Glacier lift fire

Streif winner narrowly escapes disaster

Pepi Ferstl was almost there when the accident happened.(Bild: Markus Tschepp)

25 years ago, there was a cable car accident on the glacier lift in Kaprun. German former ski star Pepi Ferstl narrowly escaped the fire on the Kitzsteinhorn. He lost his uncle and many friends. 

Every skier knows the tingling anticipation of the first day of skiing. The 161 guests who boarded the Kaprun glacier lift shortly before 9 a.m. on November 11, 2000 could probably hardly wait to make their first turns on the slopes.

But that never happened. The day ended in death for 155 people. They died after a fire broke out in the driver's cab. That day, Austria as a skiing nation experienced a trauma that continues to this day. German ski star Josef "Pepi" Ferstl was on the Kitzsteinhorn that day with a Bavarian junior team.