A cable car company introduces itself

The company, Pitztaler Gletscherbahn Ges.m.b.H. & Co KG, was founded in 1980 and has its company location in St. Leonhard, in the Pitztal Valley, Tyrol.

The company is a private Austrian corporation and is run as a cable car service business company with mountain restaurants.

After a two and a half year building time, and an original investment volume of over 23 mill. Euro, the glacier skiing area at the Pitztal Glacier began operating on December 23rd,1983, and offered as a tourist destination for public skiing, a mountain and recreational sports area I, the year 1989, Austria’s highest cable car, the Pitz Panoramabahn began operating.

The Skiing and excursion area Lake Rifflsee in the St. Leonhard district has belonged to our company since 1995.
Our business has been involved as a partner with the Kaunertaler Gletscherbahn since the year 2000.
We expanded our gastronomy options by building a second restaurant at 2840m elevation, which took place in 1998.
Die Pitztaler Gletscherbahn is the most significant job provider in the valley and employs approx. 95 year round employees from the region.
Numerous employees have already been employed for over 20 years with the company and are able to make a living in their specialized area of responsibility, through the training and further education which the company requires. More than 30 % of the employees operate a secondary business in the Pitztal Valley in either forestry or farming, and therefore contribute their share to restoring the landscape scenery in the Pitztal Valley. Farming alone couldn’t guarantee supporting their family’s existence. In combination with the occupation in the cable car industry, these workers and their families have the chance to make a decent living in their home valley, as well as a future one.
There are currently 9 slope grooming machines in service at the glacier and at Lake Rifflsee. Driving the trail grooming equipment during skiing operations is kept to a minimum, due to safety reasons. This means that our drivers work quite a few night shifts.
The ski rescue service in our ski area is operated by employees of the lifts, who undergo regular schooling and courses in cooperation with the physicians of the Pitztal Valley, as well as with the Red Cross. In extreme cases, a helicopter needs to be flown in through the Tyrol Emergency Center.
The Pitztaler Gletscherbahn has been regularly investing in the expansion of snow making equipment for 10 years now. Usually the moraine areas of the glacier are all covered in the autumn. Glacial melt water is used for this process, which is saved in two adjoining ponds. The larger pond on the Mittelbergferner has a reserve volume of ca 35,000 cubic meters, and the pond near the top station at 2,840 m holds approx. 13,000 cubic meters.
All important slopes at Lake Rifflsee are also given additional snow, so that from excellent slope conditions can be guaranteed from beginning Dec. until mid April.
In the year 2004 the company joined other glacial ski areas in a scientifically led research project, accompanied by the University of Innsbruck, which studied the effects of glacial melting. Prominent areas of slopes near the cable supports and stations were covered in the summer with a fleece material. After a three year practical experiment, it could be determined that up to 1-2 meters of snow and ice material could be retained at this elevation.
In 2004, the company invests in comfort improvements at Lake Rifflsee. The old, steep cabin tow lift –operating since the ski area opened in 1971 - hat become obsolete and was demolished. On practically the identical lift route, yet with a higher placed top station, there’s now permanently fixed 4 seater chairlift, the Muttenkopfbahn (2,135 – 2,345m), with a conveyor belt loading platform. In this way, there’s a new slalom trainings area and a trail connection to the top station of the Rifflsee Gondola Lift and the Restaurant Rifflsee at 2,300 m elevation.
In 2006, the company invested approx. 17 Mio € in the comfort improvements for the Pitztal Glacier. The long tow lift, Mittelbergjoch I and permanently fixed double seated chairlift were dismantled. This was replaced with the 8 seater Gondola lift Mittelberg (at 3.285 m) and the attachable 6 seater chairlift Gletschersee (new) at 2.840 m. The building negotiations and beginning of construction took place in June 2006, and the starting up was intended for November 06. Both lifts begin in a common base station at 2.640 m above sea level, near the prominent glacier caves.

Upswing in tourism

With the commissioning of the Pitztaler Gletscherbahn, the region experienced an upswing in tourism and was able to be placed among the top destinations in the Tyrolean tourist industry.

The Pitztal Region is able to register close to 1 million overnight guests per year, which includes the four areas St. Leonhard, Wenns, Jerzens and Arzl. The Pitz Express – the Glacier Mountain Tunnel – have both transported ca 5 mil. Travel guests round trip, without any accidents.