ArchiveSki-sport on the Adriatic coast with SunKid
The northern Italian town of Aurisina lies between Udine, Gorizia and Trieste, in a region home to around 500,000 inhabitants. Located less than a mile from the Adriatic coast, this is surely the last place that one would expect to find a winter-sports centre! Nevertheless, the snow-sport facility in Aurisina offers a whole range of possibilities for Alpine and cross-country skiing enthusiasts – even though there is not a flake of real snow in sight!
Measuring 180 metres in length and with an average width of 40 metres, the artificial “Pista Aurisina” gives skiers the perfect chance to work on their turns. Thanks to a gradient ranging between 18% and 33%, the piste can also be used for training purposes by the highly successful local “Ski Club 70” ski racing team. Despite the fact that the piste is only open to guests taking ski courses and members of the ski racing team, an average of 1,000 guests use the slope every week during the ski course period from September until December.
To ensure that guests to the facility can be transported quickly and safely come rain, wind or shine, the management team followed the example of countless other artificial pistes all over the world and decided to install a SunKid Wonder Carpet.
Measuring 114 metres in length, the conveyor is powered by an 11 kW drive motor and equipped with the SunKid Rufftop belt surface. A maximum transport capacity of 1,440 guests per hour means that the Wonder Carpet can easily cope with the crowds, even on the busiest of days
As well as the artificial piste already mentioned above, the facility also boasts a grass-skiing piste measuring 200 metres in length and 30 metres in width as well as a one-kilometre circular cross-country skiing track. That means that absolutely ALL skiing enthusiasts are catered for in Aurisina!
The diverse range of snow-sports activities available in the area is rounded off by a centre featuring parks, bars, tennis courts and changing rooms, as well as a lecture theatre, ski rental shop and spacious car park.
This huge success has led the management of the facility, the Trieste-based "Ski Club 70" Trieste, to consider the possibility of opening the piste to the general public.