27 August 2016

Sport & tech: ski app for mountain tours on historical smuggler tracks in Ischgl/Austria-Samnaun/Switzerland

From December 2016, skiers can follow routes inspired by historical tracks of smugglers who delivered goods between Ischgl at the Paznaun Valley (Paznauntal) in Tyrol, Austria and Samnaun in Switzerland. Ischgl created for the routes an own website with introduction into the history of the smuggler activities like a short film where a former smuggler tells an anecdote from the 1940s about black nylon tights for women. The black nylons revealed indirectly the identity of smugglers as only befriended persons possessed these rare fashion items in the 40s. Custom officials had almost no chance to catch the smugglers as they were better skiers; but even when the officials knew their names or caught them, the punishment wasn't severe. Probably because the greatest part of the male population - with a few exceptions - traded goods (butter, flour, sugar,...) between Tyrol and the isolated mountain village and valley Samnaun which has until today the duty-free status.

On schmugglerrunde.com, interactive maps of three routes are published; they differ after the length of the tours and the difficulty levels of slopes. Gold, Silver and Bronze (slopes for skiing 'light', shortest of the three routes) will lead from Ischgl in Tyrol, Austria in around 4 hours to the duty-free paradise Samnaun in Switzerland.

fig.: Via 'iSki Ischgl App' the GPS data of the tour can be tracked offline (what means no roaming) and uploaded after the tour for the ski contest - a sweepstake where time won't count. The prizes are holidays (seasonal FW16/17 main prize), backpacks (weekly) or headbands (daily prizes). Photo: (C) TVB Paznaun.


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