Whe would have thought so: Despite the pandemic and climate change, many ski areas made a lot of money last winter. And because the business should continue to do well, there is a lot of investment. There are again many lift projects in the Alps that opened at the start of the 2022/2023 ski season. There are also some smart energy-saving ideas. We present the most exciting innovations:
Solar train between Leogang and Saalbach
The Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn shows how an area can be improved comfortably and sustainably at the same time: After just 20 years of operation, the summit lift from the direction of Leogang, which is actually still a modern six-seater chair, was replaced with a new eight-seater chairlift.
Thanks to the legendary transport capacity of 3700 people per hour, it not only ensures that the last bottleneck is reliably expanded to the wide lift motorway, but also has everything in terms of comfort that is possible today, from safety bars to weather hoods.
There is also a wider slope and green solar energy for the service areas thanks to a solar system on the south side of the valley station. The recycling of the old train is also sustainable: it is given a second life in the Polish ski area Master-Ski Tylicz.
Instead of Ischgl, See in the Paznauntal will surprise you
Tyrol’s après-ski stronghold of Ischgl has been keeping quiet since the pandemic scandal and is “only” opening a 75 million euro thermal bath with a 300 square meter outdoor pool and ice skating rink on the roof this winter. For once, the people of Ischgl leave the skiing innovations to the small neighboring village of See, which is putting on a new crown for the new winter with the Furglerblick 8-person gondola lift.
At a height of 2570 meters, the cable car not only swings up to a new parade view in the direction of the eponymous mountain Furgler, but also comes a lot closer to the long-term plan: the skiing connection with the cable cars from Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, which are now within reach.
The small, blue slope that is being created this winter is just a foretaste. For freeriders there are also a number of good deep snow variants in the direction of the Aschermulde.
Alpbachtal with new summit lift and observation tower
They have always had one of the most beautiful Tyrolean villages and a wildly romantic mountain valley, the Alpbachtaler. Ten years ago, a modern ski link was added with the lift connection to the Wildschönau.
Now the Alpbachtaler Bergbahn has a new flagship for its anniversary: ”Top of Alpbachtal” is the somewhat grandiose name of the new six-seater chairlift that replaces the old Hornlift 2000. The wide areas of snow he developed were already the most attractive and highest in the entire ski area.
A new blue slope was created so that the new run can also be used by beginners. And at the mountain station there is an observation tower from which you can look far into the Zillertal Alps and deep down into the Zillertal.
At express speed on the Pitztal Glacier
For years, the Ötztal mountain railway king Jakob Falkner has been trying to connect the two glacier ski areas of Sölden and Pitztal – so far in vain. Instead, the feeder cable car to the ski area on the Pitztal Glacier has now been completely renovated.
The new, futuristic-looking “Gletscher-Express” funicular takes guests from Mittelberg up to the ski area. It runs on the same route as the old, decommissioned system. The special thing about it: The train runs almost entirely with electricity from the in-house photovoltaic system. The Wildspitzbahn takes you further into the high alpine glacier world.
Travel more comfortably in the Zillertal Arena ski area
Between the neighboring towns of Kaltenbach-Hochzillertal and Mayrhofen-Mountopolis, the largest ski area in the Zillertal swings from Zell am Ziller up to the Gerlos Pass and on the other side back down to the Krimml in Salzburg. There, a project lasting several years is being worked on to improve the ski link.
Before the current winter, the Stuanmandl gondola lift replaced a previous weak point, now skiers can get from the slopes near Zell am Ziller to the Gerlos area more comfortably and quickly thanks to the new 8-person Kapauns chairlift with longer routes and weather protection hoods.
Before the winter after next, another central cableway between Zell and Gerlos will be renewed with the new Krimml X-Press, before finally the waterfall cableway will take skiers on the Salzburg side “in one go” from Krimml up to the ski area.
Faster for skiing on the Axamer Lizum
Innsbruck’s “White Roof”, the Axamer Lizum, will probably always be associated with the 1976 Winter Olympics from a German perspective, when “Gold-Rosi” Mittermaier won two gold and one silver medal there. Then as now, a bright red funicular climbs the 750 meters to the mountain station.
But probably not for too long, because for the new winter season the mountain railway company has afforded the parallel ten-seater gondola “Hoadl”. With the “Hoadlbahn new” three chairlifts will be replaced at the same time, instead of around 20 minutes, skiers now only need six minutes from the car park directly up to the Hoadl house at an altitude of 2340 meters. A hydroelectric power station on the Axamer Bach supplies the energy for all mountain railways in the area.
Over the Alps to Italy and back
Like flying, only with a panoramic view: After more than five years of construction, the Zermatt mountain railways are just taking off for the finish line of the mammoth Glacier Ride project. The dream of crossing the Alps by mountain railway will probably come true in March.
Past Switzerland’s most famous mountain: if you ride the gondolas of the Glacier Ride, you can see the Matterhorn
Source: pa/dpa/Zermatt Bergbahnen AG/Pedro Rodrigues
A relay of cable cars will make the one-hour panoramic tour possible. The finishing touches are still being put on the king’s stage from the Klein Matterhorn at 3,880 meters to the Testa Grigia (3,480 m). The highest crossing of the Alps in the stylish panoramic gondolas is set to become a whole new driving force for alpine tourism, especially from overseas – you don’t have to be able to ski for it.
After a trip to the Gornergrat, you can already admire the Matterhorn in the newly opened multimedia adventure world “Zooom the Matterhorn” – with a virtual paragliding flight in a mountain railway station that is no longer needed next to the “Kulmhotel”.
In South Tyrol, the small ski areas make it big
On the southern edge of the Alps, the large lift associations are reluctant to invest this year. But give some little gas. A new feeder cable car is now being built on Sterzing’s local mountain Rosskopf after the new valley run: a modern ten-seater gondola lift swings elegantly from near the city center of Sterzing over the Brenner autobahn up to the actual ski area.
A few kilometers further, the Alpe di Siusi offers a leap in quality and comfort with the new Spitzbühl six-seater chairlift on the popular northern slope below the Sciliar massif, which will also significantly enhance the cozy Spitzbühlhütte.
Sand in Taufers is improving its local Speikboden mountain with the new Seenock 8-person chairlift and, thanks to premium armchairs with weather protection hoods from the Italian design company Pininfarina, brings a little bit of the world into the quiet Ahrntal.
And in Meran 2000, the two sections of the new Naifjoch ten-seater gondola replace the nostalgic Piffing chairlift. The new building now comfortably connects the front and rear ski area and has also been given an accessible roof terrace at the middle station.
Paying more for less will also apply to skiing holidays in the future
Every winter, ski lift operators hope that it snows a lot and that snow cannons are used as little as possible. This season, however, there is a lot at stake because of the high electricity prices.
Source: WORLD | Peter Haentjes