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Hörl, President of the elevator operator: “I could have greeted everyone personally today.” A large proportion of skiers are people with a secondary residence in the ski areas. Many carry an FFP2 mask with them.
Today’s ski season opener was gray on gray. The thick fog and the few haste on the slopes shaped the image of the mountains. With temperatures above freezing in all state capitals around noon on Dec. 24, elevator operators now expect the sun to shine next weekend. They were satisfied with the compliance with Corona’s security measures, but less with the income.
Interest in skiing for the first time this winter was limited in Tyrol and Vorarlberg until the early afternoon. “The situation is very relaxed, the number of skiers is manageable; for us it is a good test to settle into the season,” said Vorarlberger Seilbahnen spokesman Andreas Gapp. He stressed that ski fans behave in a very disciplined way: “People take the situation in Corona seriously. Almost everyone comes with their own mask.”
It is not a company that covers costs
In addition to Corona, according to Franz Hörl, managing director of the Gerlos ski area and president of the professional association for cable cars of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, bad weather has spoiled a better start to the winter season. “I could have greeted everyone personally today,” Hörl said. Locals with their children are mostly on the slopes, but there are also a relatively good number of ski areas with a high proportion of second homes, Hörl says: “We are far from costly,” he emphasized.
The spokesman for the Salzburg cable cars, Erich Egger, reported today that a “test with few people” went quite well, which is also attributed to the rainy weather. Many had already queued up early, with the largest number arriving before ten in the morning. Overall, the number of skiers, mostly local, remained manageable. People were very disciplined, so Egger, there were only very few problems. For example, some guests had valve FFP2 masks, which was not allowed. The controls are difficult when people wear tube scarves over their masks.
Praise for the discipline of the guests.
In Upper Austria, with a similar climate, the picture was similar. In the Dachstein-West ski area, it was said that not much happened. The Wurzeralm met 500 skiers in the morning, the Höss at Hinterstoder 1000. However, the guests were also praised for their discipline, most of them had their own FFP2 masks. The traffic concept worked well too, a spokeswoman said.
It was also manageable in the Carinthian and Styrian ski areas. Webcams from both small and large ski areas on both sides of the pack showed few people, mostly young people and school children, and free slopes. Due to the lack of crowds, the distances between the elevators could be maintained without problems. In some large ski areas like Schladminger Planai, staff in yellow jackets labeled “Info Team” were ready at the lift stations.
Few skiers also in Styria
The small family ski areas, which were open in western and eastern Styria on December 24, had very good visits, but there were few cars in the parking lots. Weinebene, which is exactly on the border between Carinthia and Styria, does not want to open until Christmas Day. There was also little happening at Lachtal near Judenburg and at Riesneralm, Hochwurzen near Rohrmoos, Hauser Kaibling, Planai, and Galsterbergalm near Pruggern in Ennstal.
In Carinthia, the situation was the same with relatively few winter sports enthusiasts. Fog in Nassfeld, slightly better weather in Turracher Höhe in the Styria-Carinthia border area and in nearby Falkert took their toll.
On the Hochkar and Ötscher slopes in Lower Austria, around 500 guests took the opportunity to ski until the afternoon. Andreas Buder, Authorized Officer at Hochkar Bergbahnen and Managing Director of the Ötscher Elevators, was “relieved”. He described the good mood in the ski area. The mandatory use of FFP2 masks on the Hochkar four-seater chairlift “was observed by all”.
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