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Where 2G does not apply, mouth and nose protection is mandatory in lifts: The second ski season with Corona begins
Photo: Bernhard Krieger / dpa / TMN
White peaks, blue skies and snow crystals dancing in the sunlight: for passionate winter sports enthusiasts, gliding through fresh snow is the epitome of freedom.
Especially after the compulsory break due to Corona.
"I had tears of joy in my eyes on my first descent," says a skier who stands in line at the lift on the Stubai Glacier at the beginning of November.
The beefy guy with a ski club jacket doesn't look like he's built close to the water.
Passionate skiers are usually drawn to the glaciers as early as autumn.
At the latest when the pictures of the start of the Ski World Cup in October on the Sölden Glacier flicker across the television screens, there is no stopping them.
The Stubai Glacier in particular then becomes a pilgrimage destination for snow addicts.
The glacier ski area is located above the mountaineering village of Neustift in the Stubai Valley and is the largest of its kind in Austria.
A total of 33 slopes and 13 freeride runs offer a lot of variety.
In addition, the Stubai Glacier can be reached quickly and easily via the Brenner motorway.
The construction of the Eisgrat gondola lift in 2016 has significantly reduced waiting times.
There are hardly any at the moment.
Vaccination card control already at the glacier lift
Corona measures are consistently implemented on the Stubai Glacier, and operations are running without any problems.
In early November, the FFP2 mask and the 3G rule still prevailed in ski buses and gondolas.
So that there was no crowding in the closed rooms of the gondola building, those waiting were allowed into the rooms in blocks.
"There were practically no complaints," reports one of the security employees in Stubai.
"Everyone is happy to finally be able to ski again." One is used to Corona measures.
Since November 15, the 2G rule for winter sports enthusiasts over the age of twelve has been in effect in the Austrian ski areas - in the gondolas and restaurants.
There is no mask requirement.
Since then, the verification of vaccination or recovery certificates has already been carried out in the valley in front of the access to the glacier lift.
Unvaccinated people no longer have access, not even with a negative test.
At the entrances to mountain huts such as Gamsgarten and Eisgrat, in which the highest three-toque restaurant in the world (Schaufelspitz) is located at 2900 meters, there is no longer any control.
So once you've buckled on your skis or snowboard, everything on the glacier feels like it used to.
Just more intense.
Many people feel like the ski club member from Germany this autumn - families with children, ambitious recreational skiers, ski instructors who are preparing for the season, and the many ski teams.
The slopes below the 3340 meter high Wildspitze on the Stubai Glacier are paved with slalom poles and giant slalom gates.
Skiers of all ages and from many nations whiz through it.
Weekend events on the Stubai Glacier are also going on as always, such as the Stubai Premiere or Intersport Snow Days.
On the other hand, there is no longer any après-ski hype.
Real skiers can do without that anyway.
The fact that skiing fell into disrepute among epidemiologists and politicians because of the après-ski excesses in Ischgl at the beginning of the pandemic has hit associations and clubs hard.
One would like to see a differentiated view there.
Glacier ski areas in the Alps are already open
The Swiss demonstrated last season that skiing is also possible in times of pandemic.
Germany closed all ski areas, Austria largely cut its winter tourism - the Confederates continued to wave.
It is pointed out that at least no corona infections have been detected on Swiss ski slopes and in the lifts.
In
Switzerland
, the lifts in the high-altitude ski resorts have been running for a long time, including this winter.
The glacier in Zermatt is one of the few remaining year-round ski areas in the Alps.
With a view of the Matterhorn, people in Valais have been skiing for months.
The Titlis Glacier in Engelberg in Central Switzerland is already open, as is the Diavolezza near St. Moritz in the canton of Graubünden and Glacier 3000 in the Lake Geneva area.
They
are already skiing
in
Italy
.
The Schnalstal Glacier in South Tyrol is open, as is the Presena Glacier on Passo Tonale.
In France, the Tignes-Val d'Isere ski association beckons with its first open runs.
Austria
offers the largest selection of ski areas that are already open in autumn
. In addition to the Stubai Glacier, four other glacier ski areas await skiers and snowboarders in Tyrol alone: Sölden, Pitztal, Kühtai and Hintertux. Together they present themselves as the five Tyrolean glaciers, for which there is even a joint ski pass. In Carinthia there is the Mölltal Glacier, in the Salzburger Land the Kitzsteinhorn above Kaprun near Zell am See.
In
Germany
, the highest ski area in the country on the Zugspitze is planned to open on Friday, November 19th.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen starts around two weeks later, if snow and weather conditions permit.
The largest ski area in Germany, Oberstdorf, wants to open the ski season on December 3rd.
However, Oberstdorf's tourism director Franz Jost does not know how the corona situation will develop by then and which requirements may still be issued.
But he is convinced: "Responsible skiing" can also work in times of pandemic.
Bernhard Krieger, dpa
