Investment in Ischgl-Samnaun: what is already running and what is still being built

Ischgl-Samnaun at a glance

The Silvretta Arena is a cross-border ski area linking Ischgl in Austria with Samnaun on the Swiss side. Together this gives 239 kilometres of pistes spread mainly between 2,000 and 2,872 m, served by 46 cable cars and lifts with a combined capacity of almost 100,000 people per hour. In this respect the resort ranks among the very best in the world.

What has stayed with me most from my trips is that for years this resort has put comfortable lift transport ahead of adding more kilometres of piste. The best example is the Twinliner, the double-decker cable car from Samnaun opened in 1995, which I have ridden many times myself and which for three decades has been the resort's calling card.

What has changed since last season

In my article a year ago I wrote about plans to replace three lifts: Höllboden, Sassgalun and Höllkar. Today two of them are a reality. The Höllbodenbahn and Sassgalunbahn were built in summer 2025 and went into service for the 2025/2026 season. The old lifts did not end up as scrap. As announced, the eight-seater Höllboden is getting a second life in the nearby resort of See, where it already runs as the family lift "Familienglück".

The third of the announced lifts, the Höllkarbahn, is being built in summer 2026 and is due to go into service for the 2026/2027 season. The scale of these three installations explains the operator's decision well. Since they opened, Höllboden, Sassgalun and Höllkar alone have carried more than 83 million skiers, which makes them the busiest points in the whole arena. I know the area well enough to know this is no coincidence. This is the route most skiers take when they come down from Idalp.

All three are detachable eight-seater chairlifts with weather bubbles and heated seats, using Doppelmayr's D-Line technology. They differ from their predecessors in one more way. They have the AURO (Autonomous Ropeway Operation) system, which automatically monitors boarding and alighting. This is the first such system in the history of the Silvretta Arena. I have not tried the new chairs myself yet, so I am saving my impressions for my next trip. For now I can give you the full technical data straight from the operator.

YouTube

Parameter: Höllboden C1, Sassgalun C3, Höllkar C2

From my point of view, one design detail matters most. The top station of the new Höllboden has been built about 500 metres east of Idalp, between pistes 10 and 11. Idalp is a hub that can be very crowded every time I go up there, and the crossing streams of skiers can be a nuisance. Moving the station is meant to ease exactly this problem. It is a change designed with the flow of skiing in mind, not just a swap of old equipment for new, and this is the difference I am most curious about.

A new gondola in Samnaun: the Laretbahn

This is the biggest change compared with what we knew a year ago. On the Swiss side, construction has started on a brand new lift, Laret-Champs-Muller, known as the Laretbahn (10-MGD).

The Bundesamt für Verkehr, the Swiss Federal Office of Transport, granted the concession and building permit for the detachable ten-seater monocable gondola on 30 March 2026. The first excavators arrived on site as early as May 2026. The line links the lower parts of Samnaun, the Laret and Compatsch area, with the slopes of the Silvretta Arena, running from the valley station at 1,721 m via a middle station at 1,966 m to the Muller top station at 2,503 m. After two years of construction the lift is due to open in November 2027, so I have not ridden it yet and will come back to the subject when it is ready.

The line climbs 782 metres of vertical over an inclined length of 3,180 metres, supported by 20 towers. The way the operator plans to increase capacity is interesting. At the start the gondola will run with 59 cabins and a capacity of 1,600 people per hour, and in the final expansion the number of cabins will rise to 74, raising capacity to 2,000 people per hour. At a speed of 6 m/s the full ride will take about 11 minutes.

Laretbahn (10-MGD Laret-Champs-Muller)

What pleases me most is the dual role of this investment. The Laretbahn is meant to be not only a recreational lift but also a direct link to the ski area, with ski-in/ski-out access. Until now, when I stayed in this part of Samnaun, getting into the arena meant going round via Alp Trida, and it was not as convenient as it should be. The middle station at 1,966 m adds flexibility: skiers do not have to ski the whole run down to the valley but can use the upper or lower section as a separate lift.

Both Swiss projects, the Twinliner upgrade and the construction of the Laretbahn, follow the same energy policy the operator has pursued for years. More than 1,200 m² of photovoltaic panels with a total output of 274.5 kWp are being installed on the roofs of the new stations.

The Twinliner gets a facelift

I have a soft spot for the Twinliner, because riding up in this double-decker cable car from Samnaun is one of those experiences you remember after the first time. The lift, dating from 1995, will undergo a thorough upgrade in summer 2026. The operator will replace both cabins, modernise the control system and the automatic platform doors, and prepare the installation for future operation with unstaffed cabins.

The upgraded Twinliner is due back for the start of the 2026/2027 season. Throughout the summer, the parallel L2 lift will take over transport for visitors and residents, so access to the Samnaun duty-free zone outside the ski season will be maintained.

Twinliner L1 (technical data)

What next: the following stages

The upgrade of the Silvretta Arena does not end with the Höllkarbahn and the Laretbahn. On the Ischgl side another gondola is planned, described in industry databases as the Silvrettabahn, with a provisional opening in 2027.

Here I advise caution, because I have learned not to trust second-hand accounts on this. The Samnaun lift company's own website confirms only the three chairlifts, the Laretbahn and the Twinliner upgrade for the 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 seasons. The details of the Silvrettabahn, and the information in some English-language descriptions about rebuilding the Flimjoch and Grivalea link, have not yet been confirmed by the operator, and I treat them as needing verification. One thing is certain: we are talking about a multi-year, consistently delivered investment programme on a scale that is rare even by Alpine standards.

The IKON Pass and the 2026/2027 season in practice

Since the 2025/2026 season the Silvretta Arena has been part of the IKON Pass. Holders of the full pass get 7 days of skiing in Ischgl/Samnaun, and with the Ikon Base Pass 5 days, with blackout dates at peak season. This opens the resort to a new segment of guests, above all from North America, and it is a topic that deserves its own article, especially compared with the Snow Card Tirol and the SuperSkiCard.

For those planning a trip in the 2026/2027 season, here are two tips from my own experience. First, the Silvretta Arena opens to skiers on 26 November 2026. Second, the Idalp area, which tends to get crowded in the evening and in the middle of the day, should get some breathing space thanks to the relocation of the Höllboden top station. If you are planning to stay in Samnaun, remember that the Twinliner will be under reconstruction in summer 2026. The lift is meant to be ready for the start of the season, but on projects like this deadlines can slip by a few weeks, so I would keep an eye on the operator's announcements around the turn of November and December 2026 myself.

Jacek Ciszak / skionline.pl