100,000 sign petition against ski piste plan for Austrian glacier

A plan to connect two Austrian ski resorts by developing the glacier between them has triggered a public outcry and a protest petition that had more than 100,000 signatures on Thursday.
The project highlights the tensions between the tourism industry that is key for Austria’s Alpine regions, and the public’s increasing concerns that the country’s signature glaciers are under threat from climate change and business interests.

READ ALSO: Austrian cross-country skier gets life ban for doping

The project would link Tyrol’s Oetztal and Pitztal resorts by building glacier slopes the size of around 90 football fields, digging a 600-metre tunnel, building several ropeways and extensive landscaping to lower a mountain ridge by 36 metres.
Backed by the World Wildlife Fund and the 570,000-member Austrian Alpine Club, the petition points out that glaciers are sensitive ecosystems and a key source of drinking water.
“Given the rapid melting over the past decades, protecting untouched glacier areas must be a priority,” says the letter addressed to the government of Austria’s Tyrol region.
Authorities are currently carrying out an environmental impact assessment.
Local supporters of project have responded with a petition of their own.
A platform of young tourism entrepreneurs argued in a letter to the Tyrolean government that their industry forms the economic backbone of the area, and that “developing the glacier ropeway infrastructure is closely connected to the developing the entire region”.