What will become of the Sassolungo cable car in South Tyrol?

2023-09-16 15:06:48

Just getting on this gondola is an experience. There are two points marked on the floor of the valley station at Sellajoch, where a passenger lines up, then an eggshell-colored mini gondola floats up like in “Space Patrol” – and cable car employees stuff the two passengers into the cabin, boom, door shut.

Standing one behind the other, we now climb 400 meters up to the Sassolungo saddle. But that’s over for now: at the beginning of October, the concession for the lift, which locals call the “Sarglift”, expires. South Tyrol is arguing about what should happen next. It’s about nature conservation, overtourism, cultural heritage and ultimately about who should and can decide about it.

The Sassolungo lift was built in 1959 as an open metal basket lift, in 1972 this was replaced by two-person cabins, and at the end of the 1980s the Piz Sella company took over the lift. And now? Three variants are being discussed regarding the future of the lift: The lift will be replaced by a modern lift with higher capacity. The elevator is being renovated. The lift will be dismantled without replacement. Igor Marzola, managing director of the cable car company, says: “Sooner or later the rattlesnake will have to be replaced.” In October, all “moving parts” would be checked and reassembled.

There are no concrete plans for a new cable car, but there are ideas for modernizing the cable car: “We want a safe cable car, build the valley station underground in the hill, reduce the supports from 17 to eight and the gondolas from 63 to 20.” This makes everything easier and less visible. Yes, then the delivery rate, which is currently around 230 people an hour, would be increased. Marzola cites safety aspects, such as when “150 people have to be brought down to the valley in ten minutes” in the event of an impending lightning strike.

He refutes the accusation of wanting to build several cement pillars in the Sassolungo saddle. This is a solution to “not having two metal supports at the mountain station that shine and reflect. That’s why, with additional costs, we thought about cement supports that would fit well into the ambience.” The mountain station would be bigger, but not four times as big, “not as brutal as people say.” When asked whether the Piz Sella Society was considering completely dismantling the railway, Marzola said: “No, why should we?”

“If you can’t make it up on foot, you don’t need to come.”

“If I have my way, there shouldn’t be a lift anymore,” says Enrico “Heini” Demetz, owner of the Toni Demetz Hut next to the mountain station. Demetz is 77 years old and says: “More people bring more sales, but we don’t need that. I don’t want to be the richest person in the cemetery.” He is in favor of shutting down the railway. “We love the climbers. But if you can’t make it up on foot, you don’t need to come. The Japanese just come, take a photo, but have no idea. Someone once asked what the mountain was called, and I said the Matterhorn. Nice mountain, he then said.”