All over the Alps, drivers are moaning about the early onset of winter. A small ski resort in Austria is happy and is starting up the lift – in the calendar summer.
Mühlbach am Hochkönig – “I have never experienced anything like this before.” With these words, the landlady of the Lamsenjochhütte at an altitude of 1,953 meters in Tyrol describes what is currently happening in the Alps. The severe onset of winter in the mountains a few nights after the last days of midsummer has ensured that the mountains have been transformed into a winter wonderland a week before the end of the calendar summer. Hotel Alpenland in Obertauern (Salzburg) literally sank into the snow.
For many hut owners who had prepared for the autumn hikes, the onset of winter was a problem: They had bought supplies, but the guests stayed away, and a lot of food now has to be thrown away. Due to the risk of avalanches, guests will also stay away in the coming days. Ten mountain hikers were evacuated by helicopter from the Lamsenjochhütte in the Karwendel because of the avalanche risk. The German Alpine Association has even closed all huts, with the exception of the Blaueishütte in Berchtesgadener Land.
In Salzburger Land, the early snowfall is used and the first ski lift is opened
In Mühlbach am Hochkönig, a virtue was made out of necessity: the ski lift season was opened here on Sunday. Thanks to the up to two-meter-high masses of fresh snow, a slope was prepared on the 1782-meter-high Hochkeil near the Arthurhaus. The drag lift was in operation for several hours on Sunday.
300 enthusiastic skiers stormed the natural snow ski area. “Yes, it’s true! We really did have the Arthurhaus lift open today and tomorrow it will be open again from 10.30am! Come and see us!”, wrote the operators at Facebook. The interest was so great that the lift was restarted on Monday. And on Monday the demand was so great that it was decided to keep the lift running until further notice.
Many car and motorcycle drivers who wanted to cross the snow-covered Stelvio Pass in northern Italy were not quite as enthusiastic. Most of them were driving with summer tires. The weather conditions, however, would have required winter tires or even snow chains. An article at Instagram shows how a BMW convertible or a bright red Ferrari with Dutch registration could only get over the 2757 meter high pass by pushing. The cyclists also skidded – whether with or without motors. Only the bus seemed to have the right winter equipment, and it stormed up the pass at top speed.
On Instagram, there is a hail of ridicule and criticism about summer tire drivers in the snowstorm
Criticism and ridicule are not long in coming: “But why are they driving up there in this weather, I don’t understand,” writes one user. “Of course I’ll just keep driving up if I see snow and have summer tires on. There’s definitely no snow on the high mountain,” says one user. “Anyone who can read a weather forecast has a clear advantage,” says another.
The Timmelsjoch and Grossglockner High Alpine Roads were closed due to the heavy snowfall. There are already many construction sites that are slowing down Alpine traffic.
But the summer winter could soon be over again: the weather forecast says that temperatures in the mountains are steadily rising, and by Sunday it will be twelve degrees above zero at 1800 meters. That means there is an increased risk of avalanches, but the snow should soon be gone again.
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