Hannah Philomena Scheiber painting the lift tower from a crane. | Image: Pitztal
As Austria’s glacier ski areas prepare to open for another winter, three gondolas and a lift tower on two Tyrolean glaciers are getting an artistic makeover. Austrian artist Hannah Philomena Scheiber has brought her distinctive ultramarine-blue mountain paintings to the Pitztal and Kaunertal Glaciers as part of the LiftART project, turning the infrastructure of the ski areas themselves into giant alpine canvases.
Scheiber designed three gondola cabins featuring the mountains Wildspitze, Mittagskogel, and Linker Fernerkogel. She also transformed a lift tower on the Wildspitzbahn at Pitztal Glacier into an abstract work of art.
The project deliberately focuses on something most skiers rarely notice. Lift towers are essential to almost every ski area, carrying the cables and gondolas or chairs that move skiers up the mountain, but they are generally treated as functional infrastructure rather than something worth looking at. For Scheiber and the LiftART organizers, that makes them the perfect canvas.
Hannah Philomena Scheiber posing in front of the painted lift tower. | Image: Kaunertal
The idea goes beyond simply adding color to the mountain. Lift towers are the pillars that make a lift system possible, and LiftART uses that role as a metaphor for the often-unnoticed people and structures that support society. “We give art space because art can change our eyes,” said Beate Rubatscher-Larcher of the Pitztal and Kaunertal mountain railways. “Especially on the glacier, where nature and human design meet directly, an exciting dialogue arises: about beauty, about change and our responsibility for this special alpine habitat.”
Hannah Philomena Scheiber standing in front of one of her creations. | Image: Kaunertal
Bringing art into ski resorts and onto gondolas is not a new concept. Vail Resorts launched its Gondola Gallery by Epic in 2023, commissioning artists to transform gondola cabins at Park City Mountain, Stowe Mountain Resort, and Whistler Blackcomb. The projects included work by Lamont Joseph White, Jim Harris, Levi Nelson, and Squamish and Lil’wat artists Chief Janice George, Buddy Joseph, and Levi Nelson. Aspen launched “Art in Unexpected Places” project all the way back in 2005.
Ski resorts are increasingly discovering spaces for art in the mountains. Les 3 Vallées, France, features a series of sculptures across the resort and Utah’s Powder Mountain has started bringing art installations into the wild rugged mountain scape. Scheiber’s LiftART belongs to the same growing movement of bringing art into the mountain environment rather than keeping it behind gallery walls.
Much like Aspen’s “Art in Unexpected Places,” the Austrian resorts brought art into the resort infrastructure. | Image: Kaunertal
Scheiber’s connection to the mountains is personal. Born in Innsbruck in 1991, she grew up in the high-alpine village of Obergurgl in the Ötztal, at roughly 6,560 feet (2,000 meters). The surrounding mountains have become a recurring subject throughout her work, which often moves between abstraction and realism. Her trademark is ultramarine blue.
Scheiber studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, and also took part in an artist residency in New York. Her work has since been exhibited internationally, including in New York, Miami, Florence, Vienna, Paris, London, Innsbruck, and Venice. She has also worked in public spaces, with murals, installations, and other projects that take art beyond traditional galleries. Her relationship with the Alps has increasingly focused on the changing mountain environment. Her ongoing “Chronology of Water” series, for example, incorporates melted glacier ice and lapis lazuli into paintings on linen.
LiftART takes that philosophy one step further by putting the artwork directly into the landscape.
Hannah Philomena Scheiber posing in front of the painted lift tower. | Image: Pitztal
Pitztal Glacier and Kaunertal Glacier are both part of the Indy Pass for the 2026-27 season, giving Indy Passholders access to two of Austria’s earliest-opening glacier ski areas. Pitztal Glacier is scheduled to open September 26 and operate into May. The ski area reaches 3,440 meters (11,286 feet), making it the highest ski area in Austria, and combines 41 kilometers (25.5 miles) of glacier pistes with the adjacent Rifflsee area for a combined 67 kilometers (42 miles) of slopes. The Wildspitzbahn carries skiers to the Hinterer Brunnenkogel and Café 3440, Austria’s highest café, with views toward the 3,774-meter (12,382-foot) Wildspitze.
Kaunertal Glacier is scheduled to open September 26 as well and is planning to run into May as well. It offers 55 kilometers (34 miles) of groomed pistes and another 36 kilometers (22 miles) of ski routes, with the ski area extending up to approximately 3,108 meters (10,197 feet). The Kaunertal Glacier Road climbs from the valley to the glacier, making the area accessible by road as well as by lift.
At Pitztal and Kaunertal, the mountains remain the main attraction. But this winter, the lifts themselves will be a little bit more than just a mode of transport.
The lift tower embellished with art by Austrian artist Hannah Philomena Scheiber. | Image: Pitztal