The Stubai glacier, which is normally open for skiing for up to 10 months of the year, will close for the season earlier than usual, at the start of May, to continue work on the huge new infrastructure project due to be completed this autumn – the new €58m Eisgrat 3S Gondola.
The lift is a replacement for the ski area’s famous Eisgrat cable car which has ceased operating after more than 40 years of service. Two major buildings at the base and mid-station are included in the cost and the operators say minimising disruption to the ski schedule and minimising environmental impact are major contributions to the cost.
Reinahrd Klier, managing director of the Wintersport Tirol AG which runs the Stubai ski area says the new lift is a win win for the region,
“The environmental impact of the project is not significant and we are actually increasing the size of the local nature reserve by hectares. An additional benefit is that bus traffic between the feeder lift and the car parks will be considerably reduced. Our investments don’t extend the ski area, but replace an existing facility.”
Along with the new lift, which will have a capacity of just over 3,000 skiers per hour, there’ll be a completely new base building and a dramatically expanded mid station. Work on the mid-station will see 5,000m³ concrete and 50 fixed pillars with a diameter of up to one metre used. The pillars are necessary because of the difficult terrain.
In additional two avalanche barriers will be built in this area, the bigger one has a height of 10 metres and a length of 60 metres.
“It is going to be a big challenge for us and the involved companies to finish this project within two summers”, says the managing director of the Wintersport Tirol AG. The brief spells for building from mid-April to late October require that works are carried out in two shifts to finish the project in time.
The new lift is expected to open on 1st October, 2016