The lift operators are facing an unsafe season due to Corona.
Nevertheless, most of the snow cannons are already in operation - the ski and snowboard season should not fail because of the artificial white.
The lift operators at Tegernsee do not know when to start operating
Nevertheless, artificial snow is already being produced everywhere
Slope preparation only begins when there is a prospect of winter sports
Tegernseer Tal
- With the best will in the world, Georg Reisberger cannot estimate how the ski season in the Corona winter 2020/2021 will go.
But the boss of the Oedberg lifts in Ostin / Gmund knows one thing for sure: "If we don't make snow now, there will definitely be no ski season." Not even in January, when the government may give the go-ahead for winter sports.
Snow depots are created on the Oedberg to secure the season
Reisberger and his team therefore use the current sub-zero temperatures and thus good conditions to produce a basic stock of artificial snow.
"We are snowing on the depot," explains Reisberger.
In plain language: the snow remains in piles and is not initially distributed on the slopes.
This is how you have the best chance of saving the artificial white over time, says Reisberger, who knows from experience that he has to take advantage of weather conditions like these: because the time windows for snow-making are rather small.
However, the slopes in Ostin are only prepared when the start of the season is actually in prospect.
Read here: Alpen-Plus-Ski Areas: Hopeful view of the winter sports season
Reisberger naturally hopes that the - expensive - production of artificial snow "is not for the cat" and that his lifts will be able to open in the foreseeable future.
Snowmaking is an entrepreneurial risk that we are currently consciously taking.
There is also snowmaking on the Spitzing: the conditions are currently ideal
The large ski areas in the district have also put their snow cannons into operation - despite the diffuse outlook.
"The conditions for snow-making are currently ideal," explains Antonia Asenstorfer, spokeswoman for the Alpen-Plus-Verbund.
In the Spitzingsee-Tegernsee ski area, for example, the main runs - i.e. Sutten, Stümpfling and Rosskopf - are supplied with artificial snow as usual.
The procedure is basically the same as in Ostin: In the Spitzingsee area, too, only snow depots are being created for the time being.
"The slopes themselves will only be prepared when it becomes clear that we can go into operation," explains Asenstorfer.
Hopes of skiing in the Christmas holidays are fading
The fact that there has not yet been a fixed time for this is making it difficult for the railway and lift operators, says the press spokeswoman.
"That is really bitter for us." Neither the operators and staff, nor the hut keepers or other service providers such as ski rentals or ski schools currently know what will happen next.
Few people believe in skiing and snowboarding during the Christmas holidays.
“Hope is fading,” explains Asenstorfer.
Nevertheless, the Alpen-Plus ski areas want to be prepared.
Asenstorfer: "We very much hope that we can start at least in January." If you get the go-ahead from the government, it still needs four to five days in advance before the slopes are finally ready for the fans, the spokeswoman makes clear.
Not only would the slopes then have to be prepared as quickly as possible, the slope edge markings would also have to be attached.
This year there are two "unknowns": the weather and Corona
Sepp Kandlinger from the Hirschberg lifts in Kreuth has been reluctant to make snow.
But because the temperatures were persistently cold, he announced on Wednesday (December 2nd) that he would now also be putting his snowmaking system into operation.
"The ground is now better frozen through," explains the lift operator, who is also relying on snow-making in the depot for the time being.
As for the upcoming winter sports season, Kandlinger is also faced with a big question mark.
"This year there are two unknowns," he says: the weather and Corona.
Also interesting: More air in the gondolas: Cable cars ready for Corona operation
gave