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The Swiss population is really interested in skiing. Together with guests from abroad, they provided 25.4 million days of skiing in the winter of 2021/2022 in the ski country of Switzerland. Each paid day ticket counts as one ski day.
This is more than in years. However, the current winter will cause a significant decrease. The severe lack of snow is drying things out, especially on small ski areas at low altitudes.
The current winter is an extreme situation, but it also points to a difficult future. Almost nothing works for winter sports without artificial snow making. Not even in high alpine ski areas like Arosa Lenzerheide GR. “This winter we are seeing again how important technical snowmaking is,” says Thomas Küng (41), CEO of Bergbahnen Lenzerheide.
Measures against climate change
A Blick study of Swiss mountain railways shows that the industry plans to invest tens of millions of francs – a total of 100 million – in profit-making systems over the next few years. Lenzerheide mountain railways are front runners. 30 million Swiss francs will flow into the profit-making infrastructure there over the next five years.
“The few key connecting tracks that didn’t contain artificial snow kept us pretty busy,” Küng says of the current winter. The railways now want to renew these sections. In addition, the performance of the systems will be increased and the water supply will be improved – there is currently a bottleneck in snowmaking before the start of the season. A larger reservoir will solve the problem. “With these measures, we can counter climate change. Contrary to the past, we are now much less dependent on natural snow,” says Küng.
Everyone gets hurt if the ski area is closed
The fact that mountain railways in Switzerland are not dependent on natural snow at the start of winter is crucial to the survival of the industry. Winter work is still the most important source of income. And if profits are not guaranteed, sports shops, hotels and restaurants will also suffer.
At the moment an investment spurt is pending: Bergbahnen Obersaxen Mundaun GR wants to expand its snowmaking to five to ten million francs and profit on additional slopes that are now critical. Three million francs in Vals GR. Crans-Montana VS mountain railways are being upgraded to CHF 10 million. Verbier VS and Nendaz VS each want to invest CHF 5.5 million. And the Jungfrau ski region BE is making another slope for next season.
Austria and South Tyrol cover more areas with snow
According to a study, over CHF 40 million is planned to be invested in the canton of Valais. Even almost 50 million francs in Graubünden. To this were added several million francs in the Bernese Oberland and other winter sports cantons. First of all, the railways are trying to close the important gaps in the slope network. A lot of money is also flowing into the modernization of existing systems.
At the turn of the millennium, ski areas in Switzerland could only snow on seven percent of the pistes. The rate is currently 54 percent. Major winter sports rivals are 70 percent in Austria and even 90 percent in South Tyrol. Many Swiss ski areas benefit from their altitude and therefore greater snow security. However, they will also have to upgrade further in the future.
Difficult financing
Profit making infrastructure is expensive. As a general rule, a kilometer of track costs one million Swiss francs. New reservoirs, as in the case of Lenzerheide, are particularly financially beneficial. As Küng said, mountain railways should be able to manage investments on their own.
However, the finances of many mountain railroads are not rosy at all, and the investment of millions is a hard nut to crack. If railroad companies meet the economic criteria, they can hope to receive subsidized loans from the federal government. In tourist cantons such as Valais, Graubünden or Bern, the cantons also act as lenders. The rails still need to extend towards the ceiling. For example, it is not yet clear how much money will be available for new snowballs and spears at the end of the season on the mountain railways of Lauchernalp in Lötschental in Valais. A fate shared by many other railroads.
The small Melchsee-Frutt ski resort in Obwalden, for example, has to finance the investment entirely from its own funds, due to the lack of cantonal and federal government involvement. Those who can’t invest have to focus on alternative offers. The Rigi ski area in Schwyz and Lucerne relies more and more on offers that are less dependent on snow, such as trekking in winter. Others are expanding their summer business and hoping that coming winters will bring more profit and income.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
