Welcome Innsbruck - Winter 2017/18

W E L C O M E 25 H eute Übungsgelände und Snowpark, morgen Funway, Bu- ckelpiste oder Tiefschneehang: Skifahrer und Snowboarder, Renn- und Genussfahrer – sie alle kommen in der Axamer Lizum auf ihre Kosten. Und das nur 18 Kilometer von Innsbruck entfernt. Dank der Höhenlage (1.540 bis 2.340 Meter) und flächen- deckender Beschneiung samt neuem Beschneiungsteich auf 2.100 Metern Seehöhe und modernisierten Anlagen startet die Saison im schneesicheren Winterparadies Anfang Dezember und lädt bis Ap- ril zum Brettlspaß. Eine Pause legt man am Besten im Hoadlhaus ein, wo man auf 2.340 Metern nicht nur einen herrlichen Ausblick genießt sondern auch viel Sonne auf der windgeschützten Terras- se tanken kann. We love! || Exercise slope and Snowpark today, Fun- way, mogul slope or powder snow slope tomorrow. Skiers and snow- boarders, racers and pleasure athletes – at the Axamer Lizum resort they all get their money's worth. And they do so only eighteen kilo- metres from Innsbruck. Thanks to its altitude (between 1,540 and 2,340 metres) and snow-making equipment throughout the resort, the season at the snow paradise starts in December and extends through to April. A break is best taken at the Hoadlhaus, at 2,340 metres above sea level, where you can not only enjoy a glorious view, but also soak in the sunshine on the wind-protected terrace. We love it! W W W . A X A M E R - L I Z U M . A T PROMOTION VON DER CITY INS SKIVERGNÜGEN F R O M T H E C I T Y I N T O S K I I N G B L I S S Die Axamer Lizum mit ihren zehn Seilbahnanlagen startet den neuen Winter mit Schneesicherheit. // The Axamer Lizum resort with its ten cableways rings the winter in with a snow guarantee. I f there is a roar around seven o’clock, they’re out blasting again. Christof Schabus, deputy manager of the Innsbrucker Nordket- tenbahnen, and his colleagues are the ones pushing the button. The ones having to push it, for the snow wrapping the Nordkette range in sparkling white can become a real threat for the neigh- bourhoods situated some one thousand metres below. “When the fresh snow gets higher than twenty centimetres, we blast,” Schabus explains. “We don’t wait until the snow cover grows further, because then there would be a risk of large avalanches.” We, that is the men and women of the 252 Tyrolean avalanche commissions. In every parish where there’s a potential risk of ava- lanches there also has to be such a panel. In the north of Innsbruck it consists of Christof Schabus and his colleagues, who also make the decision on when to blast. The more snow is falling, the more people are involved in the decision process. At avalanche warning level 5, moreover, the process also includes the Innsbruck Amt für Sicherheit (office of public safety). The last time the latter happened was in 2011, Schabus remembers. “We had four and a half metres of fresh snow in three days. We blasted morning and night in order to bring the snow masses down in a controlled manner.” The mem- bers of the avalanche commission also decide on when to close off roads or when to evacuate people. Events like that, however, have become increasingly rare, for the snow – in general – is getting less. The avalanches are triggered on the Hafelekar and the Seegrube to the north of Innsbruck. There are two methods of blasting: oxy- gen and gas exploders and blast cableways. The devices for the four oxygen and gas exploders (called Gazex) are permanently installed above the Funpark. The system works fully automatically: the pro- pane and oxygen mixture is set free from an attached container via radio and ignited at the exploder’s muzzle. The controlled explosion takes place some three metres above the snow blanket and the avalanche therefore triggered by way of a shockwave. The second method is a much more immediate and thus also not an un-hazardous one: via dedicated blast cableways – the Kaminspitzbahn and the Seilbahnrinnenbahn on the Hafelekar and another cableway above the eastern slope of the Seegrube – Emulex AV is put into action, an emulsion explosive containing aluminium, which is used mainly for triggering avalanches. “Thanks to the blast cableways, explosion sites can be accessed directly,” Schabus explains. Two and a half kilograms of gelatinous explosive are attached to a six-metre string. Then the cableway gets moving with this load. On starting off, the pull wire lighter is ignited, which again ignites the blasting fuse. The length of the fuse decides on the moment the explosion happens – two minutes correspond to one metre approximately. “There’s always a little risk remaining,” says Christof Schabus. Even if the blasting has become routine by now, one has to be careful. Of the blast itself the experts rarely see very much – in most cases fog blocks the view of what the explosive triggers. All the more important it is to listen closely and to be watchful. For if it doesn’t work quite as planned, the routine can quickly give way to dangerous situations. Usually, though, everything goes to plan, and the early morning boom leads not just to more or less wakeful Innsbruckers, but also to increased traffic on the Nordkettenbahn. The race for being the first on the pristine slopes is a very compet- itive one. W