Ischgl is one of half-a-dozen Austrian a ski areas that seems to spend at least €10m on a luxurious new lift every summer and 2017 is no exception with a €12 million chairlift under construction, as well as a big spend on snowmaking upgrades.
The new state-of-the-art Doppelmayr six-seat chairlift will have all the bells and whistles but will also have a unique novelty that only Ischgl could deliver – images of many of the pop and rock stars who have performed over the years at the resorts famous 'Top of the Mountain' concerts at the beginning and end of its five month long ski season.
The increasingly long list of star names now includes Kylie, Mariah Carey, Deep Purple, Elton John (who famously had his grand piano delivered to the mountain by helicopter), Robbie Williams, Alicia Keys, Muse, The Killers, Rihanna, Pink and many others.
The new Palinkopf lift will be the fourth version of the lift which was initially a drag lift in 1973, upgraded to a double chair in 1985 and since 1996 has been a quad chairlift, carrying 12 million skiers up the slopes over the past 21 years.
The new lift will have many innovations and feature individual, ergonomically designed, heated seats. The old quad chairlift will be disassembled and then re-built at another winter sports site in Scandinavia.