��é��é���é������ܱ�

I’ve heli-skied in Alaska, and spent seasons in Chamonix, France, and Telluride, Colo., but as Mr. Lang took me on the Téléphérique for the first time, it became clear this mountain was unlike any I’d ever seen.

The current lease for the Téléphérique expires in June, which means a large ski resort conglomerate could come in, scoop up the lease and alter the resort’s character forever.

Instead, skiers find more than 7,500 feet of off-piste terrain: steep alpine faces, 3,000-foot couloirs and rolling glacier runs — all reached by the Téléphérique, a rainbow-colored lift that rises from a maze of old stone houses, narrow alleyways and a smattering of restaurants, hotels and ski shops.

The Téléphérique takes 45 minutes from top to bottom, and skiers might tally only two runs in a day.

Instead, four patrollers roam the mountain and sit in a shack at the bottom of the Téléphérique, informing skiers of the mountain’s risks.