particular the

campsite A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using te ...

of Le Grand-Bornand. There 21 fatalities and two missing persons. The commune and the State were forced to compensate the families of the victims as the campsite had been located on the river floodplain. * 11 April 2003:

property developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...

, Xavier Flactif, and his family are killed in their country cottage in Chinaillon by a neighbour, David Hotyat. * 22 July 2004: The village is the finish for a stage of the

2004 Tour de France The 2004 Tour de France was a multiple stage bicycle race held from 3 to 25 July, and the 91st edition of the Tour de France. It has no overall winner—although American cyclist Lance Armstrong originally won the event, the United States Ant ...

Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering fr ...

wins after a stage of from Bourg d'Oisans. He was later stripped of this and many other wins for doping. * 22 February 2006: Roddy Darragon wins a silver medal in a ski sprint at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and the following day,

Sylvie Becaert Sylvie Becaert (born 6 September 1975 in Lille) is a French biathlete. Becaert's best year so far was 2003 when she came third in the overall world cup standings and won gold in the sprint event at the World Championships 2003 in Khan ...

takes the bronze medal in the biathlon.

Twinning

Since 1997, Le Grand Bornand is twinned with

Quiberon Quiberon (; , ) is a commune in the French department of Morbihan, administrative region of Brittany, western France. It is situated on the southern part of the Quiberon peninsula, the northern part being the commune of Saint-Pierre-Quiberon. It ...

Place names

Researcher toponymist and Ph.D. graduate of the Sorbonne, Jérémie Delorme, has listed, photographed and described, about 3 000 place names in the commune. 90% come from Latin, 8% come from Gaulish, 1% from Germanic and 1% from pre-Latin languages. A third of the names refer to former occupants. Names ending in "ière" are pre 16th-century and names ending in "lhon" are pre 5th-century.

Administration

List of mayors

*Jean Bastard Rosset - March 1971 to March 1977 *Pierre Pochat Cottilloux - March 1983 to March 1989 *Andre Perrillat Amédé - March 1989 to March 2008 *Gérard Perrissin-Fabert - March 2008 to present

Presidential election 2007

Le Grand-Bornand voting in the 2nd round of the

2007 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 21 and 22 April 2007 to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France (and ''ex officio'' Co-Prince of Andorra) for a five-year term. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, ...

Nicolas Sarkozy: 84% Royal Ségolène: 17%

Places and monuments

* Church of the Virgin Mary of the Assumption: it has been confirmed this church dates from 1346. It was partially destroyed by a fire in 1569 and the

bell-tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

completely rebuilt in 1661. It was completely rebuilt in 1877. The bell-tower, finished in 1845, is remarkable for its Baroque outer shell. * Chinaillon chapel * Bouchet chapel * Nant-Robert chapel * Gramusset refuge * Maroly virtual lake * Militiamen cemetery

People

* Roddy Darragon: silver medalist in

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

individual sprint event in the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

: bronze medalist in the

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

at the 2006 Winter Olympics and 2005 world champion * Christophe Perrillat: French cross-country skiing team member at the 2006 Winter Olympics * Steve Missillier: member of the 2007 French

Alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

team * Sebastien Baker-Bidoz: former member of the French Alpine skiing team *

Tessa Worley Tessa Worley (born 4 October 1989) is a French FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer and non-commissioned officer. competed in all five alpine disciplines and specialises Career Born in Annemasse, in the Departme ...

: member of the French Alpine skiing team. 2013 and 2017 world champion in the

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether ...

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up th ...

event.

Economy

* Tourism:

. Le Grand-Bornand holds the award "Station verte de vacances" (Green holiday resort). * Winter sports: The station is highly rated for beginner skiers and family holidays. However, although there are a few good restaurants, there is minimal nightlife. * Agriculture: Le Grand-Bornand is one of the birthplaces of

reblochon Reblochon () is a soft washed-rind and smear-ripened French cheese made in the Alpine region of Haute-Savoie from raw cow's milk. It has its own AOC designation. Reblochon was first produced in the Thônes and Arly valleys, in the Aravis massi ...

, a cheese produced from abondancière, tarine and montbéliarde cows raised on

Crau The Crau is the ancient confluence of the Durance and Rhône, and constitutes their vast flat alluvial fan. Agriculture The Crau is composed of two different parts: The dry Crau is in the south, and has been used as pasture from Roman times. T ...

hay. * Companies: ** Aravis Boissons has manufactured Forclaz lemonade since 1870 according to the same, original recipe (water + sugar + bubbles)

Facilities

Village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

Social housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...

* Swimming pool * Mini golf * Golf * Tennis * Trampoline

Outdoor activities

Biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

Skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ( ...

Snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic ...

* Cross-country skiing *

Hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

Mountain-biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and per ...

* Excursions * Dodes forest * Mushroom collecting *

Via Ferrata A via ferrata ( Italian for "iron path", plural ''vie ferrate'' or in English ''via ferratas'') is a protected climbing route found in the Alps and certain other locations. The term "via ferrata" is used in most countries and languages except ...

Events

* "To happiness of the kids", children's festival * "To each their turn" (June 2007) Publicity in schools by the organisers of the Tour de France, to develop the image of "the outer loop" for future generations of consumers. * July 15–16, 2007: Arrival of 7th stage of the Tour de France 2007 (

Bourg-en-Bresse Bourg-en-Bresse (; frp, Bôrg) is the prefecture of the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. Located northeast of Lyon, it is the capital of the ancient province of Bresse ( frp, Brêsse, links=no). In 2018, ...

- Le Grand-Bornand) and departure of 8th stage of the Tour de France 2007, 165 kilometres between Le Grand-Bornand and Tignes. * Alps Mountain festival (at the beginning of August) * Ball of the conscripts, organized in May each year * Week of the mountain, discovering local fauna and flora. One evening is organized by the mountain security and the Office of mountain Guides. In 2007 it is from 21–27 July.

Tour de France

Le Grand-Bornand has been the start town for three stages of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

, in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

. It was the finish of a stage in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

. Stage 8 of the

2021 Tour de France The 2021 Tour de France was the 108th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's three grand tours. Originally planned for the Danish capital of Copenhagen, the start of the 2021 Tour (known as the ) was transferred to Brest because of ...

finished here.

Finishes

Departures

References

External links

Le Grand-Bornand Chinaillon accommodation providerLe Grand-Bornand official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grandbornand Communes of Haute-Savoie Ski resorts in France