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11
Feb 2023
—
18
Feb 2023

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.

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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.

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.

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)
2021 10-seater gondola lift Rosskarbahn (Omega V gondolas) replaces the chairlift; opening of the Motorcycle Experience World