Rooted in the Mountains, Dedicated to the Public Interest
DEMEN CIEL ORCIERES is a fully registered, independent non-profit association (Association Loi 1901) established to promote outdoor sports, youth empowerment, and mountain ecological discovery in the Haut-Champsaur valley. Operating under Prefecture identifier RNA W052003598 and SIREN 810265652, our civic mission is governed entirely by democratic volunteer leadership and public interest statutes.
For over a decade, our community has worked hand-in-hand with municipal educators, local families, and regional sporting federations to ensure that the transformative disciplines of free flight and mountain exploration remain accessible to every young resident regardless of family income or social status.
Official Registry & Legal Identity
As a public interest non-profit organization operating under French law, DEMEN CIEL ORCIERES maintains absolute transparency across all public registers, administrative filings, and financial statements.
National Association Registry (RNA)
Identifier: W052003598
Formally registered with the Prefecture of the Hautes-Alpes (Sous-Préfecture de Briançon / Préfecture de Gap). This unique alphanumeric designation certifies our continuous compliance with the French Law of July 1, 1901, governing non-profit, public interest associations.
Official publication recorded in the Journal Officiel des Associations et Fondations d'Entreprise (JOAFE).
National Statistical Identifier (SIREN)
SIREN Number: 810265652
Assigned by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). Identifies the association for all administrative conventions, institutional grant applications, public subsidies, and social security filings.
Activity Code (APE): 93.12Z (Sports Club & Non-Profit Sporting Activities).
Headquarters & Operational Base
Galerie Le Chamois Gliss Add Sport
Orcières Merlette 1850
05170 Orcières, Hautes-Alpes, France
Direct Telephone: +33 4 48 69 66 00
Official Email: [email protected]
Directly situated at 1,850 meters elevation, granting immediate access to high alpine educational terrain.
Statutory Non-Profit Guarantee
DEMEN CIEL ORCIERES is strictly organized and administered as a disinterested non-profit association. The members of the Board of Directors serve on an entirely voluntary, unpaid basis. No dividends, profits, or capital gains can ever be distributed to members. All activities are funded through public subsidies, institutional grants, and educational partnerships. All membership dues and resource allocations are fully reinvested in the association's public interest missions.
The Origins of DEMEN CIEL ORCIERES
The story of DEMEN CIEL ORCIERES began with a shared observation among a passionate group of alpine sports educators, mountain guides, and community organizers living in the high valley of Orcières. While the region is celebrated worldwide for its winter ski domain and majestic summer summits, local residents often noticed that youth living in the valley year-round had surprisingly few structured avenues to discover free-flight sports such as paragliding.
In commercial sports schools, the substantial costs of state-of-the-art gliding gear, insurance riders, and multi-week coaching packages presented an insurmountable financial obstacle for many rural families. Many young people who looked up every day at the colorful wings floating above the Merlette cliffs felt that this exhilarating discipline belonged only to visiting tourists or affluent outsiders.
Determined to reverse this trend, our founding members convened an inaugural constituent assembly in 2015. Their goal was straightforward yet profound: to establish an Association Loi 1901 dedicated to democratizing free flight, instilling ecological awareness, and providing rural adolescents with an empowering space to develop leadership, discipline, and cooperative values.
A Decade of Milestones in Public Service
From modest beginnings with just two training wings and a handful of local teenagers, the association has steadily expanded its public interest footprint through sustained dedication, civic partnerships, and rigorous adherence to safety standards.
2015 – 2017: Founding & Initial Flight Reserve
Official registration with the Prefecture and publication in the Journal Officiel. Acquisition of the association's first subsidized educational glider wings through departmental sports grants. Launch of the initial "First Wings" youth discovery afternoons for Orcières primary and middle school students.
2018 – 2021: Expanding Regional Camps & Ecology
Formalization of multi-day summer camps combining mountain trekking, aerology seminars, and bivouacs. Integration of the Écrins National Park educational curriculum, teaching Leave-No-Trace principles and alpine raptor preservation alongside flight mechanics.
2022 – 2026: Territorial Inclusion & Modern Hub
Expansion of activities across the broader Haut-Champsaur and Valgaudemar valleys. Inauguration of our civic equipment reserve at Galerie Le Chamois, ensuring state-certified flight harnesses, reserve parachutes, and communication radios are available free to all enrolled youth participants.
Our Board of Directors & Administrative Architecture
DEMEN CIEL ORCIERES is governed by an elected Board of Directors (Conseil d'Administration) that reflects our deep roots in the Hautes-Alpes community. In strict accordance with our non-profit statutes, all board members serve without remuneration.
President of the Association
Executive Leadership & Institutional Representation
The President presides over the General Assembly and Board of Directors, ensuring that all association initiatives remain scrupulously faithful to our statutory public interest objectives. The President serves as the official liaison to the Prefecture of Hautes-Alpes, municipal councils, regional sports bodies, and educational authorities.
Responsible for statutory filings, ethical oversight, and non-commercial compliance audits.
Secretary General
Administrative Records & Member Coordination
The Secretary General oversees all formal meeting minutes, registry declarations, volunteer onboarding files, and administrative correspondences. Coordinates session enrollment for local youth cohorts and maintains the association's official membership rolls and public notices.
Ensures public accessibility of General Assembly deliberations and statutory archives.
Treasurer & Financial Controller
Subsidies & Non-Profit Financial Stewardship
The Treasurer manages the association's operating accounts, monitors public subsidy allocations, and prepares the annual financial balance sheet presented to the General Assembly. Enforces strict zero-commercial accounting rules and oversees equipment acquisition grants.
Subject to annual audit and submission to institutional funding bodies.
Technical & Safety Director
A seasoned, state-certified free-flight instructor who volunteers technical oversight. Inspects and logs all association gear (canopies, lines, harnesses, rescue systems), evaluates daily aerological conditions, and enforces flight safety protocols across every field session.
Youth & Educational Coordinator
An experienced youth worker who structures the pedagogical progression of our camps. Coordinates with municipal schools, organizes socio-educational workshops, and ensures that participants facing social or economic vulnerability receive comprehensive care and mentorship.
Our Guiding Core Principles
1. Absolute Non-Commercial Integrity
We reject the commercialization of sports education. DEMEN CIEL ORCIERES operates without sales funnels, corporate sponsorships with strings attached, or profit targets. Every cent of public subsidy and membership contribution is channeled directly into equipment maintenance, student safety gear, and qualified volunteer training.
2. Radical Inclusivity for Mountain Youth
Every young person living in our valley deserves the chance to touch the sky and discover the alpine heights. We prioritize outreach to working-class families, single-parent households, and adolescents at risk of rural isolation, ensuring that gear, licenses, and transport are never an obstacle.
3. Mountain Ecosystem Respect
The air we fly through and the summits we traverse are living, fragile ecosystems. We view paragliders and mountain hikers as guests in the habitat of the golden eagle, the chamois, and delicate alpine flora. We instill environmental humility in every student from day one.
Our Civic & Public Interest Partners
Our non-profit initiatives are made possible through close, ongoing collaboration with regional, departmental, and municipal public bodies committed to sports development and youth welfare.
Municipality of Orcières
Providing access to communal recreational facilities, civic training spaces, and logistical support for our seasonal youth assemblies and municipal summer programs.
Departmental Council of Hautes-Alpes
Supporting youth sports development grants and rural mobility subsidies that allow young people from remote valley hamlets to travel to training clinics.
National Sports & Free Flight Networks
Adhering to official technical pedagogical frameworks and safety certifications established by French free-flight and mountain sports bodies.
Constitutional Articles & Statutory Bylaws Analysis
The organizational integrity of DEMEN CIEL ORCIERES is grounded in our official statutes filed with the Prefecture of Hautes-Alpes under registration RNA W052003598. The key articles governing our operations include:
Article 1 & 2: Legal Constitution & Non-Profit Public Purpose
Article 1: Constituted between adherents to these statutes is an association governed by the Law of July 1, 1901, and the Decree of August 16, 1901, under the official title DEMEN CIEL ORCIERES.
Article 2: The exclusive statutory purpose of the association is to promote, organize, and develop outdoor mountain sports, free-flight paragliding education, environmental discovery, and youth empowerment across the Haut-Champsaur valley and the Hautes-Alpes department. The association is strictly non-profit, educational, and dedicated to the public interest.
Article 3 & 4: Domicile, Non-Commerciality & Indefinite Duration
Article 3: The official administrative seat of the association is established at Galerie Le Chamois Gliss Add Sport, Orcières Merlette 1850, 05170 Orcières. It may be transferred to any other location within the municipality by decision of the Board of Directors, subject to prefecture notification.
Article 4: The duration of the association is unlimited. The association conducts zero commercial trading operations and distributes zero dividends, shares, or private benefits to its members.
Article 5 & 6: Democratic Membership & Assembly Sovereign Authority
Article 5: Membership is open to all residents, youth, educators, and volunteers who subscribe to the association's educational charter, without distinction of origin, belief, or social condition.
Article 6: The General Assembly convenes annually and represents the supreme sovereign authority of the association. Every active adherent possesses equal voting power (one member = one vote). The assembly audits financial accounts, approves the moral report, and elects the Board of Directors.
Article 7 & 8: Disinterested Asset Allocation & Devolution
Article 7: Board members serve strictly in an unremunerated, honorary capacity. Expenses incurred in the direct execution of association missions may only be reimbursed upon presentation of verified receipts without markups.
Article 8: In the event of statutory dissolution, any net assets remaining after settlement of liabilities shall be devolved exclusively to another non-profit organization or public educational institution pursuing similar public interest objectives, in accordance with Article 9 of the Law of July 1, 1901.
Four Decades of Alpine Aerial Heritage in the Upper Drac Valley
The upper valley of the Drac has played a storied role in the development of mountain non-motorized aviation in France. Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, daring pioneers launched primitive triangular delta hang gliders from the grassy shoulders above Merlette, discovering the consistent, generous thermal updrafts generated by the high amphitheater of peaks surrounding Orcières.
When the revolutionary invention of ram-air paragliders emerged from the neighboring Haute-Savoie, Orcières was among the earliest alpine resorts to establish official municipal takeoff sites. However, as the sport evolved into a global leisure attraction, the commercial market increasingly catered to tourists seeking fast-paced tandem experiences, while the long-term educational infrastructure for permanent valley youth remained underdeveloped.
DEMEN CIEL ORCIERES was founded by local instructors and mountain veterans to reconnect this extraordinary local aviation heritage with its rightful heirs: the young generation growing up in the valley hamlets. By anchoring flight education within a non-profit association framework, we ensured that the technical wisdom, safety heritage, and environmental reverence built over four decades became a permanent civic legacy accessible to every child.
Formal Conventions With Regional Educational & Municipal Bodies
Our non-profit impact is multiplied through official operating agreements established with local public entities.
Municipal Facility Conventions
Formal agreements with the Town of Orcières granting our association authorized, safe use of designated municipal practice fields, landing corridors, and communal conference halls for our winter seminars and summer camps.
Regional Youth & Sports Accreditation
Ongoing coordination with the Departmental Directorate for Social Cohesion and Population Protection (DDCSPP) of Hautes-Alpes, ensuring all our educational camps comply with national youth welfare standards.
Secondary School Extracurricular Liaison
Collaboration with regional middle schools (Collège François Mitterrand in Saint-Bonnet) to provide subsidized outdoor education workshops for students during off-peak periods, fostering healthy lifestyles.
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