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Skifoan! The history of winter sports on the Alpe di Siusi

The farmers of the Alpe di Siusi made quite an impression: a fine lady in a hat drags two wooden boards and a long stick up the hill. She straps the boards under her shoes, grabs the stick and drives down the slope in more or less elegant curves. The inhabitants of the Alpe di Siusi already knew that the people from the city were a bit strange. But they had never seen anything like this before. For days they talked about nothing else in the inn. It must have been something like this around the year 1900. From Scandinavia, skiing fever spread like an epidemic throughout Europe, and the first ski clubs and ski schools were founded. The farmers and farmhands of the Alpe di Siusi, of course, had no time for such "spinning". After all, leisure time or holidays were only for noble people with bulging wallets. And yet the winter pastime also brought a modest boost to the local population. After all, the snow-hungry people from the city also had to eat and sleep. And so it took just two decades for farmers' wives and farmers to become innkeepers and hostel owners. And soon all the inhabitants of the Alpe di Siusi had skis. Not for the fun of it, of course, but because they were simply a quicker way to get from A to B, especially when Mother Hulda was too kind to the Alpe di Siusi.

 

From the first cable car to a piste paradise

In 1935 the excitement was once again great: the first drag lift on the Alpe di Siusi was opened, together with the new road up to Compatsch, this was a huge milestone for the people on the Alpe di Siusi. From then on, skiing went steadily upwards. With the 1960s and rising prosperity, more and more people could afford a winter holiday and the area around the Alpe di Siusi developed into one of the most popular destinations for snow enthusiasts. And today? Today you can open the front door at the Zallinger and you're already on the slopes. More than 20 lifts and over 180 kilometres of pistes await you. So what are you waiting for?

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