At Luxury Chalet Book HQ it is the big development in Austrian skiing we have been waiting for. It has been talked about for a long time, but come the winter of 2016/17, the new Flexenbahn cableway will open to create the largest connected ski area in Austria. The missing link in the Arlberg ski area will finally be closed.
The current Arlberg ski pass includes the world famous resorts of St Anton, Lech and Zürs, which have previosuly been divided by the mountains of the Valluga and connected only by road. With the help of the new link between Zürs and Stubem/Rauz, skiers and snowboaders can now easily reach all resorts of the Arlberg with their skiis or snowboards strapped to their feet.
The new cableway link on the Vorarlberg side of the Arlberg, between Zürs and Stuben/Rauz, as well as the new cableways to be constructed in 2016 – the Trittkopfbahn I and II and Albonabahn II cableways – involving a total investment of EUR 45 million, are closing the loop. From Zürs, Trittkopfbahn I leads to the new intermediate station, from where skiers may either continue to the new top station of Trittkopfbahn II or use the new Flexenbahn to carry on to Alpe Rauz in Stuben. From here, the other new cableway, Albonabahn II, will invite skiers to continue to Stuben.
In addition, skiers starting out from Alpe Rauz can conveniently explore the St. Christoph and St. Anton skiing areas. This means that all resorts of the Arlberg skiing area – St. Anton and St. Christoph, Stuben, Zürs, Lech, Oberlech as well as Schröcken and Warth – will be easily and comfortably accessible on skis. With the new cableway link, skiers on the Arlberg – Austria’s largest contiguous skiing area – will have easy access to a total of 305 km of downhill slopes and 87 lifts and cableways. This guarantees an incredible dimension of skiing fun!
The new cableway is a single circulating cable system with 47 cabins for 10 persons each. This means that, with a travel time of about 6 minutes, the cableway can transport up to 2,400 persons per hour. The Flexenbahn runs high above the Flexenpass road, covering a distance of almost 1.8 kilometres and an altitude difference of over 562 metres. Each of the comfortably fitted out cabins has large panorama panes, offering an unobstructed view into the Klostertal valley and towards the Arlberg pass / St. Christoph – a breathtaking landscape.
The whole construction project, including all new cableways, was planned in great detail and with the utmost care; in the first stage, the new cableway for the practice run in Zürs was built in the summer of 2015. This will be followed by the construction of Trittkopfbahn I and II in Zürs and the new Albonabahn II in Stuben/Rauz. The new Flexenbahn will be created in the same phase, but no new pistes. In this way the natural beauty of the landscape will be preserved.
FLEXENBAHN FACTS
- Start of construction: spring 2016
- Planned opening: winter 2016/17
- Length: 1.8 kilometres
- Height above sea level, lower station: 1,665 metres
- Height above sea level, upper station: 2,227 metres
- Altitude difference: 562 metres
- Type of cable-car: single continuously circulating cable with 10 cars
- Capacity: 2,400 persons/hour
- Owner: Flexenbahn GmbH
The ski resorts of St Anton and Lech are already some of our favourites in the whole Alps and feature some of the best catered and self-catered luxury chalets around. For those who love to ski or board in deep powder, then this is one the best resorts in Europe to visit. So if you fancy being one of the first to ski the largest connected ski area in Austria, then why not book your next ski chalet holiday with us and check out what all the fuss is about.
Skyfall Penthouse
A stay at Skyfall Penthouse, a ski in ski out luxury catered chalet gives you the perfect place to stay and access the Arlberg ski area.
