A snack bar, a greenhouse, a smoking booth or a meeting room.
Alexander von Khuon from Oberhaching buys discarded gondolas and upgrades them.
About three years ago he turned his unusual hobby into a profession.
Oberhaching
- scratched ski racks, yellow swing doors, narrow aluminum benches, windows covered with blue foil. The Kreischberg gondola gives you a pure mountain feeling. But instead of floating over the treetops of the winter sports area in Styria, the yellow four-man cabin stands in a front garden in Oberhaching. “I was able to buy the whole ski area right away,” says Alexander von Khuon and knocks on the roof of the gondola. After the system had to be replaced after around 30 years, the 50-year-old took 120 of the old cabins with him to Upper Bavaria. Together with his wife Patricia von Haxthausen (55), the trained automobile salesman has set himself the task of buying retired cable car cabins, redesigning them and distributing them across the continent.
The idea of buying the first gondola came from Haxthausen five years ago while renovating their 120-year-old house.
"Usually you go out to smoke, but my husband still smoked inside here," she says.
An absurdity since the renovation.
At the time, the 55-year-old saw a cowhide-covered gondola on social networks that was used as a seat in a garden.
It was immediately clear: the new smoking area.
“It wasn't that easy to find a thing like that,” says von Khuon.
He looked for two days until he finally found what he was looking for in Bludenz, Austria.
Alexander von Khuon has meanwhile stopped smoking, but he has lost his heart to the gondolas.
Gondolas from Oberhaching: 1000 copies sold
In front of the imposing house from the early 20th century, one cable car cabin is lined up next to the other.
From modern six-seater gondolas from Titlis in Switzerland to mountain rescue cabins with an integrated stretcher to old-fashioned gondolas from the 1950s with real glass panes.
The couple's garden has long been used not only for recreation, but has become an exhibition space over the years.
Over time, a smoker's cabin in his own garden has sold 1000 copies.
The trend is growing.
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In the garden there is one gondola after the next.
They are all redesigned according to the wishes of the customers.
© Robert Brouczek
Alexander von Khuon and Patricia von Haxthausen not only market discarded items under the name "Gondel 24", they also have the gondolas repaired and converted.
"There is a low-budget and an exclusive version," says von Haxthausen and gets into a silver cabin.
Crocodile leather seats, an oak table, light spots on the ceiling and a socket with USB connection - the luxury model costs around 8,000 euros.
It's worth it to the customer.
“The gondola cannot move,” says von Khuon.
"But only when you look at them do you get that holiday feeling."
Cable car gondolas as a place of remembrance
Many buyers also associate a special story with the retired cabin.
"When I was young I was always skiing on the mountain, my son broke his leg here, I had my first kiss in this gondola," the couple often hears sentences like these.
Many cable car cabins stand as a place of relaxation in the garden of the customers - who come from Aspen, Russia, Kitzbühl or Oberhaching.
But the gondolas are also used as a snack bar on Viktualienmarkt, as an eye-catcher at Munich Airport, as a meeting room for a large company and as a greenhouse.
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Cozy: With sheepskin and pillows, this two-seater cabin becomes a cozy place to sit.
© Robert Brouczek
Alexander von Khuon and Patricia von Haxthausen are particularly proud that one of their cable car cabins will soon be seen on Netflix, a streaming platform - as the scene of a murder.
The crime series with locations in Kitzbühl and Berchtesgaden is due to appear next autumn.
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