The dream of opening up the Höllen mountain range to tourism and building a cableway on the mountain plateau was conceived and realized by Ebensee pioneer, and distinguished business man, Rudolf Ippisch. Thanks to his indomitable will, the cable car on the Feuerkogel was opened for public transport on 26th June 1927 in the presence of leading politicians and numerous VIPs of the era.

Since then the cable car – which has in the mean time been completely modernised – has provided a unique view over the entire Salzkammergut, relaxation on the most beautiful natural spots on the 1600 m Feuerkogel plateau and skiing pleasure for the whole family.
‘Cobbler, stick to your last’ as an old proverb goes. The versatile man from Ebensee Rudolph Ippisch didn't keep to this pearl of wisdom - after serving an apprenticeship in his father’s shoemaking workshop the young Ippisch went on first of all become a shoe producer for the army and then – having previously worked in Vienna and Paris – to make footwear for the English Royal Family at a court cobblers in London. Upon his return to his home town of Ebensee he took on his father’s business.

In the course of time he had been a cinema owner, master and director of music, until he finally he had enough capital to enable him to purchase a ship from Ruston, an English man in 1918 and set up the ‘Traunseeschifffahrts-Gesellschaft’.

The most daring cable car in Europe
Another dream of this man who was full of ideas was to make the Höllen mountain range accessible. In his memoirs Ippisch wrote: ‘I just cannot rid myself of the thought of building a cable car!’ A shaky path, as it turned out. Several cost estimates and plans from cable car builders were required and the problem of financing and raising capital also had to be cleared up.

He met with scepticism and negative responses from those he asked for money for his controversial plans. However, Ippisch was not a man to give up and finally after several years he had overcome this obstacle. In 1925 the finances were secure, and he was awarded the preliminary commission to build a cable car up to the Feuerkogel.

On the 26th November 1925 the building contract was given to the Bleichert Company and building could commence. It was necessary to build a cable lift for materials, and this was done using a cable car which had been used in World War I. Transporting the bearer cable for the goods cable lift caused a great deal of frustration and consternation, Ippisch described it as an unpleasant task. After the 50 workers, who were laying this cable the length of the route, went on strike one day exclaiming ‘Carry the gear up there yourself’, two mules carried the cable up.

The material cable lift was used for 16 months and had a capacity of 450 kilograms and even transported two 2400 kilogram base plates for the diesel engines up the mountain. A huge risk, but the material cable lift withheld the load. In total 90 workers were needed to transport the bearer cables of Feuerkogel cable car up the mountain, a task which took some six weeks.

These factors prove the tremendous effort and will needed to build a cable car system of this dimension, in the difficult terrain and using the technical possibilities available at that time.  A big day for Ippisch and his home town of Ebensee. “After 10 years of unspeakable worry the cable car was finally inaugurated on the 26th June 1927.“ The European press reported of the ‘most daring cable car in Europe’ which covered the first 1400 meters, without one supporting pillar.

In the first year the cable car to the Feuerkogel carried more than 20,000 people. The capacity of the two cable cars was 16 persons to start with and then in 1930 increased to 18 and from 1946 to 25 persons/hour. As part of an upgrade this output was increased, which meant that in 1955 a speed of 6.2 m/s was achieved. In 1985 after 58 years without mishap the cable car was modernised and now carries 377 people/hour at a speed of 12 m/sec.

Incidentally the Ebensee people also proved their pioneering spirit in the construction of a cable car and T-bar lift, this was in fact the first T-bar lift in Austria, the Stangenlift, which became operational from 1936 on the Feuerkogel and was designed by Ebensee man Karl Schallinger.