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Rebuilding Etna's ski resorts
By Tamsin Smith
BBC News, Rifugio Sapienza

Reconstruction of the ruined ski-lifts is yet to be finished
A group of children hurtle down Etna's snowy slopes on plastic sledges.

They narrowly miss some piles of jagged lava and land in a black puddle of volcanic mud. Squeals of delight mingle with parental reprimands.

But sledging is the only downhill sport possible right now at Mount Etna's small ski station of Rifugio Sapienza.

The most recent eruptions in 2001 and 2002 destroyed the pistes and the ski-lifts here on the volcano's southern flank.

Reconstruction is underway but unfinished.

"Our winter season is usually very short but since the last eruptions it's been non existent," says ski instructor Gianicolo Mazzaglia, pointing at a partially built chair-lift.

"Everyone has another job in order to survive winter. My ski school on Etna has been closed for three years and I have to work in northern Italy, but I come back here as often as I can. Etna will always be my mountain."

He inhales the rather pungent mountain air and smiles.

"Smelling this sulphur when you're skiing, seeing the craters explode in the distance, the blood red magma against white snow, there's nothing like it. Wonderful!" Mr Mazzaglia says.

'Hot ground'

This passion for the Etna ski experience isn't shared by the insurance companies who now won't touch the resort.


Gianicolo's ski-school has been shut for three years

The rebuilding of Etna's damaged infrastructure is chiefly funded by the state and tendered to private companies.

They are hard at work. An army of red snowmoving vehicles snakes up the slopes, determined to reclaim the ski pistes, even though the snow here is unlikely to last.

"The ground stays hot for a long time after the lava has covered it," explains Mike Burton, from the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology.

"The surface cools quickly but because lava is a very good insulator, if you dig down just a few metres there is incandescent material two or three years later."


We shouldn't forget that we are guests on the volcano. It's not our house

Nino Mazzaglia

The cable car has already re-opened in time for Etna's profitable summer season.

But operations manager Nino Mazzaglia says he can't get too excited about these latest renovations.

"After the eruptions of 1971, 1983, 2001 and 2002 we are getting a little bit tired of always rebuilding," he says.

"But we shouldn't forget that we are guests on the volcano. It's not our house. If you put down roots here then expect them to be swept away."

His office is witness to a 30-year love affair with Etna.

'Worse than a mistress'

Photos of sunsets, sunrises, eruptions, explosions and lava flows cover his walls. Carefully collected "volcanic bombs", twisted nuggets of basalt, sit on the windowsill.


Both people and machines work hard to reclaim the ski pistes

There is excited discussion with colleagues about a new lava flow which has been seeping from one of Etna's high valleys since October 2004.

"The only problem I have with my wife is the volcano," laughs Nino.

"My wife says I pay more attention to Etna than I do to my children. It's worse than having a mistress."

"Yes, Etna is definitely a very sexy woman," agrees Wolfgang, a former engineer from Germany who has devoted 25 years to studying Etna.

"You only have to look at the sensuous curves of her lava."

One of the family

Whether described as mistress or mother, protector or punisher, Etna inspires gritty determination amongst her community of small business owners.

"I rebuilt my restaurant only with the help of my friends and family," says Dominique, pointing at the new walnut tables and chrome bar stools.

Her old restaurant exploded during the 2002 eruption.

"I've received no money from the state," she says.

Would she rebuild again if there were to be another eruption? "Of course, even if I have to work until I am 80, I will never leave. Etna is one of the family."

Ruined businesses

Davide Corsaro's family is still repaying reconstruction debts after the 1983 eruption destroyed their hotel.


Davide considers himself to be lucky

"I just think we have a different concept of risk living here," he shrugs.

"We are lucky that usually when Etna explodes she doesn't kill people. In recent years many more people died on Etna in motorcycle accidents than by lava."

He proudly shows a curious tourist how the new hotel is built literally on top of the old lava covered one.

"If this wasn't a volcano, then we wouldn't be making a living here," Mr Corsaro says.

"We accept Etna will occasionally take away our livelihoods. But we wait patiently like schoolchildren in a lesson, and when our teacher has finished we will always rebuild."

Ist doch mal etwas Neues, ein Skigebiet das immer wieder mal LSAP ist.

beachtet wo die stütze steht und wo die lifttrasse ist!!!!