Lenzerheide Bergbahnen: Successful Interim Balance Thanks To Advanced Snowmaking

After the end of the winter season, Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG (LBB AG) is giving a first look back at the 2022/23 financial year. According to the first forecasts, this is positive despite the well-known problem of lack of snow in the past winter season. Once again, technical snowmaking made a name for itself as an indispensable basis for safe winter operations.

The 2022/23 financial year of LBB AG started with a strong summer in 2022, in which over 200,000 guests again used the mountain railways. The slight decline after the record numbers in the Corona summer years corresponds to the expected development. The long-term upward trend in summer business is still evident. Before the 2022/23 winter season, LBB AG, like all mountain railways, faced various challenges with uncertainties related to Covid-19, the energy crisis, the falling euro exchange rate and a shortage of skilled workers. Nevertheless, the season started as planned with the November high. The greatest of all challenges of the past winter followed with the weather: Since records began, there has never been so little snow as in the 2022/23 winter season.

The construction of the snow sports area turned out to be much more demanding than in other years. "Despite all the challenges, another positive financial year is emerging. The fact that the Arosa Lenzerheide ski area is actually snow-reliable was supported by efficient technical snowmaking last winter when there was little snow. A large additional effort by our employees and an above-average number of sunny days are other factors that contribute to the satisfactory balance sheet,” says Thomas Küng, CEO of LBB AG.

Overall, with 1.28 million, around 10% fewer guests visited the common ski area Arosa Lenzerheide compared to the record winter of the previous year, but this is still slightly more than in the 5-year comparison.

Outlook for the 2023/24 financial year

The Arosa-Lenzerheide ski area connection celebrates its 10th anniversary in January 2024. The largest connected ski area in Graubünden was able to assert itself as an outstanding experience area in the Swiss market and the connection should be celebrated accordingly in the coming winter. The first signs for the coming financial year confirm a positive trend: the number of TOPCARDS sold is currently slightly higher than in the same period last year, despite moderate price increases.

Depending on the conditions, the 2023 summer season will start on Ascension Thursday, May 18, 2023, immediately after the completion of the maintenance work on the Rothorn 1 gondola lift, the Heidbüel panorama lift and the Tgantieni chairlift. The operation of the Scalottas chairlift starts a little later, on June 3, 2023, because the maintenance work here takes more time than in other years due to a cable and gear replacement.

LBB AG is back on an investment course

"We have embarked on a path of qualitative further development of the sports and excursion area and the expansion of mountain offers in summer and winter will be consistently pursued," says Felix Frei, Chairman of the Board of Directors of LBB AG. Various projects on the mountain, which are included in the 2023/24 investment budget of almost CHF 12 million, should contribute to this. For example, a staging of the Rothorn mountain station and the construction of an adventure trail for families as well as various improvements to paths, slopes, avalanche blasting systems and innovations in the Bike Kingdom Park as well as energy-saving measures are planned.

The largest item in terms of planned investments is undoubtedly the expansion of the snowmaking system. “The lack of snow this winter was a relentless reminder of where there are still gaps in the snowmaking infrastructure. There is no alternative to closing these gaps and developing additional water resources,” says Frei. The Board of Directors of LBB AG has therefore defined an investment volume of around CHF 30 million, which is to be invested in the snow-making system over the next few years.