Final chord for the mountain railway winter: Operators take stock and prepare for spring
Created: 03/26/2022, 11:00 am
By: Felicitas Bogner
For the last descents, some skiers still take the gondola to the Brauneck.
© arp
On this weekend, the Brauneck cable car transports the last winter athletes of the season onto the slopes.
Preparations for the spring season will start on Monday.
The mountain railways are carrying out their revision.
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen
- With spring-like temperatures, the ski season comes to an end at Brauneck: this weekend, winter sports fans have another chance to make their turns on the last strip of snow.
The Herzogstandbahn also closes the winter season on Sunday.
The operators look back on ups and downs.
Peter Lorenz, managing director of the Brauneck cable car, looks back with satisfaction on the winter.
"We really can't complain about the number of visitors and the weather," he says at the end of the ski season at Brauneck.
"Apart from the short period of thaw around Christmas, we were lucky this time."
Peter Lorenz draws a happy winter balance for Brauneck
Even if Lorenz was immensely relieved that skiing was resumed at all due to the corona, he also emphasizes: "The controls made everything very complex." Therefore, on weekends and during the holidays, he hired a security service who was responsible for ensuring that everything is corona-compliant.
"Nevertheless, that delayed the process, and we had to fight with long queues, especially at the beginning." Immediately at the start of the season, you noticed: "People wanted to get out and finally go skiing again," emphasizes Lorenz, who is also deputy chairman of the Association of German Skiers cable cars is.
Spring is coming to the Isarwinkel.
The snow soon melted away in the Brauneck valley area.
© Karl Bock
He and his team also had to struggle with Omikron: “Recently we have repeatedly had a number of staff failures.
I'm so glad that we were able to unlock every day until the end."
Because now the revision is just around the corner.
That means: The entire system of the mountain railway is put through its paces.
"The TÜV is pending and the usual revision work - we don't have any special items on the program this year." It is mainly about control checks and the replacement of parts affected by wear.
Revisions begin: TÜV and standard controls
The Herzogstandbahn will also be idle after this weekend.
The standard work of the spring revision is scheduled from Monday, March 28th through Friday, April 8th.
The rope checks are again part of the upcoming tests, reports Managing Director Jörg Findeisen.
There was a great deal of relief for the mountain railways shortly before the end of the winter season: on March 19, the previously applicable 2G rule no longer applied.
The guests now do not have to present proof of vaccination or recovery.
When asked how happy he was about it, Findeisen was reluctant.
The course of infection is too uncertain.
"We'll see what actually applies from April 9," he says.
Lorenz, on the other hand, is pleased.
“That alone makes things easier in the process, the control effort is reduced.
Corona loosening facilitate operations at Brauneck
The mountain railway is also currently being overhauled on the Blomberg.
But here there is only a standstill during the week.
The Blombergbahn is available to guests as usual on Saturdays and Sundays.
"We've been doing it this way for a number of years, and the system has proven itself," explains Blombergbahn boss Hannes Zintel.
"So apart from the holidays and weekends, we're basically in revision for the entire winter season."
The regular TÜV appointments are also due for him.
In addition, according to Zintel, new roller batteries are being installed on the cable car supports and the snow groomers are being put away for the winter.
From Saturday, April 9th, however, the "flowing revision" will be over and Zintel will start the spring and summer season with his team in time for the beginning of the Easter holidays.
"From then on we'll be open every day again," he says.
On the same day, the Herzogstandbahn starts operating again.
The Brauneckbahn runs into summer from Good Friday, April 15th.
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