Abondance Ski Valley is a mid-sized ski area in the Haute-Savoie region of France, near Châtel and La Chapelle d'Abondance.The resort has been open since at least 1964 and was closed in 2007, when the local council voted to shut down the area after 15 years of loss-making. The resort was reopened, however, in 2009 when Gregory Lynn Sherwood, an American entrepreneur, made a deal with the local mayor to operate the ski area for the next 12 years.