Family business
My Alpenwelt Resort

The community of Wald was extremely poor during this time. A municipal secretary couldn't even be afforded. There was also a rumor that engineer Franz Wallack wanted to build a road over the Gerlospass. And soon the idea arose of using this area for winter sports. 

It was even Professor Kruckenhauser, the “Ski Pope” of Arlberg, who evaluated the terrain with the following result: Königsleiten was excellently suited as a ski area! In fact, he thought it could develop into one of Austria's most beautiful ski areas. 

Fritz Kröll and 4 other colleagues didn't hesitate for long: they established the Gerlospass-Königsleiten Bergbahnen Gesellschaft GmbH. With the printing of the first development plan, the village began to grow. However, there was an urgent lack of money for such an expansion. Yet the Raiffeisenkasse Wald bank was not ready to grant credit for the mountain railways. Not even when the managers of the railway company, Fritz Kröll and Alois Hölzl, personally paid them a visit. The bank was neither convinced of the idea nor wanted to trust the plan. So, Fritz Kröll and Andreas Bachmaier had to mortgage their mountain pastures along with their farms in order to get a credit of 3 million schillings from the governor Dr. Lechner – president of the Hypobank in Salzburg at the time.

The road from the Almhof to the lift station was built first with the money. With his moped, Fritz often drove to the building site of the “Arge Staudamm Durlassboden” to simply beg for a few loads of gravel. The cableway to transport material and the single-seater chair lift in Königleiten was financed with the rest of the money. And then: the money was gone!

They finally found investors from Munich. The people from Merkurbau loaned 2 million schillings. Of course, they didn't do it for nothing. A monopoly agreement was made on all land that was to be utilized which gave Merkurbau a kind of pre-emptive right for a price of 80 schillings per square meter of the building grounds. Of these 80 schillings, 50 must be paid back to the Hypobank. Fritz and Anderl were allowed to keep 30 schillings. In this way, the building grounds acquired by Markurbau would basically be resold to prospective builders at much higher prices from the very beginning. It's hard to imagine today that the building site in Königsleiten cost more than 800 € per m²... 

When the chair lift was finished, Fritz Kröll was already thinking a step ahead: what about food for the skiers? He opened the legendary “Liftstüberl” in the lift operations building. There he sold sausage, soup, and drinks. But: the ski lift business was doing so poorly during the first winter that survival was out of the question! So, the managers of the Gerlospass-Königsleiten Bergbahnen Gesellschaft GmbH decided to commission a tow lift on the Hochkar. Since there was still a lack of money, Fritz Kröll and his helpers had to carry the lattice tower supports on their shoulders to the foundations. What a task! Support approached from the Austrian Armed Forces. They were conducting a high-altitude exercise and simply helped out. 

In summer 1969, the fledgling innkeeper undertook the building of the Alpengasthof Kröll in Königsleiten. At that time, Ernst Strasser was the chairman of the Oberpinzgau innkeeper association. He granted Fritz Kröll an innkeeper license for 25 to 30 beds. After 3 years of construction, the inn was inaugurated in 1972. And this was where the first cellar bar was located, where people flocked to from far and wide to meet for a night out. After the 2nd season, Kröll was advised to get a bar license. It also included an innkeeper license for an unlimited number of beds. Now nothing stood in the way of further construction! The 35-bed inn soon became a well-organized establishment. People came from all over the world to work with Fritz during the winter season.

The short double chair lift and the Larmachlift were built by these pioneers in the Zillertal at the same time. Building negotiations and acceptance of work took place on the same day in December. Who cares about risk or regulatory approvals...

In 1978, Fritz met his wife Inge. In 1979, their daughter Susanne was born. Shortly after, Fritz and Inge got married at the Sixtkapelle in Wald. 

Now, the lift business was ready for a boost. Fritz Kröll had the idea of building a new, wide access road from the west (Larmachbrücke) from the Gerlosbundesstraße into the alpine village of Königsleiten. The ground over which the road was to be built belonged to the federal forests. After former municipal secretary Alois Hölzl failed for years with negotiations over the management of the federal forests of Wals with head forester Schuster/Palfinger, Fritz Kröll decided to take the project into his own hands.  

One of his regular guests from Vienna knew the general director of the federal forests. And the forester from Mittersill, who was temporarily replacing head forester Schuster/Palfinger while on vacation, was also on board. In this way, he was tricked, so to speak, during his absence. The project for the new road was quickly concluded with the federal forests.  

In 1979 – with a temperature of minus 15 degrees – Fritz Kröll alone started with the woodcutting work for the route. After 3 years of construction, the road that he financed himself was finally finished! 

Fritz Kröll contributed to the expenses of 1 million schillings to the lift company. He never billed his working hours and or the working hours of his paid assistant Rudi Huber.

Königsleiten winter sportsmen and book author Walter Pause gave the road the name “Fritz Kröll Straße”. That same year, his son Stefan was born...

The ski area became more and more popular, and so the inn needed several expansions. Finally, in 1986, construction began on the Alpenwelt Resort. But soon after one expansion was commissioned, it was time for another. In 1993, Franz had the après ski umbrella bar including vacation house built right on the slopes. The next construction project followed in 1995: the pizzeria with staff house and apartments. And at the turn of the millennium, the old cellar bar was reopened as a disco. 

After many infrastructural improvements, a new terrace for the umbrella bar, the installation of an elevator in the hotel, the revamping of the pizzeria, etc., the Alpenwelt Resort was renovated in 2003. In the process, the idea of a hotel bar was finally realized, and the Schatzi Bar was created.

On Fritz Kröll's 70th birthday, the new hotel wing with 40 beds and a new restaurant with a rustic lounge and winter garden was opened.  

It's not too much to say: Fritz Kröll is a co-founder of the alpine village of Königsleiten and founder of the Königsleiten lifts. To this day, he holds 42% of the lift company shares and is thus the majority shareholder.

Fritz has been working as the managing director of the Königsleiten lifts since their establishment until the year 2000, which is a total of 35 years. He has been doing this work voluntarily and without compensation. In addition to his work as an accommodation host, he is still a passionate mountain farmer to this day. In Fritz Kröll’s life, there has not been a single day when he was not at work.

Vacation is a foreign word for him – at least when it comes to a vacation for himself. With a lot of diligence, hard work, straightforwardness, and above all honesty, he has done more than just create a large company, Krölls Alpenwelt GmbH. He has created something unique, an original, that is known far beyond the borders of the region. And no matter how eventful his life and how great his success: Fritz Kröll was a simple, humble man.