Less activity on the slopes than at Christmas – Austria –

After the race on the ski lifts over the weekend, Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) spoke on Monday of images “that I no longer want to see.” Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) also spoke and threatened to punish them in a broadcast: “There are good reasons why there are strict regulations for the operation of the lifts. However, if the operators of the individual lifts do not comply with the rules and are not properly prepared, then it cannot be left without consequences. “

According to the Minister of Tourism, Elisabeth Köstinger (ÖVP), the operators have prepared “the best possible”. “When improvements are needed to ensure the highest possible safety, these measures are implemented as quickly as possible by federal states, local authorities and operators.” In any case, the opening of the ski areas was well received over the weekend.

Fog, wind and the beginning of snowfall on Monday no longer ensured conditions as comfortable in much of Austria as after Christmas, when in many places the sun had made a bright day for skiing. Consequently, the rush at the beginning of the week was less. Also, there were no ski guests who normally spent the night in the ski areas between Christmas and New Years. Sports retailers, whose rental stations may be open despite the closure, also posted weak sales, but for whom the significant pool of foreign vacationers is missing.

In Lower Austria, strong wind caused closures on Monday. In Semmering, operations had to be stopped and the giant slalom for alpine skiers canceled. Everything in Hochkar was also paralyzed, on Sunday the closure of lifting operations had already been announced for Monday. The Rax cable car was also out of service due to high winds.

The Mürz Valley Stuhleck ski area, traditionally a center of attraction for skiers from Lower Austria and especially Vienna, has just opened. Here, as in many other ski areas, the sale of lift tickets is limited.

In Ennstal, the Hauser Kaibling-Planai-Hochwurzen-Reiteralm four-mountain ski area is prepared for the requirements of Covid-19 measures, Planaibahnen managing director Bliem said in a conversation Monday with ORF-Mittagsjournal. Adjustments to arrival and parking management are possible, including access to cash registers and gondolas, according to Bliem et al. At the weekend there were long traffic jams on the Ennstalbundesstraße (B320) towards the ski resorts. Bliem said reducing capacity to 50 percent was a challenge, they continued to work on selling ski tickets online. A mixed form of access to the entrances is possible for ski areas outside of large metropolitan areas.

In Upper Austria, the safety concepts will be adapted after the first endurance test on Sunday. Provincial Councilor Markus Achleitner (ÖVP) announced a further limitation of parking spaces, an increase in security personnel and an expansion of regulated waiting areas in a press release after the Hinterstoder, Wurzeralm and Kasberg were already full on Sunday morning.

“For the sake of personal responsibility, I also appeal to skiers to come to the ski areas as far as possible from noon, because many guests are on their way home since morning and the slopes can be reached so conveniently and without jams, “explained Achleitner. Helmut Holzinger, Managing Director of Hinterstoder-Wurzeralm-Bergbahnen, also recommended it: On Sunday, around 3,000 guests were in the Hinterstoder ski area at 12 noon, but a third left at 12.30.

Holzinger was surprised by the early arrival of most of the visitors. “At 8:00 a.m. there were queues in front of the escalator and at 9:00 a.m. the 1,000 parking spaces were occupied. The cooperation between ASFINAG, the fire brigade, the police, the media and the ski area went smoothly, at 9.15 am access to the Steyrbrücke was closed “he reported.

Based on Sunday’s experiences, security measures will be readjusted, Holzinger says. Waiting areas will be expanded and lengthened by a third, security personnel and hostesses on the railways will be increased by a third, and parking spaces will be reduced to 850. Achleitner appealed to ski enthusiasts “to keep the distance when they queue and wear an FFP2 mask consistently. “

By the way, the operator of a ski hut in Upper Austria’s Wurzeralm, Stefan Stadlmayr, files a constitutional complaint against the new regulation that bans take-out food in ski huts. “Here different entrepreneurs are clearly disadvantaged in their rights to generate sales,” his lawyer Wolf-Georg Schärf said in a press release on Monday. The complaint must be submitted to the Constitutional Court this week, Schärf said in the APA interview. In principle, it is about the unequal treatment of restaurants. In town or in a location, local restaurants should offer takeout, not in the ski area. The intention that fewer winter sports fans would go to the ski areas was not fulfilled, as could be seen at the weekend.

“The point is that the rules must be controlled by the ski areas,” a Carinthian businessman told the APA on Monday. After all, other industries would have to be kept completely closed.