Sölden in the Austrian Tirol is one of the world’s most snowsure destinations with twin glacier ski areas and a season that often lasts from October to May.
It has also invested heavily over the years in state of the art lifts and on-mountain attractions like its ice Q restaurant (pictured bottom) which featured in the 24th Bond movie SPECTRE in 2015. The resort also has the 007 Elements exhibition as a result of the film to visit too.
For next winter 25-26 Sölden has announced a major investment in new lifts and slope improvements to improve skier flow around its extensive ski area.
The key to the upgrade is the planned connection of slopes 7 and 22 which will mean that skiers are be able to reach all four major valley points (Gaislachkogl Valley, Sölden Town Center, Postplatz Sölden, and Giggijoch Valley) directly on skis more quickly and comfortably. It will also reduce traffic in Sölden village.
“It is an example of how targeted measures can sustainably improve the quality of a ski area for the benefit of customers,” a resort statement explains. “We started the preparatory work in autumn 2024 so that we can get started quickly this year,” Lukas Arnold of the Sölden Cable Car Project Team added.
Along with slope upgrades a huge investment is being made in two new high speed chairlift detachable chairlifts with pull-down bubble wind protection to complete the link upgrades. The new 1121m long Einzeiger lift will have a capacity of 4,000 skiers per hour, the 1731m long new Silberbrünnl lift will be able to carry up to 3,800 skiers per hour.
Along with the new lifts, the steep sections on the valley runs will be eliminated for ease of use by less experienced skiers, particularly in one section of Piste 7 and by bypassing the steepest section of Piste 22. This means that winter sports enthusiasts will from next season be able to enjoy a continuous blue piste from Hochsölden to Grünwald.
In addition, the piste intersection will form a separate, connected ski area close to the valley which will become a popular alternative, especially during stormy conditions in higher regions or when connecting cable cars are out of service. It also means that without needing to add more lifts to access new terrain, the usable piste area in the ski area will actually increase. In total there’ll be around 1.8km of new piste over an area of 2.13 hectares.
Sölden’s 24-25 season ends on May 4th, this Sunday. The new lifts and ski slopes are expected to open in November.
