Flims-Laax-Falera mountain railways

Crap Sogn Gion

The Weisse Arena Gruppe was created in 1996 from the merger of the Crap Sogn Gion mountain railways (founded in 1962 in the Laax and Falera municipality ) and the Flims mountain railways (founded in 1944 in the Flims region). The developed area extends from 1,100 m above sea level. M. (lowest point at the Laax-Murschetg and Flims valley stations) up to 3,018 m above sea level. M. in advance . The tourist offer is marketed year-round by the Weisse Arena Gruppe under the two brands Flims and LAAX.

history

Roger Staub at the 1959 ski race in Flims, in the background the two lifts near Naraus

Despite a ski course in Flims that was advertised as early as 1908 (canceled due to too much snow), the summer season remained the main season for Flims until the early 1970s thanks to the large forest and Lake Cauma - and loyal regular guests. Winter sports, however, were recognized early on as an opportunity for a second season: Hoteliers who were willing to take risks installed central heating in their homes even before the Second World War. Shortly before the war, a snowmobile train with a Hürlimann caterpillar tractor was used to drive the ski guests to Foppa. The exhaust gases from the tractor supplied the foot heaters installed in the two trailers. The tractor was requisitioned by the army when the war broke out.

On May 1, 1944, the new spa director, Hannes Giger, took up his position in Flims and with him a specification sheet that included "modern mechanical development of the ski area and the establishment of a profitable winter season". However, the means of transport should also be able to be operated in summer, which means that already known ski lift systems were eliminated. The drive with the crawler tractor was taking too long and the capacity was too small. In November 1944, a delegation from Flims traveled to the Von Roll works in Bern to explain the matter. Von Roll, for her part, was in the process of testing a test arrangement of a chairlift in the work yard, which included a coupling instead of the fixed rope clamp. The Federal Office of Transport demanded a million coupling processes before the patent application, which is why the test facility was in operation day and night for weeks.

On May 8, 1945, the day the war ended in Europe, the Flims mountain railways began building the world's first detachable chairlift between Flims and Foppa. Because of the shortage of iron at the end of the war, the masts were made of larch wood. The runway built using the Von Roll system was opened on December 17, 1945. In 1947 the railway was extended to Naraus. The fire at the middle station Foppa, triggered by the carelessness of a worker, delayed further expansion. In 1956 the railway on the Cassonsgrat on the Flimserstein was opened. The cable car that continued from Naraus to the Cassonsgrat was the oldest licensed cable car in Switzerland until 2015 . In 1961 it was decided to build a chairlift from Startgels to point 2220 above the Nagenshütte, and to build a ski lift from Alp Mughels to Laaxerstöckli . The realization of these facilities and the Crunas facility (1968) was fought for by courts of all instances up to the federal court against resistance with building blocks by the municipality of Laax. Even in 1972, when the ski areas in the Nagens area were already overlapping, the Flims mountain railways had to replace the chairlift to Nagens, the Graubergbahn , because of the disputes with the municipality of Laax directly on its border, but in the area of ​​the municipality of Flims. The railway opened in 1973.

In 1962 the municipality of Falera, as the landowner , granted the Crap Sogn Gion company the first concession for the construction of four ski lifts from Laax-Muschetg up to the Crap Sogn Gion . In 1963 the tourist development with ski lifts of the Pomagalsky type began. In 1968 the cable car to the Crap Sogn Gion started operations, in 1974 Falera was connected to the area by the chairlift to Curnius. In 1978 the first 6-seater gondola lift went into operation on the Vorab Glacier .

In 1980 the Crap Sogn Gion mountain railways merged with the Flims mountain railways to form a tariff association . At this point in time, the ski area had already reached its maximum size. What then changed were new installations to expand capacity and the gradual replacement of the surface lifts. In 1989 the first gondola lift for twelve people from Laax-Murschetg to Curnius went into operation and replaced two different types of chairlift. The oldest lift in the Crap Sogn Gion area ran as far as Larnags, while the upper chairlift was a replacement for a previous Poma “plate lift”, the fast-moving, detachable tow lifts. In 1990 the Graubergbahn ran for the last time in summer. After that, in summer only the routes from Flims to Cassons and from Murschetg to Crap Sogn Gion and, at times, the feeder from Falera were in operation.

In 1995 a “Pipe Dragon”, a machine for building halfpipes , was used in Laax for the first time in Europe .

In 1996 the Crap Sogn Gion mountain railways merged with the Flims mountain railways to form the Weisse Arena Gruppe . In 1997 the Flims, Laax and Falera tourist associations also merged; the name Flims Laax Falera Tourism stood for the entire region. In the same year the Flims – Plaun – Nagens gondola lift went into operation on a completely new route. This meant that the Plaun basin was no longer a dead end, which was operationally important. The 4-seater gondola from Flims to Startgels with a diversion station in Runcawald, built in 1970, was then dismantled, so that the aerial cableway from Startgels to Grauberg was no longer directly accessible. The fourth generation was now in use on the Plaun – Nagens route: after the Poma T-bar lift with various curves (the route is still partially visible), a two-seater chairlift was built, which in turn had to give way to a non-detachable four-seater chairlift.

As early as 1999, offers that could be booked for the first time were put online via the laax.com website.

The second generation of the system on La Siala, built in 1983 and replaced in 2015

A transport service has been running three times a week to Zurich-Kloten and Friedrichshafen airports since 2008, and Memmingen Airport was added later .

In 2011, with the first stage of a new overall expansion, the oldest and only remaining ski lift of the Habegger system , Alp Dado - Crest la Siala, was replaced by a 6-seater chairlift, and in 2012 the last non-detachable chairlift from Alp Ruschein to the Crap Masegn station was demolished. The replacement building was not built on the lower Alp Ruschein (Midada Sut), which is critical in terms of snow reliability, but 100 m higher in the Platta dall'Aua area and leads from there to the Fuorcla da Sagogn saddle.

In 2015 the cable car went up the Cassonsgrat for the last time after almost 60 years of operation. It was dismantled by summer 2018. During the dismantling of the mountain station, there was a fire on June 12, 2018, in which the cable car section of the mountain station was destroyed. To compensate for the development of the Sardona Arena, the Graubergbahn has also been in operation during the summer season since summer 2017.

Investments

With an area of ​​over 100 square kilometers, around 70 percent of which is over 2,000 m above sea level. M. , LAAX is one of the largest connected ski areas in Graubünden. A total of 28 lifts (3 cable cars, 8 gondolas, 9 chair lifts , 2 glacier lifts , 5 ski lifts , and 1 park and pipelift) open up around 224 kilometers of groomed slopes.

The largest and longest halfpipe in the world has been in LAAX since the 2014/2015 season. With a length of 200 meters and a height of 6.90 meters, it exceeds the Olympic standard. It is located in the middle of the ski area on the Crap Sogn Gion in the NoName Snowpark. There are also three other snow parks: Beginner, ils Plauns, and Curnius.

At the valley station in Laax-Murschetg, the first freestyle hall in Europe was opened in 2010, the Freestyle Academy. There are various trampolines, airtracks, a large skate bowl, various skateramps, a vert ramp and, since the renovation in spring 2019, a parkour facility.

	Surname	Construction year	system	Height above M. Valley station [meters]	Height above M. Mountain station [meters]	Height difference [Meter]	Stretch- length [meters]	Promotional capacity [pers./hour]	business winter	business summer
	Alp Dado – Crest la Siala	2011	6- KSB / B	1,948	2,317	369	1,576	2,400	W.	0
	Crap Masegn	1974	125- PB	2,229	2,489	260	2,810	900	W.	0
	Crap Sogn Gion	1968	125- PB	1,099	2,229	1,130	4.156	750	W.	S.
	Crap Sogn Gion South	1984	1- SL	2.126	2,227	101	498	750	W.	0
	Curnius	1987	4- KSB	1,640	2.210	570	2,103	2,400	W.	0
	Falera	1995	4- KSB	1,244	1,650	406	1,984	750	W.	S.
	Flims – Plaun (Arena Express 1)	1997	8- EUB	1.101	1,630	529	3,945	2,000	W.	0
	Foppa	1995	3- KSB / B	1,095	1,424	329	1,742	1,800	W.	S.
	Fuorcla-Crap Masegn	1978	6- EUB	2.118	2,478	360	1,160	1,500	W.	0
	Fuorcla - First of all	1978	6- EUB	2.118	2,573	455	2,509	1,500	W.	0
	Grauberg	1972	80- PB	1,604	2,238	634	2.168	750	W.	S.
	Ils Plauns I.	2008	1- SL	2.148	2,270	122	659	600	W.	0
	Ils Plauns II	2008	1- SL	2.148	2,270	122	659	600	W.	0
	Larnags 1	1989	12- EUB	1,087	1,167	80	585	2,000	W.	0
	Larnags 2	1989	12- EUB	1,167	1,648	481	1,812	2,000	W.	0
	Lavadinas – Fuorcla da Sagogn	2012	6- KSB / B	1,908	2,531	623	2.143	1,800	W.	0
	Mutta Rodunda	2005	6- KSB / B	1,899	2,420	521	2.008	2,800	W.	0
	Nagens	1999	1- SL	2,103	2.131	28	150	900	W.	0
	Naraus	2005	4- KSB	1,427	1,844	417	1,580	1,800	W.	S.
	Pipelift	2000	1- SL	2,105	2,202	97	340	600	W.	0
	Plaun – Crap Sogn Gion	1995	6- KSB / B	1,630	2,222	592	1,780	2,600	W.	0
	Plaun – Scansinas (Arena Express 2)	1997	8- EUB	1,630	1,903	273	818	2,000	W.	0
	Scansinas – Nagens (Arena Express 3)	1997	8- EUB	1,903	2.133	230	1,068	2,000	W.	0
	Sogn Martin – La Siala	2015	10- EUB	1,977	2,809	832	3,366	2,000	W.	0
	Spaligna	1971	2- SL	1,334	1,560	226	1,138	1,000	W.	0
	Treis Palas-Crap Masegn	2012	6- KSB / B	2.121	2,471	350	1,448	1,800	W.	0
	First glacier I	1978	2- SL	2,564	2,974	410	1,985	1,200	W.	0
	First glacier II	1978	2- SL	2,564	2,974	410	1,985	1,200	W.	0

Occasions

Two people from Flims organized the first Para-Ski Cup in 1963 , and in 1973 Flims was the first venue for a Para-Ski World Cup . From 1977 to 1996 LAAX was the venue for World Cup ski races. FIS ski races have been held regularly since then. However, the area mainly focuses on hosting snowboard and freeskiing events. In 2001 the UBS Halfpipe Take Off took place in LAAX and in 2004 the Burton European Open took place for the first time . The event has been taking place under the name LAAX OPEN since 2016 and is considered the largest snowboard event in Europe.

literature

• Weisse Arena AG (Ed.): The mountain calls. We also. Echoes from the peripheral area. Edition Hochparterre , 2012.

Web links

Commons : Crap Sogn Gion  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Graubünden.ch - Laax

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Brands. In: WAG. Accessed June 19, 2020 (German). 
2. ↑ Cable car nostalgia
3. ^ Swiss homeland books: Flims. Haupt-Verlag, Bern 1961.
4. ↑ Cassons Cable Car
5. ↑ Bündner Monatsblatt Chronik 1973 ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Ignaz Cathomen / Isidor Winzap: Falera - history and development of a mountain village in Graubünden. 2002.
7. ↑ Seilbahnen.org
8. ↑ Weisse Arena Gruppe - History ( Memento from November 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ http://www.weissearena.ch/de/innovation/milestones/
10. ↑ http://www.weissearena.ch/de/innovation/milestones/
11. ↑ Flims mountain station Cassons burned down. Retrieved July 7, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Ski area test
13. ↑ Laax.com
14. ↑ Fresstyleacademy
15. ↑ Precision on land and in the air Para-Ski World Cup 1973 in Flims
16. ↑ Hochparterre ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Coordinates: 46 ° 50 '  N , 9 ° 13'  E ; CH1903:  735.57 thousand  /  one hundred eighty-eight thousand seven hundred and twenty-three