A near €10 million investment in the Tirolean resort of Nauders has this week been announced, the majority of the outlay earmarked for regeneration of a forty year old lift system which will see a remodeled valley station for the in situ Bergkastelbahn as the centrepiece attraction, architecturally designed to theoretically blend in with a winter backdrop that the project hopes to familiarize itself with during the forthcoming ski season.

The venture also involves a significant speculation in the existing Stieralm restaurant, with plans to transform an otherwise modest establishment into a modern facility capable of entertaining 200 seated guests both internally and outdoors, the hitherto traditional design being given a contemporary tweak in keeping with a more sophisticated bill of fare demanded by today’s affluent winter-sports aficionados. Crucially, the scheme’s progenitors have realised a near all-year-round operation will reap dividends from hiking and mountain biking fraternities keen to exploit the unique ‘tri-border’ area that straddles the borders of Switzerland and Italy. Whilst Nauders’ location might be a favourable accident of birth it nevertheless advantageously places it as an ideal location for cross-border day-trippers and weekend holidaymakers, the thinking behind three thousand valley station parking places(incrementally phased in by one thousand at a time) presumably motivated by the heavy emphasis placed on the amount of private car journeys undertaken to access its cableway and mountain areas.

A harmonious relationship between the project’s stakeholders has assisted in bringing embryonic plans to reality, the local municipality and the tourist association both helping to underwrite the cost of the scheme, although their position as shareholders in the cable-car’s operating company makes such an investment an astute decision. Further capital expenditure is slated for a reservoir to provide the raw material for artificial snow-making and additional pistes, augmenting an eventual reintroduction of a catchall ski pass enabling tourists to link up with the nearby frontier Schoeneben region, an area that brings together the shared traits and individual characteristics of  Italy’s South Tirol, the Austrian Tirol and Engadine valley of southeast Switzerland. 
Improved ski storage facilities designed to securely stow and ventilate winter-sports apparatus will bring Nauders into line with many of its regional rivals, innovations that its municipality and tourist association hope will attract increased tourism numbers not just in the winter but eventually throughout the year. For the time being though, ensuring project completion and statutory testing of the renewed cableway in time for the 2015/16 season will occupy the minds of all who are tasked with bringing the Reschenpass-based resort into the twenty first century.
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