Gaißau-Hintersee
A 30-kilometre Salzburg ski shuttle that went bankrupt three times in a few years, was down to about thirteen skiable days a season, and whose owners applied in July 2025 to pull every lift down.
- Region
- Salzburg
- Country
- Austria
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1977
- Year closed
- 2022
- Reason for closure
- Warming winters left the area with an average of only about thirteen ski days a season, against ageing lifts that needed expensive replacement. The operating company went bankrupt three times, plans for snowmaking and a storage reservoir were blocked on environmental grounds, negotiations with a key landowner failed, and a promised Chinese investment never materialised. In September 2022 the insolvency administrator found the assets insufficient even to cover the cost of the proceedings.
History
The Skischaukel Gaißau-Hintersee opened in 1977 as a ski shuttle linking Gaißau, in the commune of Krispl, over the Spielbergalm to Hintersee near Faistenau, half an hour from the city of Salzburg. It carried the first three-seat chairlift in the state, and grew to eight lifts - two two-seaters, a three-seater, a four-seater and a set of T-bars and practice lifts - serving 30 km of piste from 750 m up to about 1,567 m, with eight mountain huts, three rental shops and two ski schools. Its low base was its undoing. Bergbahnen Saalbach Hinterglemm sold it in 2010 rather than fund the investment it needed; Chinese owners took over in late 2016 and the operating company filed for bankruptcy on 13 January 2017, though that season was seen out. A new company bought the lifts and valley station out of the insolvency for 400,000 euros in summer 2020 and reopened the area in January 2021, but it did not last: by September 2022 the administrator reported there was not enough left to cover the cost of the proceedings, and after three bankruptcies in a handful of years the area was finished. In recent seasons it had averaged only around thirteen skiable days. Modernisation with snow cannons and a storage pond foundered on environmental objections, and a dispute with an important landowner closed off the last route to a restart. In July 2025 the owners lodged a formal application with the province of Salzburg to demolish all the lift infrastructure, a job expected to cost several million euros, with no decision issued at the time of reporting. The valley now markets itself for hiking, mountain biking and ski touring. Sources differ on exactly which winter was the last full season, and no source found names the individual lifts or pistes.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Triple - Fixed | Installed at the area's founding in 1977 and the first three-person chairlift in the state of Salzburg. One of eight lifts covered by the July 2025 demolition application | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Quad | The largest of the chairlifts, on the Anzenberg side | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double - Fixed | One of two two-seat chairlifts; one served the Wieserhörndl | |
| Unnamed lift | Chairlift - Double - Fixed | The second of the two two-seat chairlifts | |
| Unnamed lift | T-Bar | One of several T-bars and practice lifts making up the eight-lift fleet; one T-bar ran on the Wieserhörndl. Some installations were close to 50 years old at the end |
Sources and further reading
- https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skigebiet_Gai%C3%9Fau-Hintersee
- https://salzburg.orf.at/stories/3313238/
- https://www.snowplaza.de/weblog/gaissau-hintersee-schliesst-lifte-werden-abgebaut/
- https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000279291/die-salzburger-skischaukel-gaissau-hintersee-wird-abgebaut
- https://www.sn.at/wiki/Skischaukel_Gai%C3%9Fau-Spielbergalm-Hintersee
More in Austria
Location
47.7480, 13.2477