Val Gardena Opens

The stunning Dolomiti ski area of Val Gardena will burst into the winter season with an 18m euro 10-seater gondola to whisk skiers and boarders to the highest peaks.

The watchwords of comfort, safety and performance are key for wintersports fans and the new lift delivers just that.

The new Piz Seteur gondola with heated seats is at Selva di Gardena and replaces a 20-year-old four person chairlift to give improved access to the popular Sellaronda ski circuit – a 42 km tour around the Sella peaks.

From the beginning of the 2017/18 season skiers and riders can  make use of a new modern connection system in Val Gardena with the Sellaronda: the new 10 seater cabin system “Piz Seteur”. It will reach new standards of comfort, safety and performance. The cableway, built by Leitner is  made up of two sections and consolidates Val Gardena’s policy of introducing quality transport systems into the area as well as bringing a new look to things: the intermediate station and the cabins themselves are among the most recent creations of the Italian Pininfarina design house. The valley station was designed by Perathoner Architects.

The middle station is next to the Gran Paradiso chairlift and Comici II chairlifts.

The cabins give both more space to customers inside the cabin and wider entrance and exit areas so making it easier for all to board the cabin. The intermediate station is an example of perfect balance between modern design and planning in the initial project stages.

The system also stands out for another technical reason: thanks to the speed at stations being reduced there is more time to get in and get out of the cabin in a safer and stress-free manner. With its 77 cabins (each with 10 seat capacity) the “Piz Seteur” system will have a total capacity of 3450 persons per hour. over 312 meters from 1,789m to 2,102m altitude.

In other developments the Furdenan skilift in Ortisei/Oltretorrente will be replaced by a newer and longer ski lift. It will be even easier to ski from Furdenan to the valley station of the Alpe di Siusi cable car. At the same time children and youngsters can look forward to a new snow park.

Val Gardena is in an impressive UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Italy. Its winter season opens on 6 December when Christmas festivities will already be in full swing. The valley – with the villages of Ortisei, Selva di Gardena and S. Cristina – will be festooned with lights and markets for five weeks