What does actually happen during maintenance?

Behind the scenes
01/02/2023
Our department managers take you behind the scenes to show you what their working day looks like during the maintenance period!

In spring time one of the most important phases in a ski area starts: the maintenance period. It usually starts at the beginning of May and continues into autumn. During this time, the facilities are maintained, parts replaced and renewed, snow depots pushed together and covered and a lot more. Our video series shows what exactly they do: "What happens during maintenance”. Our department managers will take you behind the scenes to show you what their working day looks like.

In the first part of our video series, piste manager Christoph Hofer shows you the tasks of his department. His team has many tasks to fulfil for you to be able to take your turns on perfectly groomed pistes in autumn again.

Among the tasks of the piste crew are:

  • servicing, maintenance and checking of piste groomers
  • creation of a snow depot including covering
  • maintenance work and cleaning of artificial snow-making machines
  • control of the reservoir lakes
  • installation of the piste guidance system as well as the ski area overview boards in the entire area.

The piste crew won’t be bored in the summer, even if they’d rather be grooming pistes for you.

Gondolas, chairlifts and T-bar lifts have to be maintained to be ready again for the ski opening in autumn. All parts of the lifts are thoroughly checked. The lift director, Andreas Kleinlercher, explains how this is done.

The maintenance works for the lifts include the following tasks:

  • check-up and maintenance of all lifts
  • functional check of all safety devices
  • cleaning of all facilities
  • recovery exercises to be perfectly prepared in case of emergency

Did you know? There are altogether 26 lifts on the Stubai Glacier that need to be maintained. So there is plenty to do in this department too!

Particularly spectacular are the maintenance works of the new 3S-Eisgratbahn lift which went in operation in 2016. This year, in addition to the routine maintenance, the suspension cables are moved in lofty heights. Operations manager Stefan Gietl tells us what is happening there exactly.

Why are the suspension cables moved?

Every six years, the suspension cables are moved so that not the same piece of rope rests on the supports. The aim is to maintain the highest safety standards in order to be able to operate the lift safely again.