Industry News
In a feat of endurance few skiers could imagine attempting indoors, German skier Oliver Kern set two new world records this week at SnowWorld Bispingen, an indoor ski hall south of Hamburg, Germany.
Over a 24-hour period on October 7, 2025, Kern covered a total of 20,319 meters (66,692 feet) of vertical inside the refrigerated slope—shattering the previous record for the highest elevation gain within one day in an indoor ski area. Within the first hour, he also set a separate record by climbing 910 meters (2,986 feet), marking his eighth and ninth world records in total.
“This day was incredible. The support from SnowWorld Bispingen was fantastic, and without the great infrastructure and dedicated team, this record would not have been possible.”
— Oliver Kern
Kern, who is the founder of skiresort.info—an online ski resort portal, began skiing laps at midnight, relying on the hall’s six-seater detachable chairlift, manufactured by Doppelmayr, to transport him back uphill between descents. In the first hour alone, he completed 24 runs, reaching the 910-meter mark and securing his first record of the day.
By 11 a.m., after completing another 202 laps, the ski hall opened to the public. With guests now sharing the slope, Kern switched to the poma lift—a slower but private option that allowed him to continue skiing uninterrupted and without queues for another nine hours. When the facility closed again at 8 p.m., he switched back to the faster chairlift, pushing through fatigue and freezing temperatures to surpass the previous 24-hour elevation record just before midnight. Kern reported finding the cold temperatures in the ski hall particularly challenging. After just six hours, he was completely frozen through, however, thanks to glove warmers and a hot water bottle, he was able to keep himself reasonably warm and keep going. He made his final descent at 11:45 p.m., logging 524 total rides—305 by chairlift and 219 by poma.
The record-setting feat was made possible thanks to the support of a full team of technicians, safety personnel, and operations staff at SnowWorld Bispingen, one of Europe’s most advanced indoor ski centers. The facility—home to Germany’s only detachable six-seater chairlift—features a 300-meter (984-foot) slope, terrain park, toboggan run, and year-round snowmaking system.
The two achievements mark Kern’s 8th and 9th world records, extending a career dedicated to extreme skiing challenges and promoting ski culture worldwide.
His previous records include:
- Most ski resorts visited in one day
- Greatest vertical descent in 12 hours
- Fastest time to ski every lift in a single resort
- Longest distance skied indoors without rest
- Highest cumulative altitude gain in an outdoor 24-hour period
- Longest continuous ski session without sleep
- Fastest ski resort review completion
Indoor ski centers like SnowWorld Bispingen have become increasingly popular across Europe and Asia, allowing year-round skiing regardless of weather or season. The German facility attracts skiers from around the world with its consistent snow quality and even offers overnight accommodation and restaurants adjacent to the slopes. The Hamburg-region in northern German has two indoor ski centers, SnowWorld Bispingen and Alpin Center Hamburg-Wittenberg. Germany features in total five indoor ski centers.
Impressive!