Snowmaking 4.0 – Construction Is Underway With Pizolbahnen

With the municipality of Fläsch, the last municipality at the foot of the Pizol, approved the support package for the Pizolbahnen with a large majority last Tuesday evening. The municipalities of Bad Ragaz, Vilters-Wangs, Mels, Pfäfers and Fläsch as well as the city of Maienfeld are contributing a total of 5.3 million Swiss francs to the realization of the snowmaking project 4.0 and annual contributions of 540,000 Swiss francs to the operation of the Pizolbahnen .

In February, the Canton of St. Gallen pledged an interest-free NRP loan of CHF 3.0 million for the project. In addition, private shareholders have subscribed share capital of CHF 700,000. Around CHF 3.5 million comes from the cash flow of the Pizolbahnen. This secures the financing of the CHF 12.4 million project and the further expansion of snowmaking can begin.
The approval for this forward-looking project was granted by the authorities in autumn 2020 thanks to the support of the three major landowners on the mountain, the local community of Bad Ragaz, the local community of Wangs and the Wangs Alp Corporation. From this, the first construction phases could be implemented in the summer of 2021 and 2022. In the summer of 2023, a new reservoir with a capacity of 80,000m3 will be built at 2,200m above sea level. M., next to the Pizolhütte prepared so far that in the summer of 2024 the seal can be installed and the lake can be filled with water.

Together with the Suntigweid reservoir and the excess water from the water supply at the pumping station in the Adler reservoir, 130,000 m3 of water will be available for snowmaking in the future. Around 10 km of new snow-making lines (water, compressed air and electricity) will be laid in addition to the existing lines. The overall concept primarily provides for energy-efficient lances from Bächler and modern snow cannons from Supersnow. As a result, the energy consumption is hardly increased compared to today, despite the expansion of the snow-making capacity, since in future it will be possible to snow with the inherent pressure.

In addition to the new lake, the new Twärchamm pumping station and the first parts of the pipeline network will be built this year. This means that water from the new reservoir can be fed into the existing system for the first time in winter 2024/25. The final expansion will take place in several stages and will be completed in 2028. In the final phase, around 300 snow-making machines will be available to ensure basic snow-making on all relevant slopes within 80 hours. The main construction work is being carried out by several regional companies, which have prevailed in the tender.

Investments in snowmaking are long-term investments with a lifespan of more than 80 years. Although the reservoir and lines primarily serve the purpose of a snowmaking system, the systems are designed in such a way that several alternative uses come into question. such as B. as a small hydroelectric power station for electricity production, for water supply in emergencies (drought, pollution, etc.), as a fire-fighting water basin to fight forest fires and for water supply for alpine farming and agriculture.

The board of directors, management and employees of Pizolbahnen AG are delighted with the great support of the people in Sarganserland and the Bündner Herrschaft. The persuasion work of the last few years and the expansion of the offer, summer and winter, has paid off.