Snow misery gives new ideas to small ski areas

Even if up to 1000 meters of snow is expected throughout the week, it is not certain that the white splendor will continue.

That’s why chairlift operators now operate on two pistes, as a survey of 30 good ski areas at altitudes of 1000 to about 2000 meters by Blick showed.

Motorcycle touring and tobogganing

Roger Meier (48) is managing director of Atzmännig Sportbahnen SG and has shifted his company to summer operations. “We’ve gotten used to switching to summer operations as there has been very little snowfall in recent years.”

Meier: “Toboggan run, motorcycle tours and hiking trails are open here. We have also reactivated recreational facilities for children.” But the income from skiers is missing from his coffers. Normally, at this time of day, around 2,800 guests would be skiing down the slopes in Atzmännig. Now only 700 people a day spend time on the toboggan run or on motorcycles. At least the sports railways, if the business hadn’t fully covered the costs on bad days, Meier said. He says that even he can continue to employ 25 permanent employees.

Grass skiing and ziplining

The situation is similar at the Marbachegg LU sports railways. There are discounted pedestrian fares for children, social fondue dinners on the mountain, and afternoon cinemas. But that’s not all.

If it still doesn’t snow, the operators will open the bike path and offer grass ski courses as in the summer. A Blick spokesperson says the infrastructure for both is ready. The management of the sports railways will soon decide these days whether it is possible to descend the snowless green slopes with roller skis. The decision depends on snowfall and temperatures.

Due to the lack of snow, summer activities are also the order of the day on the Pradaschier GR adventure mountain. Here, instead of skiing and snowboarding, guests can go downhill with zipline or toboggan run.

Associations and villagers help

Ski areas like Aeschi in the Bernese Oberland are luckier. Here, the chairlift is operated by the villagers at an hourly rate. “When the facilities are down, chairlift costs are very low,” says Tanja Schäfli (50), Managing Director of Aeschi Tourismus. So it waits until the snow comes and then it opens again. “I still strongly believe there will be snow,” she says.

The situation is similar with Hemberg SG. “We don’t have personnel costs because we don’t have permanent employees,” says Hansueli Rechsteiner (60), manager of Hemberg Skilift AG. However, there are still operating costs for the maintenance and upkeep of the elevator.

Collaboration with sponsors and competitors

But Rechsteiner found a solution to this. The sponsors cover the approximately 12,000 francs that the care consumes per year. In return, he advertises on the main street for companies that support him and the chairlift. “This gives kids the opportunity to at least do some skiing,” Rechsteiner tells Blick.

A different strategy is used in Flüelen-Eggberge UR. Operators must contract with the nearby Andermatt UR ski area, which has a lot of snow. If you buy a season ticket for the Flüelen-Eggberge region, you can use it at half price on the tracks in Andermatt throughout the season.

“We’ve sold a lot of season tickets before. “People are already buying the season pass knowing we may never open it,” the operator tells Blick.

Weekend operation and short-term work

In Jeizinen-Feselalpe in the canton of Valais, people are forced to cut costs. Due to the little snow, only two of the six elevators could be operated during the holiday period. On Monday, it was decided to limit operations to the weekend. Because during the week there were not enough guests.

This is also the case in many other ski areas. The weekday operation usually does not cover the costs. The Grimmialp-Diemtigtal ski region in the Bernese Oberland has even applied to the federal government for short-term work in order to survive.