Winter trauma in Lienz: Hochstein ski lifts remain closed this year

Winter trauma in Lienz: Hochstein ski lifts remain closed this year

In the picturesque Alps of Austria, a financial disaster threatens: The winter season 2024/25 on the Hochstein in Lienz remains closed for all skiers. While some ski areas hope for good snow, Lienzer Bergbahnen AG must shut down the lifts due to massive delays during maintenance work. For hotel owners and restaurants, this message is an early Christmas present that no one expected.

Winter joy turns into disappointment after the operators announced that the urgently needed spare parts for the chairlift are expected to arrive until March 2025. This situation has not only brought the mountain railways into trouble, but also the entire local economic structure. "So there is no skiing on the Hochstein in the 2024/25 winter season," confirm those responsible.

high cancellations and losses in the industry

The effects of this decision are devastating. "80 percent of the hotel guests have canceled," reports hotelier Reinhold Tiefenbacher. The loss of sales could endanger the existence of many small businesses. Margit Stotter, head of the Grafinhof, gets it in a nutshell: "Before the winter season, this is a hard club that we got over it." The restaurants and hotels that had prepared for the winter season are now facing enormous economic challenges.

Although the Lienz mountain railways refer to the ski tours that may take place at fresh snow, this is a weak consolation. Christoph Stotter, operator of the Schlossberg ski school, is frustrated: "You took my existence in one fell swoop." His efforts to prepare the tobogganing path were free and leave it back.

The situation not only escalates in the hotels. In an even more dramatic step, the operators of the Sternalm finally closed their doors on September 29. Christian Schiessl and Heidi Bender had previously struggled with a loss of 40,000 euros a year and are now forced to draw a line. "We would never have come up with the idea that the cable car would not drive in winter," says Schiessl and is shaken by the events of recent years.

criticism of the decision of the mountain railway

The decision to close the lifts on the Hochstein was made by Lienzer Bergbahnen AG in a unanimous decision. Supervisory Council leader Franz Theurl explains that economic reality requires this difficult measure. "If you look at this from an entrepreneurial point of view, the decision is a logical one." The high operating costs, coupled with a stagnant number of guests, force the operators to take these drastic steps in order to secure their financial basis in the long term.

The closure of Hochstein ski tourism has overthrew the affected communities into a crisis. In a country where winter sports is an important industry, the question remains whether alternative solutions can be found. The mountain railways have been struggling with profitability for years and are now seeing themselves in a precarious situation, while other ski areas in Austria feel similar challenges.

The signs indicate that the coming months will not bring a upswing into sight for the ski area. The uncertainty is high for the employees and operators, and hope for an early improvement is disappearing. The region now remains under the shadow of this "big catastrophe", while the preparations for the coming season are transformed into a nightmare. Further information on the effects of this closure can also be found in an article on www.ruhr24.de .