| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Today
Polls
RSS Feed Panorama16. 10. 09. - 16:00
Ski resorts to open this weekend
By William Green
The early outbreak of winter weather has prompted several Austrian ski resorts to plan to open in the very near future.
Planai in Styria announced today (Fri) it would open on Saturday, the earliest date in history.
Planai chief Ernst Trummer said: "The earliest previous opening was on 26 October 2007, but this year it will be 17 October. We will not incur any additional cost by doing so since we are still operating our lifts according to our summer plan. There is half a metre of new snow at the top, and the low temperatures will enable us to use our snow cannons."
Trummer has invested 16 million Euros at Planai and Hochwurzen for snow-making equipment and the first eight-person chair lift in Styria.
Visitors to Planai this weekend who have its "summer card" will be able to use the lifts for only 17.50 Euros a day if they spend the night there.
The Turracher Höhe ski resort on the border of Styria and Carinthia is also planning to open partially this weekend, and Austria’s eastern-most ski resort, Semmering in Lower Austria, will do so on 23 October.
The Styrian Tourism Agency (STG) said today cross-country trails were already open at Ramsau at the foot of the Dachstein.
Such resorts, however, may be jumping the gun if a weather forecaster is correct.
Claudia Riedl, from the Central Agency for Meteorology and Geodynamics’ (ZAMG) office in Salzburg, said today she had received many calls from ski-lift operators asking her if it would be safe to begin the coming ski season in the near future.
Riedl said she had advised them not to since a warm "Föhn" wind from the south would raise temperatures and cause all snow below 2,000 metres to melt from the middle of next week.
The air temperature at 3,000 metres, she claimed, would be above four degrees by then. Only glacier skiing areas would be safe from the warmer air, she noted.
Ski resorts are not the only places to have gotten new snow, of course. Up to 10 centimetres of new snow fell in Lower Austria’s Mostviertel and five centimetres in the province’s Waldviertel today. Chains were made mandatory for lorries weighing more than 3.5 tonnes on some mountain roads.
Authorities in Upper Austria said that almost all roads there were snow and ice-free. There was a little new snow in Tyrol this morning, but it did not cause any traffic problems.
For the first time this season, authorities warned this morning of the danger of avalanches, especially on steep, smooth slopes.
Austrian Times
Related articles: weather chaos
-
Russian girl in intensive care after ski crash
» General News 2010-01-06
A ten-year-old Russian girl is in intensive care as she collapsed minutes after a skiing accident.
-
Rescue helicopters in the air for 244 days last year
» General News 2010-01-04
Car club ÖAMTC reported today (Mon) its 16 rescue helicopters had been in the air for 244 days last year.
-
» Business 2009-12-22
Overnight stay numbers dropped in the capital last month, tourism bosses in Vienna have reported.
Tag cloud:
gotten Euros Styria resorts Agency warmer Authorities temperatures Riedl glacier Planai skiing Austrian Trummer earliest resort noted lifts season weather
Coalition accelerates anti-corruption ambitions
The government is intensifying its attempts to pass a transparency package in parliament.
Küng tackles Schüller group
Another top-tier representative of the Austrian Church has warned the Preachers’ Initiative from consequences.
BMW and Porsche seized by bold burglars
Crooks broke into a house and stole the keys to two valuable cars early Thursday morning while the residents were sleeping.
Pecik defends TA engagement
Telekom Austria (TA) investor Ronny Pecik has declared himself a team player.
Lightning strikes two workers
Two construction workers at the new Westbahnhof train station were hospitalised after being struck by lightning.
Mayor land fraud allegations
Prosecutors are investigating the mayor of Innervillgraten in Eastern Tyrol over allegations of irregularities in a sale of land that he authorised to another local council member.
Infra red heating takes off
A new heating system from a Burgenland company that operates with energy-saving, efficient, infra-red light is heating the market up.
Games night hits Vienna
Six Vienna game clubs open their doors tonight for a night full of games including Chess, Go or Tarock. The evening is meant both as a night of playing these games for enthusiasts, as well as learning them for novices.
Silly parkers road rage rampage
A serial bad parker in Graz added resisting arrest and going on the run to his crimes when police went to arrest him for notching up almost 100 parking tickets in the southern city of Graz.
Knoflacher emphasises pedestrian zones' economic effects
A renowned traffic planner has stressed that shop owners are generally appreciating the introduction of pedestrian zones.
The most popular stories –
last 7 days
|
Dune And Busted |
|
Swastika Shaped Austrian School Rebuilt |
|
Nazi still honoured in Austria |
|
Thieves caught trying to nick F**king Sign |
|
20th Vienna Life Ball a fiery success! |
