Reiteralm Celebrates 50 Years
The Reiteralm was founded on March 21, 1971. Only 9 months later, in December 1971, the operating licenses were issued and the first ski season started!
However, this outstanding "founding date" should not just pass by. On that day a big and enormously important foundation stone was laid.
A look back:
- The foresight of the people who were responsible, initiative and involved at the time, the team spirit and the conviction that this vision - to realize your own ski mountain - was unique!
- The founding meeting took place on March 21, 1971 in the Hotel Pichlmayrgut. With the greatest commitment ALLER was able to build after a few months! the Skiberg Reiteralm will start the first ski season in December 1971. And a success story began.
Extract from the brochure "25 Years of the Reiteralm Bergbahnen":
In 1971, 92 shareholders from the municipality of Pichl-Preunegg came together and founded the "Reiteralm Bergbahnen". They raised a share capital of 4.5 million schillings. Although some of the shareholders had to take out a loan for this.
The state of Styria joined as the 93rd partner. After a thorough review of the "Expansion of the Reiteralm ski area" project, the governor at the time said: "Good thing!" The founding meeting took place under the chairmanship of Mayor Josef Steiner, at which the shareholders were personally present. A public accountant and the notary were also present, as well as a representative from Raiffeisenbank Schladming.
Josef Steiner was elected as chairman of the supervisory board, Siegfried Keinprecht sen. and Rudolf Walcher were appointed as managing directors and the supervisory boards were elected - all elections were unanimous.
Construction began immediately afterwards - the Reiteralm Ski Mountain was therefore realized with the greatest dedication of EVERYONE.
After only 9 months of construction! the operating licenses for DSB Reiteralm I and the Reiteralm II T-bar lift were issued on December 21, 1971. And so it started the first ski season 1971/1972.
The Reiteralm ski area grew steadily - further expansion steps and investments followed:
The following may be mentioned: 1972 Reiteralm III drag lift, 1974 DSB Gasselhöhe, 1975 practice lift (children's offer), 1977 Holzerlift drag lift, 1980 4-seater gondola lift from Gleiming, 1980 Mulden lifts, 1991 4-seater Seppn Jet chairlift (instead of Reiteralm II), 1997 6-seater Gasselhöhe chairlift (instead of DSB Gasselhöhe), 2005 Silver Jet gondola, 2010 8-seater Preunegg Jet cable car (instead of Holzerlift), 2020 6-seater Schoberbahn (instead of Reiteralm III), constant expansion of the children's area (Haseck, connecting lift, practice meadow, etc.), ...
Another ski area was added in 1995 - the Fageralm lifts were bought. The company thus expanded again and was now also represented in the neighboring Salzburg area.
Over the years, great attention has also been paid to the area of "snowmaking". Pumping stations were built, snow ponds were built, kilometers of pipes were laid and modern snow machines were used. Today, with optimal conditions, the ski mountain can be completely covered with snow within a few days and the slopes are groomed by the latest piste equipment.
In the winter of 1998/1999 the Schladming 4-mountain ski area was realized - 123 kilometers of slopes non-stop can be offered to the valued guests. In 2001 the ski and marketing association "Ski amade" was founded - Austria's greatest skiing pleasure. Five ski regions are combined here and can be accessed with one ski pass.
The "Training of the world's ski elite" offer has also been steadily expanded. Several times a year, numerous international racing teams train and train in order to prepare themselves perfectly for the racing winter. The high quality of the training slopes culminated in a World Cup racing series: 5 World Cup races were held on the Reiteralm within 11 months! In winter, numerous national and international races, women and men, are held on the Reiteralm in cooperation with the WSV Pichl-Reiteralm.
In recent years, the summer offer on the Reiteralm has also been expanded. In addition to the unique "natural" offers, especially the Spiegelsee with the Dachstein reflection, there is also a large, sporty and enjoyable offer, especially for hikers, families and bikers.
Words of the "old guard" :-)
"The cohesion, the interaction within and outside of society is of the utmost importance, because only together you are strong and can realize such big projects", said the founding managing directors Siegfried Keinprecht Sr. and Rudi Walcher, long-time managing director Wolfgang Habersatter and long-time supervisory board chairman Christian Steiner sen.
Words of the "current guard":
"Of course we wanted to celebrate this anniversary accordingly and with a lot of joy with the shareholders and companions, but due to the situation (Covid-19 measures) this is unfortunately not possible at the moment. The vision, the courage and the implementation force that the founding generation had was simply unique. This was the only way to create this large and important infrastructure company, "said managing director Daniel Berchthaller and supervisory board chairman Christian Steiner junior.
It should be emphasized that the further development and activities can only be implemented in the best cooperation with ALL partners.
All of this in harmony with the numerous affected, supportive and understanding partners, especially within the "old community" of Pichl-Preunegg. The Reiteralm Bergbahnen say a big THANK YOU for 50 years of solidarity, understanding and trust and look forward to many more successful years!
