Italy’s giant Dolomiti Superski ski region will celebrate 40 years in operation this winter. The pioneering region which links the ski areas of a dozen valleys with a combined today of more than 1200km of runs served by nearly 450 ski lifts was one of the first to use computerised lift tickets to make access to many lifts possible on one ticket in winter 1974-75.
To celebrate the area is offering a €40 discount on lift passes valid for four days or longer purchased during Christmas week (21-26 December 2014) or in the Easter holidays (4-12 April 2015).
In that first season in 1974/75, Dolomiti Superski had 250 lifts, a little over half the total today, although most back then were drag lifts. There was 740km of piste included on the pass, again a little over half the total today.
The area start was with 6 skiing areas (Cortina, Kronplatz, Alta Badia, Val Gardena/Alpe di Siusi, Val di Fassa/Carezza and Arabba) – today there are 12.
In that first winter 934,469 skier days were reported and 5,565,487 lift rides taken. 39 years later last season that total had increased with more than 10 times as many skier days (10,263,364) and nearly 25 times more lift rides taken at 137,084,942 in 2013-14.