The Croix cable car marks the beginning of the history of the Chamrousse resort. While winter sports were still in their infancy, still struggling to become more democratic, an idea was born: to equip the site of the Croix de Chamrousse, an emblematic "summit" for all the people of Grenoble and the beginning of the long Belledonne range that stretches all the way to Chambéry. With the cable car, the entire infrastructure of the resort was developed on the Recoin site and the first beds were built.
It is since the construction of this device that the area began to expand on the slopes of Belledonne, until the Olympic Games of Grenoble in 1968 which gave the resort a perfect opportunity to develop to host all the events of alpine skiing.

The old cable car of La Croix and the parallel chain formed by the Grand Couloir and La Croix chairlifts were replaced in 2009 by the Croix de Chamrousse gondola.
The implementation of this project was essential to improve service to the historic sector of Chamrousse 1650 - Recoin. Indeed, the cable car offered a much too low flow (barely 400 people/hour) and the chain of chairlifts was much too long (at least 20 minutes of ascent). It became essential to create a fast and efficient device to better absorb the flow of skiers.
The Grenoble-based company Poma created a gondola lift with a much improved capacity (2,700 people/hour with 8 seats in the cabin, and even 3,000 people/hour with 10 standing places) and a reduced ascent time of only 5 minutes to take better advantage of this sector which is composed of many slopes, some of which were built during the 1968 Olympic Games!
Source : remonte-mecaniques.net

As a heritage of this glorious past, the building of the former departure station of the Chamrousse cable car is still there since it has been converted into an office for the management company of the ski lifts of the resort (not open to the public). The new boarding station was built directly on the snow front of Chamrousse 1650 - Recoin.
The arrival station was renovated in 2013 with the reconstruction of a first-aid station and a high altitude restaurant under the top station of the gondola for a better landscape integration.

USB key with the effigy of the old cable car and the new cable car on sale at the Chamrousse Tourist Offices.