With an investment budget of 17 million euros (£15 million) for the coming season, Swedish and Norwegian ski resort giant SkiStar is on course to turn Austria's St Johann into the ultimate family resort.
The Swedish ski resort and hotel owner only became the majority shareholder of St Johann in 2016, taking its first step into continental ski resort ownership and management. Just one season in and already it has started building a new cable car, a six-seater chairlift and extra snow-making facilities.
South Tirol uplift specialists Leitner will be supplying the cableway, which will run between the existing Eichenhof bottom station to the Grander-Schupf. The cableway will be 960m long, with 24 10-person gondolas and will be capable of bringing up to 1,800 people per hour into the ski area.
The new gondola and chairlifts add to the existing 17 lifts, including 4 gondolas and 9 button lifts, servicing 22 slopes, one snow park and one children's and beginners area.
The medieval Tirolean market town of St Johann itself is home to some 8,500 inhabitants and has 43km of wide, well-prepared slopes between the a modest 1,604m and the resort at 670m.
The bigger, more famous resorts of Kitzbühel, Soll and Ellmau are just a short bus or train ride away, making mid-week day trips a real possibility.
