As of: March 15, 2024, 12:47 p.m
By: Jonas Napiletzki
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Just a few more spots: Plus degrees, rain and foehn have given the rest to the snow cover.
Sudelfeld boss Egid Stadler pulled the ripcord.
© Stefan Schweihofer
After the early end to the season at Sudelfeld, managing director Egid Stadler explains why the step was ultimately necessary - and what significance he attaches to the decision.
Bayrischzell
– While a few lifts are still running at Spitzingsee, the ski season at Sudelfeld ended unusually early this year.
With the last day of operation last Sunday, managing director Egid Stadler (66) “pulled the ripcord,” as he says.
In an interview, the mountain railway boss explains why the end of the season should not be overestimated, what the employees have to do now and whether the expensive investment in new snow cannons has paid off this year.
Mr. Stadler, you declared the season over before other ski areas. Why?
Egid Stadler:
In the end it was a decision for safety reasons.
The snow bands have become increasingly narrower and there is no longer any cushion away from the pistes.
In Austria there have recently been several accidents with skiers who overshot left or right.
And the asphalt road that leads to the upper Sudelfeld has come out more and more often.
We regularly filled the holes with artificial snow, but in the end there were so many places that it was no longer possible to close them off.
Sometimes we prepared the slopes in the evening and there was nothing left the next day.
That's why my operations managers and I decided not to take any risks and to pull the ripcord.
Operating days okay - but not enough day guests
How dramatic is this early end to the season for you?
Stadler:
We had 95 days of operation, which is not that short.
There was a lot of natural snow and great conditions in December, the season got off to an early and good start.
Generally speaking, it should be 100 days for it to be a normal season.
But I don't think much of the value - what's more important is how many guests came.
And that number didn't add up this year.
We had around 16 percent fewer visitors than last year - and there were a bit fewer than usual.
Why is that?
Stadler:
Holidaymakers and ski courses always come, they have booked.
And when the snow lies down to Munich, many day guests also come.
But when it's green everywhere except here on the mountain, the normal skiers quickly become fewer.
Last year there was snow at least a few times.
This year we were hoping until February – actually the coldest month – that something would happen.
But nothing came for a whole month, that was the crux of the matter.
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The lifts are still running at Spitzingsee. Was there more snow there?
Stadler:
Yes, if it snowed 25 centimeters there, it was 15 for us. And in the end, every centimeter counts.
In addition, we are hit more by the hairdryer at Sudelfeld.
It makes the ground warm, it's a real snow destroyer.
Combined with the rain, wind and plus temperatures over the last few weeks, there isn't much left.
In the fall you invested half a million in snowmaking at the Middle Sudelfeld lift. Was it worth it?
Stadler:
Absolutely.
If we hadn't had them, the lifts would have been open by mid-February.
We wouldn't have been able to put the Middle Sudelfeld lift into operation at all.
And it would have been missing as a cross-connection for the rest of the ski area.
Stadler: “Normal ups and downs” due to the weather
Was the season as a whole worth it?
Stadler:
No, there weren't enough guests for that.
But we still don't have a doomsday mood here.
This is the normal ebb and flow of working with the weather.
They hoped for fresh snow until the end. What are you and the staff doing now?
Stadler:
In fact, some of the employees are under contract until the end of March and I no longer have any work for them.
You are now taking vacation, reducing overtime or have registered with the employment office.
But overall there is a lot to do.
We are dismantling everything that is still standing or lying here - all the barriers and hangings that are outside.
We then spend weeks building the fences for the alpine pastures, which we have to dismantle again in the fall.
And we start with the revisions of the snow systems, snow groomers, chair lifts and drag lifts.
At the same time, the office is working on the invoices in the network.
And then we start again with the preparations for the new season.
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