There are serious doubts whether the cable car being built to transport spectators to the women’s Olympic alpine ski competition in Cortina will be completed in time, prompting event organizers to call for school closures to ease the strain on the Dolomites resort’s transport system.
The Apollonio Soclepes lift is one of the most controversial parts of the Olympic infrastructure for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Work on the system, which aims to take spectators directly to the slopes from the center of Cortina d’Ampezzo, began later than planned, with some residents raising safety concerns about the system’s location in a landslide-prone area.
Simico, the state-aided agency in charge of Olympic infrastructure, said on Friday that work at the venue was progressing on schedule, although doubts are mounting over the project, which remains unfinished a week before the Olympics open next Friday.
However, in a letter dated January 29 to the central government representative of the province of Belluno, tournament management director Andrea Francis said that Simico had informed organizers the previous day that the gondola lift would not be delivered within the expected time frame.
Simico said in a statement on Saturday that work on the cable car continues and the safety inspections necessary for its final commissioning are scheduled for next week. He said logistical issues such as school closures were not part of the mandate. The Milan-Cortina organizing committee declined to comment.
In a previously unreported letter, Francisco explained that the lift is an integral part of the Olympic movement plan for Cortina, which will also host curling, bobsled, luge and skeleton events. “The loss of this strategic infrastructure in the run-up to the start of Olympic operations poses significant organizational challenges, with significant implications for flow management, security, and the overall system’s ability to absorb the required alternative mobility,” the letter said.
As a result, organizers have asked local authorities to close Cortina’s schools on February 10 and 12, and possibly again on February 11, to ease pressure on the town’s transport network at a critical time for the Olympic Games’ operations.
Closing schools on the most critical days was described as “essential” to maintain order and ensure transport networks function. Tournament organizers have placed a cap on the number of tickets for the event in Cortina until it is clear whether the cable car is ready.
A spokesperson for the Milan Cortina 2026 organizing committee said on Friday that a large number of tickets had been sold so far in line with the capacity guaranteed by road transport authorities.
Located in the Dolomites, Cortina is one of Italy’s most famous winter resorts and hosted the Olympic Games in 1956, but there is no train station and access to the city by the only main road is often slow at peak times. With only about 5,500 permanent residents, cars remain the main mode of transportation.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, it was announced that Milan’s Serie A match against Como, which at one time could have been held in Australia, will be held at the San Siro during the Olympics on February 18th, bringing the number of Serie A matches to be played in Milan during the Olympics to three.