Winterhorn
A Uri ski area that went bankrupt in the mid-1980s, closed in 2008, was put up for auction online at 250,000 francs with no takers, and was finally demolished as the price environmental groups set for letting Andermatt expand.
- Region
- Uri
- Country
- Switzerland
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1960
- Year closed
- 2008
- Reason for closure
- Repeated financial failure against unreliable snow. The first bankruptcy came in 1986 after a run of snow-poor winters; the area closed after the 2007-08 season and operations were formally discontinued in 2009.
History
The Winterhorn rises above Hospental in the Urseren valley in Uri, a few kilometres from Andermatt. Its first drag lift opened in 1960; in 1981 that was replaced by a chairlift and the area extended with a further drag lift at the top. Snow-poor winters in the mid-1980s brought the first bankruptcy in 1986, and after limping on for two more decades the area closed following the 2007-08 season, with operations formally discontinued in 2009. What happened next is unusually well documented. Rescue attempts came and went - Chinese investors said to be on the point of signing, then a cable car operator from central Switzerland - and none materialised. In 2009 the entire ski area was listed for sale on the Ricardo auction site at a fixed price of 250,000 francs; it drew 55,000 clicks and a great deal of press, and no buyer. The ending came through a bargain struck elsewhere: in January 2013 Andermatt-Sedrun Sport AG, environmental organisations and the canton of Uri signed an agreement under which ASS undertook to demolish the Winterhorn installations by June 2022 at the latest and the canton undertook to place the area under landscape protection, in return for the environmental groups dropping their objections to the expansion of the Andermatt ski arena. One ski area was dismantled so that another could grow. Winterhorn is one of the areas held up as a case study by the Lost Ski Area Projekt, and Swiss consumer journalism has counted over thirty ski and chairlifts nationally awaiting demolition. Piste names are not documented in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | The original drag lift, opened 1960 above Hospental and replaced by a chairlift in 1981 | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift | Installed in 1981 in place of the original drag lift. Demolished under the 2013 agreement, with a deadline of June 2022 | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | A drag lift added at the top of the area in 1981 to extend it. Demolished with the rest |
Sources and further reading
- https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winterhorn
- https://www.nzz.ch/schweiz/wintertourismus-zerfall-und-ruinen-in-den-bergen-ld.119280
- https://www.beobachter.ch/geld/wirtschaft/die-spur-der-toten-lifte-354029
- https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/lost-ski-area-projekt-das-ende-des-skibooms-und-vieler-skigebiete-hat-laengst-begonnen
- https://www.alpinforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=13290
More in Switzerland
Location
46.5868, 8.5393