TL;DR
A 30-year-old German man spent last winter skiing for free across multiple Tyrolean resorts using a forged industry pass and an old employee ID - until he got caught at the Stubai Glacier in February. The total damage to lift operators came to almost €4,000. He avoided a criminal record through an Austrian diversion agreement, but will have to repay the outstanding damages plus an additional €600 penalty.
A 30-year-old German man skied free across Tyrol for most of last winter using forged documents - and nearly got away with it.
According to a report published by German-language ski industry outlet Skinachrichten.de, the man - a German national residing in Tyrol - used a forged free-pass document issued in the name of the WKO, Austria's Federal Economic Chamber, combined with an old employee ID from a previous job at a ski lift operator. Together, the two documents made him appear to be a current industry employee entitled to complimentary lift access - a legitimate benefit that Austrian cable car companies extend to staff within the industry.
The scheme worked across multiple ski resorts in Tyrol throughout the 2025-26 winter season.
Caught at the Stubai Glacier
The fraud came undone in February at the Stubai Glacier, one of Austria's most visited glacier ski areas, located approximately 40 kilometres south of Innsbruck. An inspection triggered further investigation, which revealed the Stubai incident was not an isolated one but part of a pattern spanning several resorts across the region.
Total damages to the affected lift operators were assessed at just under €4,000.
Passes resold to friends
During his court hearing in Innsbruck, the man confessed to the majority of the charges - though he claimed to have no recollection of a visit to the Nordkette, the mountain range that rises directly above the city. His defence was that free skiing was the original motivation, but that he had also passed some of the obtained passes to friends and acquaintances, and sold others at a reduced price. By his own account, he earned no more than €1,500 from those transactions.
Outcome: no criminal record, but repayment required
Part of the damages have already been settled. A balance of approximately €1,850 remains outstanding, with full repayment required by mid-October. Under Austria's diversion system - a legal mechanism that allows criminal proceedings to be resolved with conditions rather than a formal conviction - the man was also ordered to pay an additional €600 penalty. Provided he meets all terms of the agreement, he will avoid a criminal record.
A gap in an industry trust system
The WKO free pass scheme exists as a professional courtesy - a standard arrangement within the Austrian cable car industry that allows employees to access ski areas as part of working in the sector. It operates on the basis of trust between operators, with identification checks rather than a centralised verification system. The Skinachrichten.de report noted that while ski resorts regularly deal with pass misuse, a case in which forged documents were successfully used across multiple resorts over an extended period is unusual. The fraud's scale only became apparent once investigators looked beyond the initial Stubai incident.
About the author
Michael Fulton
Melbourne-based skier and snowboarder with 50+ resorts across 5 continents. Specialises in Australian resorts and international resort comparisons.
