Schalming is going to be home to a brand new hotel just before the 2013 World Alpine Championships

The small mining town in the Austrian state of Styria, Schladming, is getting a new four-star hotel just ahead of the winter  2013 World Alpine Championships.

The Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group will operate the hotel at the foot of the Planai. Construction work on the €22 million ($35-million USD) project is underway on the site of the former Dachstein-Tauern-Halle.

Once opened to the public in this coming December, the new 130-room hotel is expected to feature more than 12,000 square meters (about two soccer fields), a spa and a swimming pool just a few steps from the resort gondola. 

”Great importance was placed on giving it a special connection to the region – in wording, communication, and choice of motifs,” said the release issued by the hotel operator.

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Skier powers down a run powered by Siemens technology.

Electronics giant Siemens invested heavily into winter sports events and is now finally seeing the dividends with more than 600 million Euros (850 million USD) in orders for the Sochi 2014 that include new trains, and a new power plant that will provide most of the electricity during the Games. Continue reading ‘Boom in winter sport investments paying off dividends for Siemens’

Schladming, Austria is getting a new 8-seater chair in time for the 2010-11 season

The 2013 World Alpine Ski Championships venue Schladming in Austria, is installing a second eight-seater chair after it was widely acclaimed by its users.

After the success of the Marchenweise eight-seater chair, lift operator Planai-Hochwurzen-Bahnen GmbH has announced the new Mitterhaus chairlift will replace two 30 year old drag lifts and will be marketed with the promotional phrase, “a treat for the feet.”

The new Mitterhaus lift will run from the resort to Ernstal and will have green comfort padding on seating and branding to match Schladming’s logo.

The new lift will also have a weather protection hood and the high comfort loading system which dramatically slows chairs at the base and top station to only 0.5 metres per second or 1.1 miles per hour allowing passengers plenty of time to calmly sit down.

The new chairlift will be 1.126km long, and the ascent will take four minutes and its 57 chairs will have an hourly capacity of 3,200 skiers when it opens up in time for the 2010-11 season.

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Hauser Kaibling in the Austrian Alps.

As the North American and European ski seasons end, ski resorts are announcing their upgrade plans for next year.

At the same time as Copper Mountain’s investment announcement, Hauser Kaibling in Austria has announced an even bigger one. Part of Schladming’s ski area in Austria, Hauser Kaibling is getting a €6 million (US$8.2m) investment in new infrastructure, much of it spent on new snowmaking.

Over thirty new snow guns have been purchased, making a total of 167 canons for its 37km (23mi) of piste and increasing capacity to 11,000 cubic metres of snow per hour, which equates to around 1,100 truck loads of snow. The pumping stations have also been upgraded and a new water line installed from the River Enns.

Continue reading ‘Big upgrades to Austrian ski resort Hauser Kaibling’

A similar hybrid lift in Kitzbühel, Austria.

Schladming ski area in Austria has installed its first ‘Telemix’ or ‘Chondola’ lift which combines chairlifts with gondolas cabins on one cable.

The new Hochwurzen Sun-Jet lift has a gondola cabin after every three chairs. The new lift will make it easier for the uplift of all mountain visitors, not just skiers and boarders, as well as increasing uplift speed and capacity on the route.

Continue reading ‘Austria’s Schladming installs new hybrid lift’