Piani d'Erna
Four named skilifts on the Resegone above Lecco, reached only by cable car; the last was switched off in 2005 and the remains were dismantled in 2020, leaving a purely summer destination.
- Region
- Lombardy
- Country
- Italy
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1969
- Year closed
- 2005
- Reason for closure
- The cost of renewing the lifts was more than the operation could carry. The first skilift reached the end of its technical life in 1999 and the others followed, the last being switched off in 2005.
History
The Piani d'Erna are a shelf at about 1,300 m on Monte Resegone directly above Lecco, and the skiing there had a particular character because there is no road: everything arrived by the cable car up from Malnago. Four skilifts served the northwest-facing pastures and they were named, which is rarer in this dataset than it should be - Bocca 2, Chignolo, Rocca and Teggia. The first dated from 1969 and reached the end of its technical certification in 1999; the others went up in 1976. The Mountain Wilderness survey of 2006-07 found two of them already dismissed, with pylons, cables and end stations still standing, while one skilift and a manovia were still turning, and named the cause as the excessive cost of renewing the installations; the lifts were run by a company called Erna 94 on behalf of the Comune di Lecco. Later reporting is more precise about the end: the last lift was switched off in 2005, and what remained of the skilifts was dismantled in 2020, which is when the era of skiing here was described as closing for good. The dates do not quite line up with the survey's 2003 and 2006, and both accounts are recorded here rather than one being preferred. The site itself is far from dead - the cable car still runs, the area has been cleared and relaunched as an essentially summer destination, and the skiers have been replaced by walkers up from Milan and the Brianza.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bocca 2 | Surface lift | One of the four named skilifts. All were dismantled in 2020 | |
| Chignolo | Surface lift | One of the four named skilifts | |
| Rocca | Surface lift | One of the four named skilifts | |
| Teggia | Surface lift | One of the four named skilifts | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | A manovia or rope lift, recorded as still working alongside one skilift when the site was surveyed in 2006-07 | |
| Unnamed lift | Gondola | The access cable car from Malnago, below Lecco. Not abandoned - it still runs, and its stations were being refurbished in recent years |
Sources and further reading
- https://www.mountainwilderness.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Impianti-abbandonati-Lombardia-2007.pdf
- https://www.dovesciare.it/news/2020-06-03/piani-derna-smantellati-gli-skilift-lera-dello-sci-si-chiude-definitivamente
- https://www.ilgiorno.it/lecco/cronaca/la-seconda-vita-dei-piani-ab67699c
- https://www.dovesciare.it/localita/piani_erna
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Location
45.8652, 9.4486