The hospital traffic light in Bavaria is red, explains the Free State on the Internet.

This has been in effect since November 9th.

Red also applies to vaccinated skiers in the Bavarian mountains if they do not bring a current negative Corona text to the cable car for the way up before the descent.

“This is the death knell for us,” says the German Cable Car Association (VDS).

The organization speaks of a "lockdown through the back door".

The railways may continue to run and transport guests, but from the point of view of the VDS there is not enough test capacity on site to keep the ski lights on green at least for all vaccinated and convalescent people.

Timo Kotowski

Editor in business.

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The railway operators also see a distortion of competition in the alleged lockdown.

Association president Matthias Stauch described the Bavarian measures as "absolutely disproportionate".

He calls for 2-G rules without a test edition, i.e. without a plus after the 2 G. "Otherwise, winter sports enthusiasts will instead go to Austria to ski." Mountain to come.

And in Switzerland, where holidays are traditionally more expensive, wearing a mask is sufficient in gondolas.

Dispute over proportionality

The red of the hospital traffic light means that there are more than 600 Covid patients in Bavarian intensive care units, on St. Nicholas Day there were 1058. In protest about the lack of green light for guests in the white of the snow, the hotel and restaurant association Dehoga stands by the side of the cable cars and warns before "immense damage to the corridor".

It is not vaccinated, but unvaccinated who have to be made more responsible.

2 G should always apply to food and drink before and after departure.

Inside, however, 2 G plus is compulsory, in outdoor spaces there is 2 G - without plus.

A curfew starts at 10 p.m.

The consolation seems weak that even more radical measures in Berchtesgadener Land end because the seven-day incidence is five days below 1000.

The corona rules on the mountain have triggered an Alpine dispute.

On this side of the border, companies complain that requirements are disproportionate.

Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) argued in the Bavarian state parliament, however, precisely with the proportionality to justify the plus.

One asked oneself whether it would be better not to ban recreational and sporting events altogether.

"But because of the proportionality and the rights of the vaccinated, we decided to allow 2G, but with the special plus rule," he said.

Germans at the start of the season in Ischgl

Across the border in Ischgl, Austria, which was given a damaged reputation by an abundance of infections at the beginning of the pandemic, the weekend was due to be gently opened to the season after a long standstill. Numerous guests from Germany were spotted promptly. However, they are not satisfied with the applicable corona rules there either. Bars, once meeting places for après-ski, are closed. The companies there hope that current lockdown measures will fall in December. However, no test is necessary for the cable car. But there would be too few guests for long-term economic operation. As the Bavarians point to Austria, they point to Switzerland. There, a mask is usually sufficient to ride on cable cars.

The German cable car operators are meanwhile waiting with figures why, in their view, it is unnecessary to be stricter in their gondolas than in the Munich S-Bahn tunnel. The EMPA research institute at the University of Zurich examined the air in three types of gondolas. The Swiss result: "In the smallest cabin, the air was exchanged 138 times per hour, in the middle one 180 times and in the largest only 42 times." However, the researchers did not consider large cabins to be corona-unsuitable with the ventilation windows open , In a railroad car there would only be seven to 14 air changes per hour.

The reasoning behind the ventilation statistics is the concern of having to do without business for another winter. Last season there was more snow than seldom in previous years, but operations were largely dormant. Relaxations in spring were often too late to start skiing. According to VDS, the operators of around 200 cable cars and the more than 1200 drag lifts received almost 103 million euros from passengers in the winter of 2018/2019. In the winter of 2019/2020, the season was canceled due to the beginning pandemic, the cable cars were left with traffic revenue of 80 million euros.

A zero is given for the past skiing time.

Relaxations in spring were often too late to allow skiing to start.

As a contrast, figures from Switzerland are used: the hotel industry there counted 9.4 million overnight stays last winter from November to April, only 26 percent fewer, because the Swiss booked more domestically.