Snow of tomorrow | New development plans for the Gepatschferner and around the Linker Fernerkogel"

"It is clear to us that we will no longer be pursuing the Pitztal-Ötztal link project, which has been planned since 2016 and has since been cancelled." This was the reaction of Pitztal Gletscherbahnen to the result of the referendum in St. Leonhard. The majority of the community of 1,500 inhabitants voted against the so-called glacier marriage in summer 2022. However, just six months later, the management went public with new plans: the original project is to be slimmed down and a connection to Ötztal is no longer planned. Instead of the originally planned three cable cars, one cable car is now to run to the Fernerjoch - only around 100 metres as the crow flies from the neighbouring Ötztal glacier ski area. Will the merger perhaps remain the long-term goal after all?

Glaciers as places of longing and economic potential

Glacier landscapes are the epitome of high mountains, symbolising their beauty and unspoilt nature. Since the beginning of alpinism in the 18th century, they have exerted a strong fascination on mountaineers. With the rise of skiing, some entrepreneurs soon sensed mass tourism potential. As a result, the following eight glacier ski resorts were established across Austria from the 1960s onwards:

• Kitzsteinhorn (Salzburg), opened in 1965

• Hintertux Glacier (Tyrol), opened in 1968

• Dachstein Glacier (Upper Austria/Styria), opened in 1969, ski operation discontinued since the 2022/23 season due to severe glacier melt

• Stubai Glacier (Tyrol), opened in 1973

• Sölden glacier ski area (Tyrol), opened in 1975

• Kaunertal Glacier (Tyrol), opened in 1980

• Pitztal Glacier (Tyrol), opened in 1983

• Mölltal Glacier (Carinthia), opened in 1983

(Note: The glacier names listed here are the names of the ski operations and not the geographically correct names of the glaciers in the respective area).

As most of the ski resorts are located in Tyrol and the current expansion plans also affect this region, it is worth taking a closer look at the conditions there: How important is glacier protection at a legal level? What is the social debate like? And last but not least: What does science say about the future of the glaciers?

Glacier protection programme or glacier closure programme?

After the great wave of development, a phase followed at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s in which Tyrolean provincial politics prioritised nature conservation. The three-year "pause for reflection on ski resort projects" proclaimed by the then Governor Weingartner falls into this period, as does an amendment to the Tyrolean Nature Conservation Act, which decided on the absolute protection of glaciers. The wording of the provision laid down in 1990 was: "Any lasting impairment of glaciers and their catchment areas is prohibited" (LGBl. 52/1990).

This meant the end of all ski resort expansions on glacier areas. However, the cable car lobby was not satisfied with this and tried to influence the provincial government to soften the strict glacier protection regulations again, which was finally successful in 2004. In the course of a new amendment to the Nature Conservation Act, the foundations were laid for a regulation that came into force in 2006 as the "Spatial Planning Programme for the Protection of Glaciers" (Glacier Protection Programme) and is still valid today. What sounds like protection is actually the opposite: this regulation mainly serves to define exceptional areas - i.e. areas in which glacier protection does not apply. This affects the upper Gepatschferner in the Kaunertal, including the Weißseespitze, and the Linke Fernerkogel with its three glaciers in the Pitztal. The exception areas can be seen on the two map sections below:

Glacier protection even without a glacier?

The glaciers are melting faster than was assumed just a few years ago. Is there still hope for Mittelbergferner, Karlesferner & Co. And what will happen when the glaciers are gone - will the areas then be less worth protecting?

According to the University of Innsbruck's Alpine Research Centre, the Mittelbergferner will lose around 80 percent of its current ice volume over the next 30 years. By the end of the century, only a few remnants of ice will be left. The other Eastern Alpine glaciers will suffer a similar fate.  

"You can only protect things that are still there." So says Andrea Fischer, deputy director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research and a glaciologist often quoted by cable car operators, who asks whether a glacier without an ice body is what we want to protect. For many conservationists, the answer is
clear: the glacier forefields created by glacier retreat are also worth protecting. These are
high alpine primeval landscapes that hardly anyone has ever set foot on before. And in the Tyrolean Nature Conservation Act, glacier protection is not limited to the body of ice, but also includes the catchment areas and the moraines in the vicinity of the glaciers.

To put it in a nutshell: Glacier ski areas are feeling the effects of climate change first hand. Glacier retreat is changing the terrain dramatically (see glacier comparison images). The pictures of the construction work on the World Cup piste on the Rettenbachferner in Sölden impressively show the effort that has to be made to maintain the existing pistes. The criticism of this is justified, as is the suggestion of a later World Cup start. At the same time, however, it must be recognised: Interventions are simply necessary to enable safe skiing in this terrain. Hardly anyone would want a general closure of glacier ski areas. But what most people want (in view of the many critical reactions and the petitions and surveys cited above) is ski tourism with a sense of proportion. With 90 ski resorts, around a thousand lifts and over three thousand kilometres of pistes, the question arises as to whether this sense of proportion has already been lost in Tyrol. The Alpine Association also appreciates the positive effects of skiing for personal health and for the business location and is therefore reluctant to criticise the existence of existing ski areas or measures within the designated ski area boundaries.