Silverjet Set For Take-Off

Snowbowle

This summer, the investment plan of Bogensperger's Katschberg lift dynasty includes further expansion at the Aineck. Silverjet2 is being constructed on its Salzburg side, at a cost of 10 million euros. With the new cable car, skiers will no longer have to use the "Branntweiner- und Ainecklift" T-bar lifts to ascend the mountain.

Silverjet2, with its 8-passenger gondolas, will rise to 520 metres, covering a length of 2250 metres. The new facility will enable the summit station to be reached within seven minutes, representing a speed of 22 km/h. As with most of the other Katschberg lift facilities, the manufacturer will be the well-known Vorarlberg company Doppelmayr, which has designed a particularly futuristic look for the summit and base stations. Incidentally, the summit station will also contain the garage of the Aineck PistenBully fleet, consisting of ten state-of-the-art vehicles.

A1, here we come! This construction project will eliminate one of the last bottlenecks at the Aineck, reducing the journey time from the valley in St Margarethen up to the Aineck summit by ten minutes. Silverjet will be boarded directly at the Aineck double-chairlift. From the summit station, there will be a direct connection to the A1, or skiers can ski to the cable car via the Almen run (Almenabfahrt).

Awards. The piste pleasure will thereby be taken to a whole new level – and not least because the Katschberg has once again won the "Ski Area Test" and has been awarded the "International Pistengütesiegel" (international seal of approval for piste quality). And that's not all: the border mountain between Carinthia and Salzburg has been awarded the title of "Beste Beschneiungsanlage 2011" (best snow cannon 2011).

More information can be found on bautagebuch.katschi.at

Snowbowl is ready!

Snowbowl

Snowbowl is the name of the new, three kilometers long ski slope from Aineck at Katschberg towards Margarethen in Lungau. Besides the “old” ski slope and the two year old “A1” ski slope, it presents a third option to reach the valley from the Aineck Summit Train newly built last year.

The term “Snowbowl” is related to Aineck’s topography: the new route follows a basin known for its snow richness. With “Snow Basin” this was considered, when deciding about a name for the new ski slope. Then, the Carinthian term “Schneeschüssale” was proposed during brainstorming. However, this proposal generally was cute, but not sophisticated and international enough. Thus, “Schneeschüssale” was translated into the English term “Snow bowl“, which then mutated into “Snowbowl” (snow punch).

Due to 35 new snow cannons the entire ski slope can be artificially snowed – similar to all other ski slopes at Katschberg. Including Snowbowl, the ski slope area in the Aineck Summit Train region amounts to approx. 30 hectare, distributed over 1,800 m altitude difference.

New Cable Car on Aineck on the Salzburger Side

Not a year without renovations in the Katschberg railways: Also in this year’s Summer, the excavators and the construction vehicles roll down. This time, the investments (10.8 million Euro) inures to the benefit of the Salzburger Side on Aineck, where both of the last cable lifts to the summit are replaced by an 8-person single rope orbit.

The descents from Aineck in the direction of St. Margarethen in the Lungau were already very popular in the past, all the more, as it has just become one of the longest descents of Austria (6 km) two years ago. The ascent back to the Aineck-summit, however, proves to be as really exhausting and can only be done by changing thrice. This and the geriatric lifts – a chair- and three cable lifts – turned the ascent into a test of patience, There was nothing to do for 40 minutes by any stretch of the imagination.