Tourism - First ski lifts open in the Sauerland
After the early onset of winter in the Sauerland, the first ski lifts went into operation on Friday. The unusually early start to the season meant that the slopes were not very busy at first. Initially, only four lifts in the Winterberg ski lift carousel and a few lifts in the surrounding area were open, said a spokeswoman. More ski resorts will open this Saturday - and the operators are also expecting more crowds then. The weather in the Sauerland is expected to remain largely dry. The German Weather Service is expecting maximum temperatures well below freezing.
Up to 30 centimetres of natural snow fell on the heights of the Sauerland at the beginning of the week. Snow cannons have been producing additional artificial snow in the frosty temperatures for days.
In the Eifel, the toboggan lift in Hellenthal is due to open at the weekend. However, according to the municipality, there is not yet enough snow for cross-country skiing. There have been no ski lifts in the Eifel for several years.
Around 130 kilometers of trails for cross-country skiers
In the Sauerland, on the other hand, around 130 kilometers of cross-country ski trails have already been groomed in the past few days, according to the Sauerland Winter Sports Arena. The largest network of groomed trails can be found in Winterberg and Bad Berleburg-Girkhausen in the Wittgensteiner Land region.
More ski resorts are planning to open this weekend. The start of the season is planned for the ski village of Neuastenberg, the Bödefeld-Hunau ski area in Schmallenberg, the Schlossberg/Küstelberg ski area in Medebach and Willingen in northern Hesse. However, only individual lifts are being put into operation everywhere - there is still not enough snow to open all the slopes in the ski resorts, said the spokesperson. The small ski resorts of Sternroth in Olsberg, Olpe-Fahlenscheid and Wilde Wiese in Sundern also want to open in the short term - the first floodlit runs were already planned there.
However, most ski and toboggan lift operators are waiting for the first highlight of the season around Christmas.
Lift prices have risen slightly
According to the Wintersport-Arena Sauerland, the prices for day tickets this year are between 25 and 48 euros - that is one to three euros more than last year. In the smaller ski areas, the lifts are often much cheaper to use than in the larger ones, said a spokeswoman.
The Winter Sports Arena is an association of ski resorts in the districts of Hochsauerland, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Olpe and the northern Hessian municipality of Willingen. This includes 42 ski areas with 147 lifts. A good third of the slopes are covered with artificial snow.
Winter sports arena
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Source: www.stern.de
