Climate change is forcing the Wachtberg ski area to close – an era is ending!

Climate change is forcing the Wachtberg ski area to close – an era is ending!

Another ski area is falling victim to climate change! After 25 years, the ski lift on the Wachtberg in Weyregg am Attersee has closed its doors. Wolfgang Spießberger, the operator of the family business, confirmed that “it just didn’t work anymore”. The mild weather and drastic decline in snow days have presented the region's winter sports industry with unbearable challenges.

The ski lift on Wachtberg, which has been in operation since 1963 and was handed over to the local sports club in 1999, has increasingly proven to be unprofitable for economic reasons. The threat of loss of income due to too few days of skiing meant that even the use of volunteers by the ski club was not enough to maintain operations. There were disagreements with the landowner and financial hurdles that could not be overcome.

Ski resorts dying due to climate change

The winter sports industry is confronted with dramatic changes not only in Austria, but also in Germany and Switzerland. As the Jennerbahn in Berchtesgadener Land has already announced its withdrawal from classic ski operations, the picture of shrinking winter sports continues. Stefan Höllbacher, head of the Berchtesgaden winter sports school, described the step as a “catastrophe for the entire region”. The decline in alpine skiers is due not only to the lack of snow, but also to poor conditions that deter many skiers.

The fate of the Wachtberg is just another example in a series of closure-related fates of ski areas in the Alps. The pressure to adapt to the new climatic realities is becoming ever stronger - and the days of alpine winter sports as we have known them seem to be numbered. The gradual changes not only challenge the operators, but also cast a shadow over the future of alpine skiing as a whole.