"Five meters of snow are missing": Austrian ski area with bad news - part remains closed
Created: 09/18/2022, 04:51
By: Patrick Mayer
Must stay in autumn and winter: the popular ski area on the Dachstein Glacier in Styria.
© IMAGO / imagebroker
Bad news for ski fans and winter holidaymakers: the most famous ski area in Austrian Styria has announced that a significant part will remain closed this season.
Munich/Schladming - The Austrian music star Andreas Gabalier sings about the summit in a YouTube video that has been viewed more than 1.3 million times - as of September 15th.
Because: The high mountain provides the title for the national anthem of Styria, which is the home of Gabalier.
The "Dachsteinlied" begins pathetically in its first stanza with just that Dachstein glacier.
Schladming-Dachstein ski area: Due to snow and ice melt - slopes on the Dachstein glacier remain closed
"High from the Dachstein, where the Aar still lives, to the Wendenland on the bed of the Sav," says the first section of the song.
This alone is a measure of the importance of the Dachstein for Styria, which with around 1.25 million inhabitants is Austria's fourth-largest federal state.
Residents and tourists alike now have to cope with a kind of bad news.
Because: As the "Schladming-Dachstein" ski area announced, no ski lift operation will be possible on the Dachstein glacier in the coming autumn and winter.
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Extreme snow and ice melt on the glacier are given as the reason.
As the online portal
wetter.at
reports, heat, rain and sand from the Sahara have severely added to the ice on the highest mountain in Styria near the world-famous Schladming ski area.
"We're missing up to five meters of snow.
We would have to move the supports by five meters and close the crevasses on the slopes," explained Georg Bliem, Managing Director of the Planai-Hochwurzen-Bahnen, which is responsible for the lift operation.
He confirmed
to wetter.at
what the
Kleine Zeitung
from Graz had first reported: The highest ski area in Styria cannot open.
Up to five meters of snow are missing.
Georg Bliem, Managing Director of the Planai-Hochwurzen Railways
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As the online report goes on to say, above-average temperatures and rain showers would have torn open crevasses up to 3500 meters above sea level in the summer.
The ensuing meltdown caused enormous damage to the supports of the tow lifts.
They would have to be moved, "that's a huge effort and we have no guarantee that it won't be possible to do it again next year," explained Bliem.
Winter vacation in Austria: Schladming ski area (Styria) is known for its Alpine Ski World Cup
Schladming is known far beyond the borders of Austria for its races in the Alpine Ski World Cup, especially for its night slalom, which is considered one of the highlights of the competition year.
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