Poggio Sant'Elsa
Skiing on Sasso del Ferro above Lake Maggiore, from about 1965 to the early 1980s, defeated by an altitude of under 1,100 metres; the open bucket lift that served it still carries tourists.
- Region
- Lombardy
- Country
- Italy
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1965
- Year closed
- early 1980s
- Reason for closure
- Insufficient snowfall at too low an altitude. The expiry of the concession is also recorded as a factor.
History
Poggio Sant'Elsa is the upper station of the Laveno bidonvia on Monte Sasso del Ferro, 1,062 m, on the eastern shore of Lake Maggiore - and for about fifteen years there was a small ski area up there. A skilift and a rope tow ran from the Poggio at around 1,000 m on an east and southeast-facing slope, and the altitude tells you the rest: there was not enough snow, and the area closed in the early 1980s. The concession coming to an end is recorded alongside the snow as a cause. There is a genuine conflict in the sources on the dates which contributors should know about: the Mountain Wilderness survey of 2006-07 estimated construction in the 1980s and dismissal at some unspecified point in the 1990s, marking the dismissal date explicitly as not established, while the lift operator's own history and local tourism accounts give a precise span of 1965 to about 1980. The more specific account is followed here. The bidonvia itself is very much alive and is the reason most people know the place - open metal buckets for two, 80 cabins of which 53 are open to the air and 27 enclosed, climbing some 700 m from the lakeside in about a quarter of an hour. It was refurbished in 2006 and continues to run as a tourist attraction, so what is abandoned here is the skiing, not the access.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | A skilift starting from Poggio Sant'Elsa at about 1,000 m. Recorded as dismissed when the site was surveyed in 2006-07 | |
| Unnamed lift | Rope Tow | A manovia or rope tow alongside the skilift | |
| Unnamed lift | Gondola | The bidonvia up from Laveno - open two-person buckets, 80 cabins of which 53 are open and 27 enclosed, climbing about 700 m in roughly 15 minutes. Not abandoned: it was refurbished in 2006 and still operates as a tourist lift |
Sources and further reading
More in Italy
Location
45.9111, 8.6371