The Bürgeralm Ski Region
Alpine skiing as we know it today with its high-capacity aids to ascent was a long time coming. What counted was the ability to ascend the mountain through one’s own physical strength, with skiing down into the valley as the highlight of the whole experience.
For years parties responsible for winter sports in Aflenz lobbied to have the Bürgeralm run extended to Aflenz.
Construction work began in 1928, but progress was slow. It was hoped that the longer run would make the ski region more attractive. 
In 1934 the general level of unemployment was extremely high. Also the difficult economic climate made it virtually impossible to raise the funds necessary to extend the road to 8km.  For this very reason, in August 1934 the community of Aflenz Kurtort decided to apply for a grant provided by the industrial district commission of Graz to promote productivity and the welfare of the unemployed.
The industrial district commission granted the requested financial support to complete the last stretch of the downhill run, a distance of around 2.4 kilometers. The project employed an average of twenty jobless persons from the beginning of September to mid December 1934. In spite of the enormous difficulties posed by boring and blasting through the hard rock, the downhill run was completed in time for the beginning of the 1934/1935 winter season.

Investment activity in the Aflenz Bürgeralm ski resort soon took off again during the post-war period. After a construction period of around one year, the electric cable car from Bürgergraben to the Bürgeralm started operations on 24 August 1947, with the first test run taking 53 minutes. A new era in the alpine winter landscape had begun.
The construction of a chairlift to the Bürgeralm also took place during the postwar reconstruction period. Once considerable financial hurdles had been overcome, construction started on the first chairlift in Styria in October 1950.

The chairlift to the Bürgeralm was officially opened by the Styrian governer Josef Krainer senior and continued operations until 1976. This lift now had the capacity to move around 250 people up to the Bürgeralm hourly. The race was on, with individual up-and-coming ski resorts competing for guests. In 1969 T-Bar lifts constructed by the Bürgerlichen Forst- und Almgemeinschaft were opened on the Bürgeralm. At the beginning of December 1975 the sixth T-bar lift of the Bürgeralm ski resort became operational.

A new two-seater chairlift up to the Bürgeralm, built in a record time of only four months, started operating in 1976. The construction costs at that time amounted to around 15 million schillings (approx. €1.1 million). The three-seater chairlift from the Bürgeralm to Schönleiten was constructed in 1983 making the resort’s infrastructure even more attractive.
(Taken from the Chronik Aflenz, Published by Dr. Josef Riegler, A-8071 Hausmannstätten)

Brochure on Aflenz’s history

The Bürgeralm Hiking Region
With the extension of the southern railway line over the Semmering, the Hochschwab region and the Bürgeralm became more accessible for city hiking enthusiasts. More and more people experienced the beauty of the mountain region around Aflenz and the climatic benefits it had to offer. Large numbers of visitors came from Vienna and Graz.
Aside from the attractiveness of the Aflenz region as a starting point for hiking and mountaineering trips, in the late nineteenth century the medical profession also became increasingly interested in the healing aspects of the high altitude air, sunshine and mild climate on offer in the Aflenz valley and Bürgeralm.

Medizinalrat Dr. A. Ritter von Kutschera-Aichbergen, a medical consultant and surgeon at the Bruck an der Mur hospital, conducted systematic observations where he studied the climatic characteristics of alpine spas already recognized for treating pneumonia patients and compared these with Aflenz.  The results of his research prompted him to put Aflenz on a level with the renowned spa region of Davos in Switzerland. “It is the clarity, the clean aseptic properties of the air which brings about this positive influence on the sick lung“. This comparison with Davos sparked even more tourist interest in Aflenz. Its hiking trails and descriptions of places on route were featured in newspaper articles, with the Tagespost running an article on the “Davos of Styria” in June 1890. Shortly afterwards the first brochures on Aflenz and the surrounding area appeared.

The Bürgeralm region came to be appreciated by summer visitors and hikers alike. It was relatively easy to get there from Aflenz and presented splendid hiking opportunities. Johann Pertl, who ran a restaurant on the Bürgeralm, was granted a license to serve alcohol on the premises in 1909.

However this boom in summer tourism also had its downside. Many hikers making their way across the Bürgeralm took such a shine to the alpine flowers that they picked them and took them home. In 1901 the local Aflenz council recognized the necessity of putting up notices on the Bürgeralm prohibiting the picking of alpine flora. To prevent the imminent extinction of certain species, the communities of Aflenz and Jauring were instructed to put up notices warning of appropriate fines which would be imposed should the characteristic alpine landscape be endangered.
(Taken from the Chronik Aflenz, Published by Dr. Josef Riegler, A-8071 Hausmannstätten)