50 years Stubai Glacier

A journey through the history of Austria's largest glacier skiing area.

On May 31, 1973, 50 years ago, pioneer Dr. Heinrich Klier laid the first cornerstone for winter tourism at Stubaier Glacier with the opening of the Stubaier Glacier cable car. At that time, the first section of the Eisgratbahn was put into operation, and guests had to walk for 30 minutes from the middle station to the Eisjoch drag lift. In October 1973, the second section of the Eisgratbahn went into operation, followed by the opening of the Eisgrat restaurant.

In the 1980s, the parallel section I and the Gamsgarten double chairlift were put into operation, the Jochdohle at Gaiskarjoch was built, and the first snowmaking system was introduced. In 1990, Neustift recorded over a million overnight stays for the first time. The new single-cable circulating lift (Gamsgarten) and the six-seater Eisjoch chairlift were put into operation. In 1998, summer skiing was discontinued due to the rising permafrost limit.

In 2000, the ski carousel around Schaufelspitze was completed with the six-seater Fernau chairlift. Furthermore, during the decade, the "new" Jochdohle, the six-seater "Murmele" chairlift at Gamsgarten, and the eight-gondola Schaufeljoch lift were opened. Passenger numbers developed very positively, with approximately 1.24 million passengers counted in 2003. Additional milestones were achieved, such as the opening of the Snowpark Stubai Zoo at Gaiskarferner and the TOP OF TYROL viewing platform at Schaufeljoch.

The Schaufeljoch Chapel at 3,150 m was built in 2012. In the same year, the 8-seater Rotadl chairlift and the 4-seater Daunjoch chairlift went into operation. Two years later, the Stubaier Glacier Ice Grotto, located 30 meters beneath the ski slopes, was built. In 2015, Chef David Kostner and his team from the gourmet restaurant Schaufelspitz received the 2nd Gault-Millau toque. Also in 2015, another important step, was the start of construction of the new 3S Eisgratbahn. In October 2016, the cable car made its first trip with a capacity of around 3,000 people per hour. The cable car Eisgrat was retired, and the gondolas found new homes in many places.

This year, the completion of the Gamsgarten II reservoir was ensured. The continuously expanded snowmaking system covers approximately 70 hectares of slopes with snow.

Tourism has created numerous jobs in the Stubaital, with the glacier cable cars alone currently employing around 350 employees, many of whom have long-term company careers.

As part of the anniversary, we would like to thank all our guests warmly
& look forward to many more visitors here at the Stubai Glacier.