The ski clubs in the Erding district are feeling the pandemic particularly hard, but financially they are making ends meet.
We picked three examples.
District - “50 years of skiing and then a year of total failure - that has never happened before.” Rudi Braun from Dorfen should speak from the soul to many.
Winter is officially over, the balance sheet of the ski clubs from the Erding district is, as expected, sober due to the pandemic.
Financially, the clubs consider themselves to be in good shape despite the failed season.
The canceled ski courses, which is why no new members joined, are still noticeable.
A bitter non-season
The fact that German skiing was completely forbidden in the winter of 2020/2021 made Jakob Hübl “terribly worried, and I wasn't alone”.
The chairman of the Auerbach ski club refers to protests by the BSV and BLSV associations, which ultimately did not help.
"Skiing itself does not contribute to the spread of the virus," says Hübl.
The failed season will certainly have an impact on alpine racing teams.
"Other countries could still train a little to keep the athletes at a certain level."
Rudi Braun also describes the past winter as a "bitter non-season that will be very formative and painful to remember".
The Dorfen ski club had the last glimmer of hope that it would still be able to go into the mountains.
“Unfortunately there was a complete standstill.
And standing still is known to be a step backwards, ”said the Dorfen chairman.
It is similar with the Buch ski club, which had prepared itself just as intensively for the season as secretary Timm Schröder describes.
Detailed concepts were drawn up in advance for the ski courses.
“But unfortunately it never came to that,” Schröder regrets.
Has shrunk from 1,600 to 1,400 members
Hübl also speaks of perfect preparation in Auerbach.
His association usually teaches over 100 people to ski in winter.
With our colleagues from Dorfen und Buch, the courses consist of around 230 and 50 participants, respectively.
For insurance reasons, the ski and snowboard candidates always become members of the clubs.
In addition to the course income, the ski clubs are completely missing these annual fees this year.
Instead, they have lost members.
In Auerbach the number has decreased by 40 people to 760.
The number of members in Dorfen fell from 1600 to 1400.
However, Braun and Hübl understand when families in particular have to save in the pandemic.
According to Schröder, there have been very few withdrawals in Buch so far.
The association currently has almost 500 members.
Doubling the association fee helps
Despite the lost income, the three clubs draw a rather positive conclusion from a financial point of view.
"This year it is relatively cost-covering because we didn't have any expenses for the racing team or did not do any training," says Braun.
Auerbach would have liked to use the proceeds to finance further training for the ski instructors and their new clothing.
Hübl therefore welcomes the doubling of the association fee announced by the state government.
Many winter friends turned around this year and went on ski tours as an alternative.
However, the three ski clubs have decided not to go on official club tours.
"Most of the time it was not quite clear what one was officially allowed to do," said Schröder, explaining the decision.
However, some Bucher members went to the mountains privately.
Dorfen and Auerbach have refrained from club tours because “beautiful areas were quickly overrun,” explains Hübl.
It's weird when you're not allowed to go into the mountains as an active skier.
The feeling of freedom is missing.
Rudi Braun, Dorfen ski club
Not even cross-country skiing in the district was granted to the ski clubs in the previous season.
In Auerbach there was only a short skating track.
Dorfen was also in the starting blocks, but ultimately had too little snow.
In Buch there was even one tracing for several days.
Shortly before the official publication of the tour offer, the rain came.
Before that, however, some racing team members were able to test cross-country skiing for the first time, reports Schröder.
All Erdinger ski clubs have great hopes for the new winter season.
“It's weird when you're not allowed to go into the mountains as an active skier.
The feeling of freedom is missing ”, describes Braun his longing and at the same time the anticipation for 2021/2022.
BY MARKUS OSTERMAIER