Sölden's Old Einzeiger Chairlift Gets a Second Life in Montafon

Silvretta Montafon is replacing its outdated Freda chairlift with a lift that isn't new at all - it's a 1999 four-seater pulled out of Sölden and rebuilt from scratch in Vorarlberg.

The lift being retired is a fixed-grip two-seater dating to 1981, in the Hochjoch sector, and it matters more than its age suggests. Freda serves freeriders and snowpark visitors specifically, so the resort is treating this as an access upgrade for that part of the mountain rather than a like-for-like swap - and with the FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships arriving in March 2027, that access has a hard deadline attached to it.

Why buy used

Instead of ordering a new installation, Silvretta Montafon sourced a detachable four-seater chairlift built by Doppelmayr in 1999 and retired from Sölden, complete with weather protection covers. The lift is being fully dismantled, transported to Montafon and reassembled on the new site - not simply relocated, but rebuilt to current technical standards. That means new electronics, a new haul rope and new clamps throughout, along with two towers that are being rebuilt entirely rather than reused. The old station cladding isn't expected to survive the dismantling process and is being replaced outright, with Vonier Architects designing the new stations to suit the site.

Reuse projects like this aren't automatically the cheap option once dismantling, transport, overhaul, reassembly and permitting are all added to the purchase price. According to industry cost data cited by cable car planner Stephan Salzmann, the total still comes out roughly a third cheaper than building new on average - though Silvretta Montafon hasn't disclosed a specific figure for the Freda project.

The permitting complication

The new site sits close to a Natura 2000 protected area, which has made approval slower and more complicated than a standard lift replacement. Salzmann notes that the technical condition of a used lift becomes critical in a project like this - and by his assessment, the former Sölden chairlift, known locally as the Einzeiger lift, is in good enough shape to justify a second life rather than the scrapyard. Planners are also weighing how much service life the lift has left, since the timing of a rebuild like this is ideally set so the operator can secure a fresh thirty-year concession running through to the lift's next major overhaul.

Building on work already done

The Freda lift replacement follows a string of upgrades to the same area. Snowpark Freda already has a rebuilt course, the Race Area has been extended with a longer track and new starting house, and an old gondola cabin has been converted into the Park Base - a kiosk, standing tables and deck chairs that now function as a meeting point for snowpark visitors. The rebuilt chairlift adds a lift connection to match that investment, which matters for training and competition scheduling as much as for everyday visitors.

What's riding on March 2027

Silvretta Montafon hosts the FIS World Championships in Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski from March 6 to 21, 2027 - 31 medal events across disciplines including snowboard cross, ski cross, slopestyle, big air, halfpipe, parallel giant slalom, moguls and aerials, split between the cross courses at Grasjoch and the slopestyle venue at Nova. Organisers are calling it the largest winter sports event ever staged in Vorarlberg, which is the backdrop against which a used chairlift from another resort has to be fully operational well before the world's best freestyle skiers and snowboarders show up.