Wank
The ski area on the sunny side of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, shut in 2002 and stripped of its drag lifts by 2010 after a campaign to give the mountain back; the wildlife has roughly doubled since.
- Region
- Bavaria
- Country
- Germany
- Status
- closed
- Year closed
- 2002
- Reason for closure
- Bayerische Zugspitzbahn ended winter operation of the Wankbahn in 2002 and the drag lifts stopped at the same time. The Wank is a low, south-facing, moderately angled mountain that could no longer support a ski operation.
History
The Wank rises to 1,780 m directly above Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavarian Alps, facing south across the valley to the Zugspitze and the Wetterstein - the sunny, gentle side of the resort, long popular for its meadow ridges. Bayerische Zugspitzbahn ran the Wankbahn cable car and a set of drag lifts on the open ground near the summit, but winter operation ended in 2002 and the drag lifts have not turned since. The disused installations - steel pylons, concrete walls, cables and timber ramps - were left standing across the meadows, and in 2006 Mountain Wilderness Deutschland staged a demonstration on the mountain and formally called for their removal, arguing that what is no longer needed should be taken down. It worked: by 2010 every lift installation except a single lift house had been dismantled. The Wankbahn itself was kept and now runs mainly in summer, with winter service only over the Christmas and New Year period, while the mountain has become a ski touring and walking destination. The ecological postscript is unusual for this list - with skiing gone and walkers keeping to recommended routes, wildlife numbers on the Wank have nearly doubled, the moderately angled slopes proving good habitat for mountain hares and black grouse. Sources give the number of drag lifts as either three or four, and no source found records their names, their build dates or the names of the pistes.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wankbahn | Gondola | The cable car from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to the summit, operated by Bayerische Zugspitzbahn. It is the one lift that survives, running mainly in summer with winter operation now only over the Christmas and New Year peak | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | One of the drag lifts on the summit meadows, out of use since 2002 and dismantled by 2010. Mountain Wilderness Deutschland counted three drag lifts in its 2006 campaign material while its later project page says four; individual names and dates are not documented | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | Second of the disused summit drag lifts, removed by 2010 | |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | Third of the disused summit drag lifts, removed by 2010 |
Sources and further reading
More in Germany
Location
47.5087, 11.1430