Neil Guthrie is a big fan of winter sports. The high density of ski resorts is naturally also what brought the Englishman to the Alps. In 2008\/2009, together with a friend, he tried to go to as many as possible of the different regions and wanting to use the dense rail network of the European countries for this, he quickly found that all the maps available were not particularly helpful.<\/p>\n
Indeed, there were detailed railway timetables for the Alpine regions but these were generally unclear and had not been developed with the needs of the winter sports lover in mind. Necessity is famously the mother of invention and the idea of his own rail map was therefore born and in winter of 2010\/2011 a map called the SkiRail Map of the Alps was published.<\/p>\n
Initially, Guthrie developed a large geographical map. However, this was quite bulky to carry around and did not yet include rail connections to all resorts. The new map now offers travel information for 200 ski resorts in seven Alpine countries (Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Lichtenstein, Germany, Slovenia and France).<\/p>\n<\/div>
The experiences Guthrie gained when creating the \u201cbasic map\u201d subsequently also fed into the development of the\u00a0 2theAlps map. Together with Alan Grimade (cartographer) and Dennis Hawes (publisher), the new map was created. \u201cMuch has happened since the creation of the first map a good ten years ago.<\/p>\n
For example, you will notice that important ski lifts in the Italian Alps have been built directly with rail connections, particularly on the Italian line from Fortezza to Lienz, e.g. at Percha station. Rather impressively, train travel in the area is also provided for free to all guests staying at local hotels.<\/p>\n
In the Swiss Alps, by contrast, most ski resorts were already very well connected to the rail network in 2008,\u201d the map developer reports from his observations. It took 12 months to develop the new map.<\/p>\n<\/div>