General terms and conditions ALPIN CARD
I. General and scope of services
The Ski ALPIN CARD is a product of the participating lift and cable car operators named on the www.alpincard.at website for use in the regions (“the regions”) published on the website. The Ski ALPIN CARD is a ski pass entitling the pass holder to use the systems that are in operation on the day on any 15 days but not before 14 October 2023 and not after 1 May 2024, although the members of the Ski ALPIN CARD voluntarily agree - until revoked - to also allow entitled Ski ALPIN CARD holders to use the lift systems for more than 15 days, and the Ski ALPIN CARD day and multi-day ski passes (hereinafter collectively referred to as the Ski ALPIN CARD). It can either be purchased online at one of the websites of the participating lift and cable car operators or directly from the participating lift and cable car operators during their respective opening hours. These General Terms and Conditions shall apply in all cases. The parties to the contract of the customer arising from the purchase of the Ski ALPIN CARD are, in all of these cases, the participating lift and cable car operators.
II. Conclusion of the contract [1.] A customer’s online purchase made at the website of one of the participating lift and cable car operators shall be conditional upon them having filled in all of the mandatory fields on the booking form page in full and correctly, and have explicitly accepted the General Terms and Conditions by activating the relevant button, or a similar function, on the booking form page. Giving false information may lead to the entitlement being revoked without compensation and the customer being banned from using the service. Purchases of the Ski ALPIN CARD and the Ski ALPIN CARD 8 to 31 day ski passes require a recent photo. The customer is obliged to give immediate notification of any changes in their contact details (name, address, email address). Entering the data and subsequently activating the button labelled with the words “order with obligation to pay” constitutes, from a legal perspective, an offer to conclude a contract of purchase for the Ski ALPIN CARD. The right of acceptance of this offer to purchase is expressly reserved. There is no obligation to accept the customer’s offer. The customer shall, probably at the latest within 10 days, receive an email sent to the address the customer provided in which they are advised that the offer to purchase has been accepted. The regulations apply by analogy to the purchase of a Ski ALPIN CARD from one of the participating lift and cable car operators; subject to the provision that a customer, who is a consumer in terms of Konsumentenschutzgesetz (the Austrian Consumer Protection Act, “KSchG”), has a right to cancel online purchases; and a link to the Instructions for Cancellation and to a Cancellation Form is provided at the website of the participating lift and cable car operators.
[2.] The services covered by the Ski ALPIN CARD may be used on receipt of the respective keycard within the applicable period of use and once the cable cars and lifts of the participating cable car and lift operators have been put into operation.
III. Prices/payment
[1.] The Ski ALPIN CARD passes are sold at the prices currently publicised (i) on the www.alpincard.at website or (ii) in the price lists, flyers and leaflets, etc., available and on display at the operators’ cable car and lift stations (the “publicised price lists”). Buyers of the Ski ALPIN CARD pass will need to pay a deposit for their keycard. The price of the deposit can also be found in the publicised price lists. Buyers are billed for the lift pass and keycard deposit at the same time. The price of the deposit and of the lift passes includes the statutory rate of value-added tax. Buyers can choose to pay for their Ski ALPIN CARD by credit card (e.g. Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Diners Club), advance payment, or pay in cash at the ticket office of one of the cable car and lift operators.
[2.] A lost or damaged Ski ALPIN CARD can be replaced with a new Ski ALPIN CARD for a €15 administration fee (plus the keycard deposit). Confirmation that the keycard has been blocked and an acceptable photographic ID are needed before a new pass can be issued.
IV. Sending passes
Ski ALPIN CARD passes that are bought online with delivery by post are usually sent within two days of the acceptance of the order. No responsibility can be taken for the time that the post takes. Passes usually arrive within three working days of being sent.
V. Use of the services
Insofar as the companies that are members of the Ski ALPIN CARD are, in principle, capable of providing the services, i.e. the lift systems are at least partially in operation and the use of the respective pistes is possible by virtue of the snow conditions, the customer has no right to terminate the contract, especially but not limited to, in the event of bad weather, the risk of avalanches, the customer’s unforeseen departure, temporary disruptions to services, individual lift systems or ski areas ceasing to be in operation due to weather conditions, individual pistes or ski areas being closed, overcrowded pistes and illness of the pass holder.
There is therefore no right to a refund in such cases and the customer is not released from their financial obligations.
Exactly when the Ski ALPIN CARD pass is used is the decision of the customer, insofar as the partners have their lift systems in operation. In other words, the pass holder has no right to a refund if they use their pass on fewer than 15 days.
These General Terms and Conditions and the Terms and Conditions of Carriage of the respective lift and cable car operators apply to the use of the Ski ALPIN CARD services. Furthermore, any official regulations and measures imposed by the authorities relating to pandemics (e.g. COVID-19) shall also apply.
It shall be expressly stated that no (pro-rata) refund may be claimed, if the Ski ALPIN CARD partners are capable of providing the services but the holder does not take advantage of them due to personal considerations/decisions; should therefore, for example, official measures be imposed by the authorities for persons making use of the services of the Ski ALPIN CARD partners (e.g. the obligation to present a negative test result, proof of vaccine status, etc.) and should the holder not be able to or not want to provide this proof, no claim to a (pro-rata) refund can be asserted.
It shall further be stated that compliance with any official protective measures imposed by the authorities and relating to COVID-19 or the containment of any other pandemic is the sole responsibility of the holder. If a holder is not able to or does not want to comply with official measures imposed by the authorities, they may not use the lift services and may not assert a claim to a (pro-rata) refund.
There is likewise no right to a (pro-rata) refund or extension to the Ski ALPIN CARD, if the Ski ALPIN CARD partners take individual or several lift systems out of operation because of – the pandemic resulting in – fewer users, since the pass holder is still able to make use of the majority of the services offered.
VI. Liability
Liability for damage is limited to cases of intent and gross negligence. Claims for compensation in cases of a slight degree of negligence shall be excluded. Claims with regard to compensation for damages shall be submitted to the cable car and lift operator responsible for the damage.
The performance of the services provided by individual or several cable car and lift operators may be temporarily restricted, in full or in part, due to technical disruptions, a lack of snow, a force majeure event or a natural disaster such as a storm, thunderstorm, torrential downpour, snow chaos, risk of avalanches, or other operational circumstances. The Ski ALPIN CARD pass is a cross-regional ticket that can be used on the lifts of all of the participating cable car and lift operators. No guarantee shall be given for the uninterrupted availability of the Ski ALPIN CARD services offered by each of the individual cable car and lift operators on any one day.
There is no obligation that all of the lift systems are available all of the time. The number of lift systems that can be used can change from day to day as well as throughout any one day. Up-to-the-minute information on which lift systems are in operation on any one day can be found at the ticket offices, on the electronic panorama piste maps, on the media channels of the individual ski resorts, at the various lift stations and on the Internet. Restrictions in the services offered by the lift systems and limited lift system services do not result in any entitlement to a reduction in or reimbursement of the amount of money paid for the ski pass.
VII. Refunds for the service being shut down by the authorities
If the participating cable car and lift operators, with all their lift and cable car systems, are prevented from providing their services in all of the regions in which the Ski ALPIN CARD pass is valid (“the cable car and lift operators concerned”) as a consequence of an epidemic, pandemic, or other statutory regulations (e.g. energy interventions) and, as a result of this, the operations of the cable car and lift operators concerned are completely shut down for a period of at least 4 weeks from the purchase date, the payment made by the customer for the Ski ALPIN CARD shall be refunded as follows for the period during which the operations were completely shut down: The refund
of the Ski ALPIN CARD day and multi-day ski passes shall be issued on the basis of the number of days on which the pass could be used (for example: if the lift systems are shut down after the 3rd day of use, a customer who purchases a 12 day pass shall be refunded the difference between the price of a 3 day pass and the price they paid for their 12 day pass);
Ski ALPIN CARD pass holders who purchased their pass in advance at a reduced rate or paid the normal price receive a refund on the basis of a calculation around whether the usage of the Ski ALPIN CARD compares favourably to what it cost, in other words, whether it has paid for itself. This is the case when the pass is used on 15 days, or more. The calculation is made by dividing the purchase price by 15 (days) and multiplying this by the number of days the pass was not used. Whatever the case, there shall be no refund if the holder has used their Ski ALPIN CARD on 15 days, or more.
There is no right to a refund for any periods of time prior to the purchase date of a Ski ALPIN CARD. Buyers can submit their claim to a refund to the cable car and lift operator from whom they made their purchase as soon as the season has ended.
VIII. Reimbursement in case of injuries or illnesses Customers unable to ski due to an injury or illness shall have no claim for reimbursement. The lift and ropeway companies reserve, however, the right to reimburse the costs of any ALPIN CARD (apart from 1-day tickets) at their discretion, as a gesture of goodwill. The presentation of a medical certificate issued by a local physician is a precondition for this. The injury or illness is to be reported immediately.
IX. Misuse
The Ski ALPIN CARD is not transferable (and may not even be used by other family members). Misuse will result in the immediate confiscation of the pass without compensation. Furthermore, the customer is obliged to pay the price of a day pass as well as a fine of €70. The pass is to be kept safely so that misuse by third parties shall be excluded. The right to bring a criminal charge is expressly reserved.
X. Data protection
Protecting customer data is of paramount importance to the cable car and lift operators. Customer data shall be exclusively processed on the basis of statutory provisions, especially but not limited to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG). Reference is made to the privacy policies of the participating cable car and lift operators.
XI. Choice of law and place of jurisdiction
Austrian substantive law shall apply to the exclusion of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the reference norms of International Private Law.
Insofar as the customer is a consumer in terms of KSchG, the place of jurisdiction for any legal disputes is the court that is responsible for such cases in the area in which the customer has their domicile, habitual residence or place of employment. If the customer is a consumer whose habitual residence is in the EU, they may choose whether they bring action to the court of competent jurisdiction in Salzburg or to the court of the place in which the consumer has their domicile.
In all other cases, it shall be agreed that the court of competent jurisdiction where the company has its head office shall be responsible.
XII. Slope & Rescue Service
Please note that a rescue fee will be charged on marked slopes. Our ski patrol and rescue service supervises only marked and open slopes – other areas are used at your own risk.
As at: September 2023