Toggenburg ski area

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Iltios with the valley station of the Iltios – Chäserrugg cable car , Säntis and Wildhauser Schafberg in the background
Train station and mountain restaurant Iltios

The Toggenburg ski area in Wildhaus - Unterwasser - Alt St. Johann is located in the eastern Swiss canton of St. Gallen in Obertoggenburg . Since the 2019/20 winter season, the Toggenburg ski area has been separated into the Unterwasser / Alt St. Johann and Wildhaus ski areas due to the dispute between the two mountain railway companies.

geography

The valley lies between the Säntis massif and the peaks of the Churfirsten . The ski area is located on the northern slope of the Churfirsten and connects the slopes from Wildhaus to Gamserrugg , from Unterwasser to Chäserrugg and from Alt St. Johann to Ruestel; it is at an altitude of 900 to 2262  m above sea level. M. Since the winter season 2019/20, the ski resorts Wildhaus and Unterwasser / Alt St. Johann are not connected to each other more. A ski slope on the southern slope above Wildhaus is accessed by the Gamplüt gondola lift .

Dispute between the mountain railways

The Toggenburg Bergbahnen invested seven million francs in the summit building on Chäserrugg designed by the architects Herzog & de Meuron.

In spring 2015, the Toggenburg Bergbahnen surprisingly removed the regional hiking day pass and the summer season ticket from their offer. After months of negotiations, the Toggenburg Bergbahnen and Bergbahnen Wildhaus reached an agreement during the summer of 2015 on the distribution of the income from the joint tariff association . The Toggenburg Bergbahnen demanded a larger share of the income after investing millions in the new summit building by Herzog & de Meuron on the Chäserrugg and the new Espel – Stöfeli – Chäserrugg gondola .

T-bar lift on the Chäserrugg. Despite the large investments, the summit of the Chäserrugg can only be reached with the cable car, which is unpopular with skiers, or with the drag lift.

In 2017, Toggenburg Bergbahnen made a hostile takeover offer to Bergbahnen Wildhaus and wanted to buy the majority of their shares for 25 francs per share, which were worth between 160 and 200 francs in the 360 ​​days before. The Toggenburg Bergbahnen extended their offer to the shareholders of Bergbahnen Wildhaus initially until November 10, 2017, then until September 30, 2019 and for the third time until the end of August 2020.

The St.Gallen cantonal government asked the two Toggenburg mountain railways to agree on a joint ski pass and rejected a request for a loan of five million francs from Bergbahnen Wildhaus for the construction of a new six- seater chairlift and optimized snowmaking at a cost of 15 million francs from. This also blocked five million Swiss francs from the federal government as part of the new regional policy . The cantonal government tried to mediate, but the Toggenburg Bergbahnen insisted on terminating the tariff association. Since the 2019/20 winter season, winter sports enthusiasts have to decide whether they will spend the day skiing in the Alt St.Johann / Unterwasser or Wildhaus ski area. The distribution battle between the two mountain railways led to a decline in hotel bookings. The ski shop and bar of the former Wildhauser ski racer Karl Alpiger recorded a decline in sales of 20 percent in the winter of 2019/20. Mélanie Eppenberger, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Toggenburg Bergbahnen, is particularly criticized , but also the ski jumper Simon Ammann , who is involved in the Board of Directors of Toggenburg Bergbahnen. Eppenberger was already criticized in 2011 and 2014 for its sparse information policy.

The Toggenburg Bergbahnen have been working with the Gamplüt gondola on the other side of the valley since the 2019/20 winter season. Your summer and winter subscriptions are also valid on the Gamplüt cable car. Bergbahnen Wildhaus redimensioned their expansion project and announced on October 23, 2019 that the financing of the 11.6 million project with the new six-seater chairlift Oberdorf-Freienalp, a children's lift in Oberdorf and optimization of the technical snowmaking is up and running the winter season 2020/21 is to be realized.

Toggenburg Bergbahnen AG Bergbahnen Wildhaus AG
Share capital (as of the 2017 AGM ) 21,000,000 francs 6 731 200 francs
Number of shareholders not specified 2062
number of stocks not specified 33 656
Tax value per share 100 francs 200 francs
Investments in the years 2012–2017:
approx. 37 million francs		 in the years 1992–2017:
over 30 million francs
Debt not specified 3.14 million CHF
Gastronomy proceeds 7 215,000 francs 2 672 298 francs
Share of catering income Winter 64%
summer 36%		 Winter 75%
summer 25%
Share from the collective bargaining system 51.3 percent 48.7 percent

On May 9, 2020, the Toggenburg Bergbahnen surprisingly announced to the Wildhauser shareholders that they would prematurely withdraw the merger offer made in September 2019 "due to changed conditions". By this they meant the construction of the new chairlift in Wildhauser Oberdorf, the financial sustainability of which they questioned. However, the two railways are too small to survive separately in the market and thus threaten to become niche providers with limited supply and low prices. With the competition in neighboring Vorarlberg and Graubünden , the trend is going in the opposite direction. The ticket purchase is made as attractive as possible for the guests.

The ski area

The ski area, which has 60 km of pistes, is made accessible by 16 transport systems: a funicular, an aerial tramway, three detachable chairlifts, a combined lift with detachable chairs and gondolas, two gondola lifts and eight ski lifts. A fun park, cross-country ski trails, toboggan runs and winter hiking trails are also maintained. The area is very popular for mountain hikes in the snow-free season.

Railway systems

Wildhaus mountain railways

No. Surname Type length Height
difference 		capacity Construction year cancellation Manufacturer
A. Pictogram 4 Chair Lift.svg Wildhaus-Oberdorf 4- seater chairlift 0792 m 213 m 1800 p / h 1995 Doppelmayr
B. Pictogram 6 Chair Lift.svg Oberdorf-Freienalp 6- seater chairlift 1300 m 2020 Garaventa
C. Pictogram 4 Chair Lift.svg Oberdorf-Gamsalp 4-seater chairlift 2028 m 545 m 2000 p / h 2003 Garaventa
D. Pictogram T-Bar Lift.svg Gamsalp-Gamserrugg Ski lift 1688 m 353 m 1000 p / h 1965 Oehler
E. Pictogram T-Bar Lift.svg Oberdorf Ski lift 0432 m 075 m 0990 p / h 1962 2020 Städeli
F. Pictogram T-Bar Lift.svg Gültenweid Ski lift 0500 m 057 m 0752 p / h 1974 2020 Städeli
G Pictogram T-Bar Lift.svg Freienalp Ski lift 1092 m 236 m 1000 p / h 1974 2020 Habegger
H Pictogram T-Bar Lift.svg Thur Ski lift 0421 m 104 m 0680 p / h 1964 2020 Städeli

Gamplüt cable car

No. Surname Type length Height
difference 		capacity Construction year Manufacturer
J Pictogram Cable Car.svg Wildhaus-Gamplüt 2x4-person group commuting 1244 m 269 ​​m 0080 p / h 1993 Streiff

Toggenburg mountain railways

No. Surname Type length Height
difference 		capacity Construction year Manufacturer
K Underwater polecat 100-person funicular 1210 m 440 m 0850 p / h 1934 From roll
L. Pictogram Cable Car.svg Iltios-Chäserrugg 80s aerial tramway 3452 m 912 m 0520 p / h 1972 From roll
M. Pictogram T-Bar Lift.svg Chäserrugg Ski lift 1800 m 363 m 1000 p / h 1981 Garaventa
N / O Pictogram Cable Car.svg Espel-Stöfeli-Chäserrugg 10-person gondola lift 2494 m 809 m 2500 p / h 2015 Garaventa
P Pictogram T-Bar Lift.svg Iltios Ski lift 0551 m 105 m 1000 p / h 1959 Städeli
S. Pictogram 4 Chair Lift.svg Alt St. Johann-Sellamatt 4-person combination lift 1490 m 501 m 1200 p / h 2003 Garaventa
T Pictogram T-Bar Lift.svg Sellamatt-Zinggen connection lift Button lift 0572 m 043 m 0700 p / h 1999 Garaventa
U Pictogram 4 Chair Lift.svg Ruestel 4-seater chairlift 1133 m 298 m 1400 p / h 1999 Garaventa

Ski slopes

Level of difficulty Number of slopes length
light 6th 10 km
medium 27 45 km
heavy 3 5 km
Departure route 4th
total 40 60 km

history

Toggenburg ski area in the 1960s

The Unterwasser – Iltios cable car was the first mountain railway in the area to be opened in 1934 , followed by the “Funi” toboggan run in Wildhaus in 1937. The Gurten lift Iltios – Stöfeli was also built before the Second World War, and immediately after the war, additional lifts were built to Gamsalp and Alp Selamatt. Numerous expansions followed in the late 1950s to mid 1970s; seven out of eight of the ski lifts still in operation today date from this time. The first application for a license for a cable car to the Chäserrugg was submitted as early as 1961, but the Iltios – Chäserrugg cable car was only inaugurated in 1972.

Also in the seventies, the sunny side of the Wildhaus ski area was opened on the opposite side of the valley , which included a chairlift and two ski lifts. In 1990 operations were stopped and the mountain railways were about to be completely demolished, but the chairlift was rescued by private individuals and converted into the Wildhaus – Gamplüt group commuter lift.

Snow cannon of the Wildhaus mountain railways

The first snow-making systems were put into operation at the beginning of the nineties , in order to guarantee snow security in the future as well. At the turn of the millennium, the construction of the connecting slopes in the area between Gamserrugg and Chäserrugg was an important project to better link the ski areas. In addition, investments were made in high-performance detachable chairlifts.

After negotiations on the overall merger of all mountain railway companies failed in the following years, only the merger of Sportbahnen Alt St. Johann-Sellamatt (SAS) and Bergbahnen Unterwasser-Iltios-Chäserrugg (BUIC) into Toggenburg Bergbahnen AG came about through a hostile takeover . In 2014 Toggenburg Bergbahnen AG took over Stöfeli AG and Skilifte Iltios AG in order to demolish the dilapidated Espel and Stöfeli ski lifts and replace them with a 10-seater gondola lift from Espel to Chäserrugg with a middle station at Stöfeli. This new track was built in summer 2015. A merger with Bergbahnen Wildhaus AG is still not in sight.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jörg Krummenacher: Grand piano on the Chäserrugg. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , June 27, 2015
  2. ↑ Take a deep breath in Toggenburg: mountain railways put an end to the dispute. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), October 30, 2015
  3. ↑ Julia Nehmiz: Akteinstreit: Fight for cable cars in Toggenburg. In St. Galler Tagblatt (online), June 3, 2017
  4. ^ Sabine Schmid, Thomas Schwizer: collective bargaining dispute: "We will not sell under any circumstances". In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), October 30, 2015
  5. ↑ regulators Weik, Christoph Zweili: share exchange: The speculation continues. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), June 24, 2015
  6. ^ Eastern Switzerland: Toggenburg Bergbahnen extend takeover offer. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), November 8, 2015
  7. ^ A b Thomas Schwizer: Mountain railways dispute in Toggenburg: Wildhauser Yes to the expansion project has an impact on the takeover offer from Unterwasser. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), November 6, 2019
  8. ^ Maria Kobler-Wyer, Adrian Lemmenmeier, Christoph Zweili: Mountain railway dispute: mountain railway project blocked: "Good night, Toggenburg". In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), November 8, 2015
  9. ↑ Sabine Camedda: No agreement in Obertoggenburg: season starts with two tickets. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), December 31, 2019
  10. ^ Mountain railways dispute in Obertoggenburg - no hotel bookings are made. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), January 4, 2018
  11. ^ Mountain railways in Toggenburg: dispute ends with separation. In: Echo der Zeit from February 10, 2020, radio broadcast by Radio SRF (podcast)
  12. ↑ a b Regula Weik, Christoph Zweili: Anger am Berg: A Polteri, an offensive, a powerless: The Toggenburg mountain railway dispute at a glance. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), December 5, 2017
  13. ^ Regula Weik: Mountain railways: flown out. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), January 4, 2018
  14. ^ GV of the Toggenburg mountain railways. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), November 21, 2011
  15. ↑ Jesko Calderara: The silence of the mountain railway. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), August 9, 2014
  16. ↑ Regula Weik: Movement in the mountain railways in upper Toggenburg - Chäserugg and Gamplüt will work together in the future. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), July 23, 2019
  17. ↑ Bergbahnen dispute: Toggenburg Bergbahnen withdraws merger offer with Bergbahnen Wildhaus. In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), May 9, 2020
  18. ↑ Christoph Zweili: The railways in Obertoggenburg threaten a niche existence . In: St. Galler Tagblatt (online), May 12, 2020
  19. ↑ Wildhaus 2.0. On the website of the Bergbahnen Wildhaus, October 23, 2019
  20. ↑ a b Bergbahnen Wildhaus AG: Chronicle 1937-today
  21. ^ History of Toggenburg Bergbahnen AG
  22. ↑ Toggenburger Tagblatt: Railway project on Chäserrugg could be concrete
  23. ↑ Tagblatt: New gondola to Chäserrugg
  24. ^ Werdenberger & Obertoggenburger: gondola lift defuses the eye of the needle; from July 17, 2015

Remarks

  1. ↑ On the night of February 11, 2020, hurricane Sabine resulted in a total loss of the system.

Coordinates: 47 ° 11 '  N , 9 ° 19'  E ; CH1903:  742500  /  227000