Hochzeiger Mountain Station

Cable car building, Pitztal

In 2021, the old Rotmoosbahn chairlift on Hochzeiger Mountain was allowed to take its well-earned retirement after 32 years of service. The cosy four-seater chairlift has been replaced by a state-of-the-art eight-seater, aptly named the “2.5 chairlift”. Because 2.5 stands for 2,500 metres and therefore the highest accessible point in the Hochzeiger ski area. From here, there are marvellous views of the surrounding mountains of the Pitztal valley – no wonder that such an imposing spot of land called for an appropriate structure.

Exterior view of Hochzeiger mountain station

Project information

Use: Hochzeiger mountain station
Location: Pitztal valley
Theurl products used:
56 m³ glulam, 76 m³ CLTPLUS visible quality

Project partners

Timber construction: HTB Baugesellschaft mbH

Smart timber construction with vision

Clear and angular, yet restrained and humble - this is how the individually planned wooden hall of the mountain station of the 2.5 chairlift presents itself.

Planning and completion of the entire cable car system took a whole three years – a circumstance that was partly due to coronavirus, but more to the intensive examination of the choice of materials and aspects of regionality and ultimately a deliberate choice. This perseverance paid off: around 200 m³ of wood was used in total, 130 m³ of which was glulam and cross-laminated timber alone.

Hochzeiger mountain station interior view with BSH

Precision and quality

The timber construction is also characterised by the high quality of the timber products supplied by THEURL.

Approximately 76 m³ of CLTPLUS with 64 components in thicknesses 80 and 100 in visible quality were used. In addition, around 56 m³ of glulam in the form of 201 different components, also in visible quality. One of the biggest challenges was to manufacture the large number of connections for the individual glulam components with millimetre precision in the factory so that they could be joined together smoothly on the construction site to form an overall structure.

Interior view of the Hochzeiger mountain station

Solution approach

The 2.5 chairlift is also impressive from a functional point of view: the entrance has been designed to be protected from both wind and snow. To give skiers a fitting welcome when they arrive at the summit, the mountain station has also been fitted with large panoramic windows with a 100 m² glass façade, which provide an impressive view of the surrounding mountains, including the Rofelewand, as you enter.

Result

This structurally sophisticated timber and glass construction is protected by a specially designed timber roof structure, which is covered with 470 m² of Eternit shingles, whose rich black colour forms a pleasant contrast to the surrounding snow-covered landscape – at least until they themselves await the spring awakening under the white ceiling.

Achieve
great things
together

Enquire directly To our partners