SkiWelt history in detail

In 1977, the "Skigroßraum Wilder Kaiser - Brixental" was formed around the Hohe Salve and lift tickets were sold for the first time, which were valid for the use of all lifts in the towns of Brixen, Ellmau, Going, Hopfgarten, Itter, Scheffau and Söll. A great idea at the time, but by no means a matter of course. The success has many fathers, to mention them all would go beyond the scope of this article. But to mark the 40th anniversary, the managing directors of the Hochsöll mountain and ski lift, Walter Eisenmann, and the managing director of Bergbahn Westendorf, Hansjörg Kogler, invited pioneers from the villages involved to take an informative and amusing trip down memory lane. Their stories take us back to another time - the time of bold beginnings, when electricity and telephones were barely conceivable in the mountains and new paths had to be broken with some rather unconventional-sounding ideas. A time when peace and tranquillity still prevailed, but which also held many an adventure.

Johann "Hansi" Haselsberger from Scheffau, "actually" a pensioner and still nominally on the board of Bergbahnen Scheffau and Brixen, remembers that in the 1940s, the Söll, Scheffau, Ellmau and Going area still lagged far behind Wildschönau, Hopfgarten and Westendorf in terms of winter sports development. Westendorf had already built its first chairlift, the longest ski lift in Austria at the time, in 1946. Anton "Toni" Pletzer, founder of the Tyrolean family business "Pletzer Group" also recounts: "In Hopfgarten, they built the first lift themselves using the deflection wheel from an armored vehicle". In 1949, the third cable car system in Tyrol was put into operation in Hopfgarten, the longest chairlift in Europe at 2830 meters.

Ellmau built a chairlift in 1951 and Söll the first T-bar lift in 1959. Georg "Schorsch" Winkler Sen., former manager of the Ellmau cable car, remembers the first T-bar lifts in Ellmau: "You threw in a shilling," then he set off, and the skiers were often lifted up with the bar, "Then someone got off again," laughs Schorsch. "Back then, nobody thought that there was any money to be made with a lift," says Hansi. "They were built purely as infrastructure for the benefit of tourism and gastronomy".

Hansi recalls the first attempts at mergers, for example in the form of the first trip settlement between Hopfgarten and Söll. A trademark of the emerging cooperation will be an astonishing harmony, as former "Blattlhof" boss Leonhard Oberleitner from Going confirms: "We worked well together from the very beginning. And we were happy that the "Z'sammtoa" continued" after he and Schorsch from Ellmau started working together. Schorsch remembers the beginning: "It was quite a hard time for us, at the beginning of the 70s the snow conditions were bad and we were short of money everywhere". On King's Day 1973, Hansi and Schorsch sat down together and "after half a beer, we were already in agreement and decided that from now on we would let each other use the tickets in Ellmau and Scheffau", says Hansi, "that was actually the starting point for the idea of the Z'sammtoa".

Leonhard explains: "There were three of us with Going and we said: Now we're not going to offset against each other, we'll leave it like this for now". And it went so well that Brixen and Söll also joined, while Westendorf had to wait ten years to be accepted because without a lift connection, the advertised "interconnected ski area" was not guaranteed. "We delivered a lot of people back then, but we hardly had any employees," says Hansi, so they had to lend a hand themselves. "We were happy to do it, and without any earnings". Toni also remembers efforts to cooperate when the heads of the tourism association sat together in 1972 and said: "We should work a little closer together with both valleys". So they created the "Kaisertal-Brixental" project. Toni reports: "Then Kufstein filed a lawsuit saying that we were not allowed to use the term Kaisertal," and the court agreed. The problem was that the pioneers had already printed 200,000 brochures for the area. "On the picture behind the Ellmauer Tor gate, a woman with a relatively large bust looked out!" says Hansi, and the memory is still very vivid in the men's minds.

In 1973/74, tickets between Scheffau and Brixen are also valid and the good cooperation slowly develops. "We always managed well and it was fun," says Schorsch. Together with the hut owners and managers involved, who they sometimes borrow from each other, there's always something to laugh about. "And that was of course very important, because everything else was no laughing matter for everyone involved," without cash in their pockets. "And then we were called Wilder Kaiser-Brixental," says Toni. "Then we put up the map and drew the boundaries of where we could possibly build lifts."

In 1976, the big question arose: "Why don't we all go together?" says Hansi. "So we added Going and the Brixental Valley to Ellmau and Scheffau". Hopfgarten builds the "Hohe Salve I" two-seater chairlift and two more lifts the following year. "Because otherwise the merger would not have been possible," says Toni, and that these buildings were not a matter of course, because: "We were all poor as church mice. And how we raised the money, I don't know today".

Those were difficult times, "everyone had to look out for themselves, of course - everyone fought not just out of idealism, but out of necessity" - a fight against the often widespread church tower mentality. But they were under pressure, says Hansi: "We didn't really have any other choice, because it was only by joining forces that we reached a size that made us interesting for the market". And so, in 1977, the then unforeseeable success story was finally born: "We didn't call it a large area and created the 7-day large area ticket" for Brixen, Ellmau, Going, Hopfgarten, Itter, Scheffau and Söll, without offsetting! "The other cable car operators declared it a joke and laughed at it", because the Unterländer probably don't know how to handle money. Wrong assessment! Being able to charge a price for a large ski area on the market "was essential," says Hansi. In this way, deficits of the weaker resorts could be compensated for by the larger ones and it was possible to present a strong image to the outside world. They weren't a brand like Kitzbühel or Arlberg, "but we were already competitive in the group," says Hansi.

The beginnings of the cooperation were by no means unproblematic. There were battles to be fought over the safety system and the deductibles and there were also suspicions that one was cheating the other when counting, for example when the counter was pressed twice for a lift customer. In the meantime, the two of them "got into it" again. "It was a very eventful time," but the protagonists finally agreed to invest 20 million schillings in a SKIDATA control system. "It cost an insane amount of money, as much as three new lifts, but thank God it brought peace," says Hansi. However, the cornerstones for SkiWelt, for the unprecedented consolidation of several ski areas, were ultimately the pioneers' trust in each other, the courage to try something new and the belief in something that they thought would be valuable for the customer. "We were a bit different," says Toni, "and today we have to be happy that we dared to take the step as we are sitting here," a step that was ridiculed by many at the time but is now imitated by many. The search for a name also continues, until finally the name "SkiWelt" by Johann Aschaber from Brixen lands on the table.

The discovery phase that preceded the rapid development at Skiwelt was strongly characterized by the pioneering character that made the innovation possible in the first place. The foundations for new lifts, for example, still had to be dug by hand in laborious work with pick and shovel. The hard-working men lent a hand where it was needed. "You had to bite three times," says Herbert. "We had repair work to do, and we worked through the night." Franz agrees: "Yes, we worked day and night, sometimes there were no Saturdays and Sundays." In addition to their work as lift operators at the mountain and valley stations, they also drove the piste machines and took part in mountain rescue operations, helped with new builds and carried out repairs; Herbert was also a member of the mountain rescue service, drove the Akia, acted as a parking lot attendant and map pincher, while Franz also worked as a machine operator. With a great deal of ingenuity, they worked on every problem until a solution was found, however unorthodox it may have seemed. Not every innovation held up or worked as intended - some of them also produced curious "guinea pigs", as Herbert says.

Franz, for example, tells of a lift that was cut off in order to build it from there to the summit. During the work, however, the money ran out and so a drag lift was built from the upper section. This temporary solution remained in place for two years. The parallel lift is also curious: a single chairlift was to be extended, so a second one was built parallel to the first. The problem, however, is that a single lift continues at the top, which is now fed twice. "Then the passengers just had to take another turn on the lift - it was chaos!" Franz shakes his head with a laugh. Herbert knows other examples from the early days of snowmaking: in the beginning, fire pumps were used to pump water into a small pond. When snowmaking was attempted in a winter with little snow, only grass came out at the front. A more advanced snow cannon years later is more effective, but so deafeningly loud that "almost the whole village would have gone mad" and the cannon is affectionately nicknamed the "Stalin organ". "The first step is also part of the journey", Arthur Schnitzler once wrote - and adventure is always inherent in every beginning.

Our lift pioneers Leonhard, Schorsch, Hansi and Toni also have to deal with problems such as winters without snow. Hansi remembers, "In 1970, I think it was such a weak winter that they had twice as many wage costs as turnover in Brixen - in the first year of operation! He is informed of this: "Look at the figures! Don't you ever want to go back?". But Hansi and Co. had already ordered their lift. Toni reports that in 1988 they only achieved a good half of the hoped-for turnover: "On January 6, the Enzian were out and on February 14 they went skiing for the first time".

Leonhard still remembers how they tried to conjure up a slope before there were caterpillars: "We asked the army to come and kick us at the weekend. Then we entertained them with a mulled wine". Hansi says: "I went on the hand roller." And Schorsch: "A simple snow groomer with a plank on the back - at night there were lots of bumps in the slope that nobody could carry off with such a machine. Then we put a sign on the front of such a roller and started pushing. What our successors have actually learned from us," laughs Ellmauer. "Today, skiers want very smooth slopes, no hills and unforeseen obstacles" - when you think about the "hills" and obstacles our pioneers had to navigate around on their way.

One such obstacle was the difficult economic circumstances in the 70s: "Everything became much more expensive in 1972, when there were credit restrictions in Austria," Hansi remembers. "We couldn't get any more money from abroad". Toni recalls the period of high interest rates at the time and that inflation was eight to ten percent. "14 percent was a favorable interest rate," says Hansi. "And we built new lifts! With debts up to our heads! Then the oil crisis hit in '73!", when driving was banned in Germany at the weekend. "And we have 80 percent German guests! So of course we panicked!" he says. "We went to Bavaria and persuaded bus companies to come to us. And when I turned up at the door, my colleague from Hopfgarten was there and had the next appointment". Not that they didn't enjoy working together. "But everyone was fighting for their livelihood". Hansi is still annoyed by the scaremongering at the time: "It was proven that the oil reserves would only last another eleven to seventeen years. Then the world would be without oil! It was a disaster for us lifters! But we survived," says Hansi. "We had to get through it all. But we managed to pull it together - and at least we managed to become Austria's largest interconnected ski resort three years ago!"

Thanks to the success of the pioneers, it is not only the mountain railroads that are recovering well. Schorsch mentions the SkiWelt employees: "What would you think if the lifts were never running, how many would be out of work!" Toni adds: "Not just the lift staff, but all the ski instructors, the hut staff, etc. - that's an economic factor today that is simply consciously or unconsciously ignored!" Toni complains. "Everyone benefits! "Farmers, hoteliers, craftsmen. Everyone!"

Hans Beihammer, former cable car employee and mountain hut manager in Brixen, has also joined us today. For him too, whose parents owned a mountain hut, the developments brought about by the cable car had a serious impact on everyday life: "When they built the lifts, there was electricity everywhere and the whole infrastructure was improved, we got a path - that was an extreme relief, before it was much more of a hassle." Hans first came into contact with the cable car itself when he completed ten services for the mountain rescue service in order to obtain a season ticket. However, he stayed with the cable car for a further five years, which he describes in retrospect as building his livelihood: The time he had to sell drinks to passengers alongside his job as a lift operator laid the foundations for his career as a landlord and the construction of his own hut, the "Jochstubn". Hans' career is a particularly good illustration of what the SkiWelt has done not only for the whole, but also for the individual, as the cable car helped him to find his vocation, the restaurant business: "The pillars are the cable cars," he says. "In between, everyone has to build the walls themselves, it depends on the skill of the individual as to what they do with them."

Hans also shows how important the mountain railroads are for something that is considered a cultural heritage worthy of protection: the mountain huts. Without their development, many of them would be at the mercy of decay and with them the picturesque alpine idyll and their culture would be lost - their preservation benefits guests and local hikers alike.

And what would have become of the villages? - The question is hypothetical, but Toni says: "What would Scheffau be today? What would Ellmau be today? They used to be great at summer tourism. But in winter?! Who went to Ellmau then?" And if you speculate even further, what would the whole region look like today without cable cars? Walter Eisenmann, who has been with the cable car company for 31 years, expresses today's success in figures: "In winter, we have up to 50,000 guests up in the SkiWelt on top days and up to 15,000 in summer thanks to staging. And that's how the whole region lives again. And the cable car industry was the driving force behind this". Toni wonders: "What would we do if we didn't have cable cars in Tirol today? We practically live off the cable cars," but this is often not recognized by the public. And so it is all the more important not to forget the forward thinking and pioneering achievements of that time.

Necessity was a decisive factor in the birth of the ski family 40 years ago. "We were forced to cooperate," says Toni. "Because everyone was saying that it wasn't worth it!", and everyone involved recognized that at the time. "We never fought a price war," says Hansi, "we invested in quality, and that's why we did quite well economically and managed to become the largest interconnected ski area in Austria three years ago. And we became friends straight away!" This friendship was very important. "Yes!" agrees Schorsch: "We all had the same worries, and that's what unites us!" Toni gets around a lot and experiences nothing like he does here: "When we're together, I'm really looking forward to it." Leohard agrees: "We've all done well and have a ski day every year after the season! We went from one lift company to the next".

What makes SkiWelt special are the people behind it, and how much the clique is welded together even beyond meetings. No wonder, given all the things they have experienced: "Once we met up for an Easter egg hunt at the mountain station," says Schorsch, adding that not only one or two eggs were damaged, but also many a head. "We went into the village with the rollers in the lantern," adds Hansi. "They had such a nice waitress upstairs..." STOP! Remainder deleted from the minutes. "We went to Burgenland every year to the cherry orchards and bought a whole cherry tree," says Schorsch. "We went to Canada and America," says Hansi, on a study trip, "and we skied all the ski resorts. And then Walter and I skied down Las Vegas!" And because they were not allowed to take the Doppelmayr cable car from the Excalibur Hotel to the Mandalay Bay Casino, a substitute program was announced. STOP!

"Being fine, being together" is the motto for Unterland conviviality. "Yes, the Unterland mentality is certainly a decisive factor in our climate," says Hansi. 30 years ago, he was once at the specialist group for cable cars, where he was introduced like this: "That's Hansi. He's up there from the Unterland, and down there are a few mice and a bunch of lifts".

"There have been plenty of stories that made me laugh," says Franz with a grin. He once made a bet with his boss about how quickly he could get from the summit station to the valley on foot. He managed it in ten minutes, jumping over all the fences like a course runner. When he arrived at the bottom, he "won the bet, but my knees were sore" - in return, there was refreshment in the lift restaurant. Herbert tells how they had to repaint the lift windows and some goats got lost near them. He had the glorious idea of sprucing up the goats a little. "There's nothing better than painting the goats really nice. The horns painted red, rings around the feet at the bottom". The beauty treatment of the goats did not go unnoticed for long: a few days later, guests came to a nearby mountain hut and said to the landlady: "We think we've seen the devil today." And Hans fooled a Liftinger colleague in a bet as to who could cook the better "Muas" when he unnoticedly changed his firewood from spruce to beech, which suddenly turned his opponent's "Muas" coal-black.

For all of them, the SkiWelt team is like a family - as it always has been, because the togetherness spans generations: "It's so nice to be part of the big family," says Franz. "Our elders are always included - we still have a great connection with the youngsters." Herbert also confirms: "It's nice to still be in contact with the current members of the mountain railroad - I get to meet up with a few of them at the Hoagascht." Hans Beihammer also becomes almost sentimental at the thought: "I've been given so much, the cable car family is like a second family of my own".

"Every now and then we need to take a step back and reflect on our past, on how we can use our past to enrich our present," wrote the Spanish writer Paulo Coelho. Over the course of time, our protagonists have witnessed "groundbreaking" developments in the truest sense of the word, both in terms of the merging of individual ski resorts into one large whole and in technical terms - in terms of lifts, snowmaking, piste machines and safety. Walter Eisenmann knows the differences between yesterday and today. "Back then, a glass was drunk after every meeting, nowadays one has the appointment and the other has the appointment. But the friendly atmosphere, just as they showed us, we still have that in the SkiWelt," and also the commitment to working together in the spirit of the "old guys". "You were just pioneers," Walter says to them. "And we have to make sure that we keep what we have". Today, they are proud of the summer attractions on the mountain: "What has been created, not only by the lifts themselves, but also all the mountain restaurants, the cuisine, it's gigantic".

The special SkiWelt mentality is still noticeable today and it is mainly thanks to the extraordinary people, says Hansjörg Kogler, Managing Director of Bergbahn Westendorf: "No matter which ski resort you come to, whether within Austria or in South Tyrol, France, even in the USA - there's no other place like here. Everyone admires us for the team spirit and collegial relationship that we have in the SkiWelt. Everyone takes a back seat when it comes to the bigger picture, which is above all else. That's the SkiWelt idea". And so the spirit of the pioneers is carried forward into the present and beyond into the future.

"It was my funniest and best time," says Schorsch, probably on behalf of everyone. "Although it was difficult. We laughed so much and did a lot of stupid things. We got together on a table in Wean and were surrounded by lots of nice girls". STOP! Schorsch is also pleased that things are still going so well on the railroads today. "It would have been all for nothing".

Today, SkiWelt is one of the largest and most modern ski areas in the world and is also one of the most successful ski destinations worldwide. The merger of independent mountain lift companies was initially ridiculed by others, but has long been regarded as a role model for the trend towards ski area mergers. The beginnings were rather modest. The area around Hohe Salve, Zinsberg, Hartkaiser and Astberg was rather unknown as a winter sports area at the time. The construction of the first lift in 1947 heralded the start of the world of skiing in Brixental Valley. Even then, groundbreaking innovations were needed. In 1947, the longest chairlift in Europe was built in Hopfgarten, with a length of 2,830 meters, and in 1948 Austria's largest ski lift was built in Westendorf, transporting 22,289 people in 1948/49. Lifts in Söll, Scheffau, Brixen, Ellmau and Going, and later Itter, followed in the years and decades to come. Time and again, pioneering mountain lift projects were implemented in the SkiWelt, such as Europe's longest funicular in Ellmau in 1970, Europe's first 8-seater chairlift in Söll in 1988 and the world's first solar-powered lift in Brixen im Thale in 2008.