The newly merged Fieberbrunn and Saalbach ski areas will become Austria's largest this winter, overtaking the Skiwelt, according to an independent study.
The size of the newly merged area, due to open following a €47m spend on the new "Vierstadlalm-piste" and a 10 person gondola, dubbed "TirolS", and other improvements, has been verified under a new digital mapping 'Seal of Approval' for ski areas launched by German company Montenius Consult.
The new seal is the brain child of Christoph Schrahe who has been rocking the world of ski area statistics for the past few seasons by uncovering wild discrepancies in how area sizes are measured. These have been taken very seriously, particularly in German media, but in the UK they've also been referenced by the Where To Ski and Snowboard guide book and by the Daily Telegraph.
"To award the seal, we use the method of measuring the length of all snowsport runs based on the centre line of the piste and ski routes - the centre line is always in the middle between the left and right hand side edges of the piste," said Schrahe.
Previously Schrahe had exposed the fact that some resorts measure wide runs several times or measure the zig zag pattern of a skier down their slopes. Many had no correlation between the numbers they quote and the reality and still don't.
Unusually Montenius Consult found that the two ski areas in this case had actually underestimated their size. Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang had advertised 200km of piste, but Schrahe found they actually had 217 kilometres and that Fieberbrunn had 53km rather than the 40 kilometres claimed.
"The result of Schrahes calculations are of the highest value for the lift companies and tourist destinations of the extended Skicircus. The overall size of a ski area is today a predominant factor for guests when choosing a ski destination" commented Helmuth Thomas, Managing Director of the Saalbacher Lift Company, who also stressed,
"By merging with the Lift Company of Fieberbrunn, not only is the Skicircus the largest, but also one of the most diversified ski areas in Austria. Both sides bring their individual strengths to make an unbeatable offer from skiing on well groomed wide pistes to Snowparks, Pow-Aireas and the internationally renowned Freeride area of Fieberbrunn."
http://www.pistelength.com