Chairlift near the Steinbergkogel area in Kitzbuhel

After an early opening, Kitzbuhel wasn’t done making headlines.

SkiRebel.com has learned that cable car companies in the Swiss ski area are investing more than €60 million ($93m) into nine new chairlifts, high performance snow machines, and measures to improve comfort for the coming season. All seven ski regions in the Kitzbüheler Alpen AllStarCard scheme are involved.

In the SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental area the snow making facilities in Hopfgarten are being improved, a new reservoir is being built at the Tanzboden in Ellmau, the snow making facilities on the Hartkaiser and Astberg are being extended and the ‘Ellmi’s 6er’ – a new detachable 6-seater chair lift with heated seating – is being installed at the Schmiedalm lift.

The last single-seat chair lift at the SkiWelt will be removed from the Choralm in Westendorf. Bergbahn Kitzbühel cable cars are swapping the Kaserecklift for a modern eight-seater chair lift as well as introducing good value resort tickets for the Kitzbüheler Horn, the Ganslernhang and the Gaisberg. A new reservoir will also be fitted at the Gaisberg.

Next winter, a new eight seater cable car – the Winklmoosbahn – will run from Reit im Winkl in Bavaria to the Steinplatte. Bergbahn Pillersee cable cars are replacing the old T-bar lift on the Buchsteinwand with a new four-seater chair lift and a new practice lift will be added to the Schatzbergbahn intermediate station in Wildschönau.

Kaprun cable cars are investing primarily in snow making facilities while Zell am See are also expanding their snow making capabilities to 100% and installing the ‘Kettingbahn’, a six-seater lift with a protective covering and heated seats.

In Saalbach, a six-seater chair lift is replacing the Turm T-bar lift. In Hinterglemm a new eight-seater chair lift (Hasenauerköpfl) is being introduced, and in Leogang, a quad chair lift is replacing the Alm T-bar lift.

With more than 1,000 km of pistes, the Kitzbüheler Alpen is Tirol’s largest skiing association and one of the more interesting skiing regions in the world.

• Ski Resorts: get all the ski resort news you’ll ever need by clicking here
• Ski Switzerland: read news about skiing in Switzerland here