Aflenzer Bürgeralm

Bang effect: Pierer is now leaving the ski resort

Without Stefan Pierer, the future of the Aflenzer Bürgeralm will be difficult.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Klaus Morgenstern, Martin Jöchl)

What was feared by some after the KTM bankruptcy is now becoming reality: entrepreneur Stefan Pierer is pulling out of the Aflenzer Bürgeralm ski resort in Upper Styria! It is a bitter setback for the region. 

Since the KTM insolvency in the fall of last year, rumors have been swirling in the Aflenz region, home of entrepreneur Stefan Pierer. After all, the boss of the motorcycle manufacturer is the most prominent and most important financial backer of numerous projects in the Upper Styrian community - including the Aflenz Bürgeralm ski resort, which would no longer be economically viable without substantial subsidies.

What many locals had feared now seems to be a done deal: Stefan Pierer is leaving as owner and financier of the Bürgeralm, as the mayor of Aflenz, Hubert Lenger, confirmed to the "Krone" newspaper. "But it came as a surprise to us. It's not funny, of course."

The lifts on the Bürgeralm - where there are no snow-making facilities - are currently at a standstill anyway due to the low snowfall in winter. Whether and how the lifts will continue to operate remains to be seen. "We will now explore what options there are for continuing," says the mayor.

Many houses "pipifein" renovated
Pierer has invested a lot of private money in Aflenz in recent years. The billionaire is behind almost every newly renovated façade in the town center. 70 new apartments have been built in the Upper Styrian town over the past ten years. The houses in the front row have been renovated "pipifein", says Mayor Hubert Lenger (ÖVP), while new residential units and underground parking garages have been built behind them.