Monday, January 9 brought to a close the long Christmas holiday period that began on Saturday, December 24; it is therefore already time to take stock of the tourist season underway. It has been an unsettled start to the season, much like last season’s, although in all fairness the situation last year was worse.
Due to the high temperatures at altitude that characterized the entire month of December last year, producing artificial snow was also quite challenging, as cold windows were brief and fleeting, forcing snow guns to work overtime to get the slopes into top shape in a short span of time. The effort was incredible, and the long festive holiday period was met with great success and satisfaction all around, particularly for Funivie Madonna di Campiglio.
Despite the excellent performance shown by the snowmaking system, this past summer Funivie Madonna di Campiglio launched upgrading and modernization works, strengthening water pipelines and installing new snow guns and new pumping stations. Over two and a half million euros were invested with the goal of producing ever more snow of the highest quality while using resources efficiently.
This year, after a promising start in November with the first snowfalls at Passo Grosté, the season settled into temperatures that fortunately remained cold at dawn and after sunset, though decidedly above the seasonal average during the rest of the day. The work carried out just a few months ago therefore proved farsighted, enabling us to boost guaranteed snow cover across 95% of the ski area, with 876 snow guns covering 160 hectares of slopes. The presence of Lake Montagnoli, which provides storage for around 200,000 m³ of water, has been crucial.
Today, thanks to its three underground reservoirs, the Campiglio pond, and Lake Montagnoli, Funivie Madonna di Campiglio has a water storage capacity of 231,000 m³ with a ratio of 1,500 m³ per hectare—conditions that make it possible to cover the entire ski area in snow in just 120 hours of cold weather.
So, little natural snow, but plenty of man-made snow—and above all of the very highest quality. To date, in order to guarantee skiability since November, we have produced over 1.4 million cubic meters of snow. Achieving such performance has required refining professional techniques and hands-on expertise that have turned snowmaking and slope maintenance into a true art—know-how that Funivie Madonna di Campiglio has cultivated and improved year after year, building a wealth of specialized knowledge needed to produce an optimal snowpack.
And when man-made snow is of excellent quality, from a skiing standpoint it is even better than natural snow. So, while wineries make wine in the cellars, in the mountains we “make snow”!! Yet, as we well know, not every winery is capable of producing great wines even in difficult vintages. That is certainly one of the reasons why, despite the unusual weather conditions, the results for the long Christmas holiday period are positive.
From December 24, 2016 to January 8, 2017, Funivie Madonna di Campiglio recorded 182,145 first entries and 1,543,284 lift rides on its lifts—an increase compared to the same period last year of +1.11% in first entries and +1.84% in lift rides. Looking at the figures from the start of the season (November 19, 2016) through January 8, 2017, first entries totaled 279,349 while 2,509,562 lift rides were recorded, marking a year-on-year increase of +11.19% in first entries and +12.64% in lift rides.
Average daily first entries during the peak holiday days (from December 28 to January 6) ranged between 13,500 and 15,500 skiers. It was the final three days of the holidays—marked by strong winds and bitterly cold temperatures—that discouraged and curbed Epiphany tourist flows, holding back numbers that would otherwise have shattered previous records.
Finally, an increase in length of stay was recorded over the Christmas period: 12% more multi-day lift passes—ranging from three to fourteen days—were issued, generating an excellent knock-on effect across the entire area.
Today marks the start of the traditional low-season ski weeks, and the lifts and slopes have certainly not emptied out. In fact, 4,953 first entries were recorded this morning—skiers who have chosen the slopes of the Campiglio Dolomiti di Brenta Ski Area for their ski holiday.
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