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Historical Development of the
Obergurgl-Hochgurgl Ski Area
Milestones and Superlatives
In the middle of the previous century, local families laid the foundation for the top modern winter sports resort of Obergurgl. In 1948 the first ski lift was built in Obergurgl - the first in the entire valley. Hans Falkner, Angelus Scheiber and other local families founded the Obergurgl Lift Company already in 1949. Under the leadership of the Scheiber family, the Hochgurgl Lift Company was founded a little later. Angelus Scheiber already had visionary ideas when he set up the hotel village of Hochgurgl: looking from his office at Hotel Edelweiß (Obergurgl) towards the sunny slopes of Angerer Alm, he was inspired to found a ski resort with hotels and ski lifts there in 1961. Since these first pioneering dates, the ski resort has been continuously extended and modernized. Today it is rightly considered one of the best and snow-surest ski resorts in the Alps.
Chronicle of a success story
| 1948 |
First T-bar lift (300 m long, the first lift in the whole Ötztal) |
| 1949 |
Gaisberg chairlift |
| 1954 |
Hohe Mut chairlift (up to 2669 m, the highest lift in Austria at that time) |
| 1961 |
Grosses Kar (first lift in Hochgurgl); opening of "TOP Hotel Hochgurgl" |
| 1963 | Krumpwasserlift |
| 1966 |
Europe's first snow-grooming machine |
| 1967 | Top Wurmkogel 1 + 2 |
| 1973 |
Hochgurglbahn 1 gondola |
| 1987 | Kirchenkarlift |
| 1979 | Gipfellift |
| 1987 |
First snow-making system in Ötztal, Hochgurglbahn I gondola |
| 1988 | Hotel Crystal |
| 1989 | Festkogelbahn |
| 1990 | Plattachbahn |
| 1997 |
Roßkarbahn & connecting gondola to Hochgurgl |
| 2001 |
Bruggenbodenbahn & Steinmannbahn |
| 2004 | Große Karbahn |
| 2007 |
Hohe Mut Bahn, Hohe Mut Alm, Mahdstuhllift, new Hotel The Crystal |
| 2009 | Wiesenlift |
| 2015 |
Kirchenkarbahn I 10-person gondola replaces old T-bar lift; Top Mountain Crosspoint |
| 2018 |
Opening of Kirchenkarbahn II (final expansion stage in Hochgurgl) |
Did you know that?
To date, the Lift Companies of Obergurgl and Hochgurgl have never distributed profit among their associates, all earnings are reinvested in improvements & modernizations of mountain lifts in the ski area.