Innovation To The Tune Of €73.4 Million – SkiWelt Is Investing In Hi-Tech Lift Systems
Not a year goes by without improvements – nor a year without investments. And this year’s investments are incredibly high. SkiWelt will be spending a total of €73.4m to make the ski area yet more modern – offering visitors a wonderfully comfortable and interactive skiing experience!
SkiWelt is pushing forward with innovative infrastructure, with no fewer than four new lift systems currently being built in the ski area – two of which will become operational this winter. The new structures will offer a new dimension in terms of comfort, service and speed in one of the largest and most modern ski resorts in the world.
SkiWelt Brixen im Thale
Wow! So future-oriented – the first combination lift in the Kitzbühel Alps
For the 2019/20 winter season, SkiWelt Brixen im Thale will have a new hi-tech 8/10 CGD combination lift: costing €15.5m, it replaces the old 4-seater chairlift. The new Zinsbergbahn will have roomy 10-person panoramic gondolas and comfortable 8-person chairs with heated seats and bubbles to protect against the weather. The first of its kind in the entire Kitzbühel Alps, the lift also offers separate access for children’s ski school groups. In order to meet SkiWelt’s ecological requirements, a large photovoltaic system has been installed at the mountain station, while the lift and piste have been extended 400 metres upwards, greatly increasing the attractiveness of this busy connecting lift within SkiWelt. The new Zinsbergbahn will also run in summer from 2020 on, thus expanding the summer offer.
ZINSBERGBAHN – TECHNICAL DETAILS
- Type: Combination lift with 10-person gondolas offering panoramic views, weather protection bubbles and seat heating (open all year round)
- Speed: 6.00 m/s
- Carrying capacity: 3,400 people/hr in winter / 1,035 people/hr in summer (gondolas only)
www.skiwelt.at/zinsbergbahn-brixen
SkiWelt Westendorf
Wow! So super-fast and with great views – new chairlift to SkiWelt’s highest point
SkiWelt Westendorf has a major project in the offing, investing €15.5m in constructing the new 8CLD/B Fleidingbahn. The result is one of the world’s most modern 8-seater chairlifts with comfort suspension, seat heating and weather protection bubbles. The new routing will offer skiers a longer piste for even more fun on the slopes. Once at the top, skiers can appreciate the unique panorama that opens up at the mountain station, the highest point of SkiWelt, with an informative display (planned for summer 2020), a viewing platform and the Alpinorama showing places of special interest in the Westendorf ski and hiking area. The focus is on relaxing and recuperating in the mountains, with the Alpinorama as a resting place to slow down and chill out, listen to the silence, consciously enjoy the majestic panorama and become completely absorbed in the here and now.
FLEIDINGBAHN – TECHNICAL DETAILS
- Type: 8-person chairlift with bubble and seat heating
- Speed: 6.00 m/s
- Transit time: 4.82 min
- Carrying capacity: 2,730 people/hr
SkiWelt Brixen im Thale
Wow! Such a fairytale – ALPENIGLU® Village gets new motto
The ALPENIGLU® village at the mountain station in Hochbrixen is a wide-ranging world of adventure. With its 18 igloos, igloo hotel, church, restaurant, bar, sun lounge and exhibition, the ALPENIGLU® village is a fairytale made of ice and snow. This year the motto for the ice exhibition is “SkiWelt”, with highlights of the winter and summer attractions in SkiWelt itself. International ice artists create weird and wonderful sculptures for the exhibition every year, with multilingual guided tours presenting the works and the artists with comprehensive insights into all aspects of the ALPENIGLU® igloo village.
SkiWelt Söll
Wow! So spellbinding – the witches of winter around the Simonalm and on the piste
No thoughts of hibernation among the witches of SkiWelt Söll – right from the start of the season, for five days a week (Sun-Thur) they will be flying around SkiWelt Söll and, with a little luck, you might see or hear them on the slopes. They are sure to be seen in the morning, at 10:76 a.m. in front of their witch’s house at the Simonalm, where thick smoke rises from a large cauldron of mystical witch’s brew simmering on the fire. The witching hour strikes at 12:69 p.m. at the Alpengasthof Hochsöll inn, with the witches flying in and out the other establishments at SkiWelt Söll in a cloud of sound and smoke. There are also two bewitching adventure pistes to tackle: the “Hexenschuss” on the Siller-Keat piste lets skiers measure their speed (the witches are also said to use it for take-off), while the “Hexenwelle” on Piste no. 46 is all about coordination and fun.
SkiWelt Söll
Wow! So fabulously exciting – snow groomer tours
Enjoy a tour of SkiWelt Söll on a nine-tonne, 500 hp snow groomer. Tours are available from Wednesday to Friday from around the beginning of January to 14 March 2020. The one-hour experience costs €65 for adults and €40 for children born in or after 2004. Participants meet at the middle station of SkiWelt Söll in front of the witch’s cauldron, at 3.45 p.m. until the end of January and at 4 p.m. from February on. Limited space means that reservations are absolutely necessary: call +43(0)5333 5260 4444 to book. The tour is followed by the chance of a stop for refreshments, then descent by gondola from 6.30 p.m. There is also the option of taking a toboggan (not included in price) down on the illuminated “Hexenritt” toboggan run.
www.skiwelt.at/pistenraupentour
SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser – Brixental
Wow! So much hiking fun – winter hiking pass now available for 3 or 4 days
SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser – Brixental is expanding its offer for winter walkers, strollers and lovers of magnificent panoramas. From this winter on the Winter Hiking Pass will also be available for 3 or 4 days and not, as previously, for 5 or 6 days only – an ideal way to enjoy the enchanting winter landscape in the mountains, exploring the numerous winter hiking trails in SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser – Brixental and savouring genuine local delicacies at the many family-run mountain restaurants and huts. Winter hikers in SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser – Brixental can now choose from 12 panoramic cable carsusing just one lift ticket. Once at the top, visitors can marvel at the fantastic panoramic views of over seventy 3000-metre peaks, from the Wilder Kaiser to the Grossglockner. The Winter Hiking Pass is available from 7 December 2019 to 13 April 2020: it is valid on all lifts up to SkiWelt (except KiWest) and includes two ascents and descents a day (only for walkers without ski equipment!). The Winter Hiking Pass for adults costs €54.60 for 3 days and €65.50 for 4 days.
www.skiwelt.at/winterwanderpass.
SkiWelt Söll
Wow! So beautiful – new winter hiking trails in SkiWelt Söll
SkiWelt Söll has created three new winter hiking trails. The Hohe Salve winter walk leads from the top station of the Hohe Salve gondola lift between the Gipfelalm and the Salvenkirche, Austria’s highest pilgrimage church, to the summit cross on the Hohe Salve with its magnificent views of the main ridge of the Alps. Return via the same route, then savour the sunny terrace of the Gipfelalm. The Hexenwasser trail is a leisurely round trip from the mountain station of the Hochsöll gondola lift westwards towards the Stöcklalm, past the “Blaues Wunder [Blue Wonder]”, a water world that is definitely worth a visit. After a leisurely stopover the same route leads back to Hochsöll. Finally, the Hochsöll winter hiking trail is an extension of the Hexenwasser round: the trail briefly follows the Mondrodelbahn toboggan run, then leads around the Salvenmooser Kogel slightly uphill towards Hochsöll before once more descending to the mountain station.
www.skiwelt.at/winterwanderwege
SkiWelt Söll
Wow! Such a great shopping experience – massive adventure sports shop at Söll bottom station
Sporthaus Edinger is investing in a fabulously innovative adventure sports shop at the bottom station of SkiWelt Söll, due to open in November 2019. The existing sales area will be enlarged to a massive 1600 m2, where an all-new innovative customer experience is being created – with a waterfall and real moss wall, snow room, simulation booth, E-bike centre, ski hire station and ski depot.
The shop is technologically state-of-the-art: the 12 m2 snow room produces up to 30 cm of powder snow every night, using technology that is unique in the Austrian sports trade. The open-view space offers customers an all-year-round tangible experience of snow and ice conditions, with demonstrations and testing of how high-quality sportswear can protect against the cold and other elements. Lighting effects, a photopoint and displays that revolve around the specially designed figure of “Our Snow Witch” all transform the room into a real experience. The shop also offers boot-fitting technology in its new digitised ski hire station, where high-tech foot scanners ensure that every customer gets just the right ski boot. And, as from summer 2020, a new simulation booth will mimic outdoor situations in the mountains with water, wind, light and acoustics for fully testing high-quality wet-weather clothing.
For the summer, the shop offers a new E-bike centre including E-bike sales and hire. There will also be guided tours available free of charge when hiring a bike.
There is full barrier-free access to the Edinger Sportshop from the car parks and bus stop. The KaiserJET, taxis and ski buses all stop right outside the front door. Visitors can also “ski in, ski out”: the shop exit leads directly via a ramp or the new escalator to the gondola lift.
Prospects: new for 2020
SkiWelt Söll
Wow! So entertaining – interactive Hexenwasser gondola from July 2020
A state-of-the-art 10-person gondola up to Hexenwasseris currently being built in Söll, to run in both summer and winter once completed. The lift will begin operation in July 2020 and replace the former 8-person gondola, turning the ride in future into a real interactive experience: a comfortable ride on the famous witch’s broom accompanied by entertaining and informative stories. With “Hexophony” as the working title, each of the 72 cabins will have its own motif and story, introducing passengers tothe mountain experience, with a number of musical surprises as well. A new asphalted and floodlit parking area for up to 40 buses is also being built at the bottom station of SkiWelt Söll.
HEXENWASSER GONDOLA – TECHNICAL DETAILS
- Speed: 6 m/s
- Carrying capacity: 3,200 people/hr
- Transit time: 6.76 min
www.skiwelt.at/hexenwasser-gondelbahn
SkiWelt Söll
Wow! So bewitched – new spells cast over Hexenwasser Söll
There is now “witchcraft” a-plenty to be found at Hexenwasser Söll, with a witch’s kitchen, witch’s parlour, handicrafts area, sewing room, witch’s stage and even witch’s footbaths. A venerable, centuries-old farm that previously stood on the Bromberg has been carefully dismantled and rebuilt at Hexenwasser Söll. This beautiful house is living testimony to the craftsmanship and domestic arrangements of bygone generations. Visitors can learn of its origins and hear the witches recount the legend of the two sistersthen, from 2020 onwards, they will be able to create, cook, magic and marvel with the descendants of the ancient witches of Söll in the “Hexerei [Witchery]”, as the farmis called. As a winning extension to the overall concept, the planned “Way to the Witchery” through the “Mystical Forest” will provide plenty of opportunities foradventurethis summer.
SkiWelt Hopfgarten-Itter
Wow! So high up – new 10-person Salvista lift to the Kleine Salve
A new state-of-the-art 10-person gondola is currently being built in SkiWelt Hopfgarten-Itter to replace the old four-person gondola in time for the 2020/21 winter season. The new Salvista cable car with its panoramic gondolas will be 650 metres longer than before, opening up previously unknown prospects on the Kleine Salve. Passengers can get on and off at the new middle station at the renovated Kraftalm mountain inn, where new pistes have also been created during the course of rebuilding. Continuous summer operation will further enhance the attractiveness of the Salvista lift, while the infrastructure at the bottom station is being expanded with a sports shop, ski hire and ski depot.
SALVISTABAHN – TECHNICAL DETAILS
- Speed: 6 m/s
- Carrying capacity: 2,100 people/hr
- Transit time: 10 min
SkiWelt Hopfgarten-Itter
Wow! So ecological – a new reservoir for even more sustainability
On the Kleine Salve, just below the top station of the new Salvista lift, a new storage lake is currently being built with a capacity of 50,000 cubic metres, making a significant contribution to the effectiveness of the Hopfgarten-Itter snowmaking facilities. The entire project is being realised in accordance with the latest ecological standards, with a state-of-the-art technical centre for maintaining storing the piste equipment and snowmaking systems being built just below the reservoir.
Useful information
Sustainability is a top priority at SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser – Brixental. Did you know that SkiWelt has been commended as an environmentally friendly ski area?
