Goodbye ski lift

In 1964, Parsenn-Fondei AG and lift builder Skima launched the ambitious project to build a ski lift to replace the long ascent from Parsenn via Barga/Fondei to Fideris. However, the first winter of operation in 1964/65 was already poor in snow and skiers were rarely able to ski down to Fideris after a few repeat runs, as originally planned. This kept guests away, as they either had to walk to Fideris or up through the snow towards Parsenn. The solution to the problem: another lift is to be built to take guests back to Parsenn. However, the lift builder Skima refuses to build it, as Parsenn-Fondei AG still owes it money.

Without hesitation, Skilift Barga-Parsenn AG is founded. It commissions Skima employee Theodor Brunner - a well-known ski lift pioneer - to build the lift. Skima sees this as a breach of contract and sues. Nevertheless, Theodor Brunner (Tebru), who was then self-employed, built the second lift after several challenges.

But the skiing luck did not last long: due to a lack of tariff cooperation with the Parsennbahn, difficulties soon arose as guests were dependent on transportation to and from the lift. Bankruptcy is declared in 1967. A rescue company also fails. The operating license expired in 1981 and the ski lift ruins were only dismantled in the 1990s - since 2001, the Fondei has been a moorland conservation area - completely free of sports facilities. In the meantime, the path of gentle tourism has been chosen.

Part of the "Sports & Money" exhibition from 2020 to 2022 was also the question of how expensive climate change is for ski resorts - here using the example of a large ski resort (cable car company with more than CHF 25 million in total revenue). Seilbahnen Schweiz has calculated that such a resort faces daily operating costs of CHF 250,000, of which around 20 percent, i.e. CHF 43,000, is spent on providing artificial snow.