Cable car will not be ready in time for Winter Olympics start, letter shows

A cable car intended to carry spectators to the women's Olympic Alpine skiing events in Cortina will not be ready in time, prompting Games organisers to request school closures to ease the pressure on the Dolomite resort's transport system, a letter seen by Reuters showed.

The Apollonio–Socrepes lift is one of the most contentious pieces of Olympic infrastructure for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, co‑hosted by the Alpine town of Cortina d'Ampezzo and Italy's financial capital from February 6th–22nd.

Work on the system, designed to take spectators from the town centre directly to the slopes, began behind schedule, and some residents raised safety concerns about its location in an area prone to landslides.

Despite mounting doubts over the project, still unfinished a week before the opening of Games, Simico, the state‑backed agency in charge of Olympics infrastructure, said on Friday that work on the site was progressing according to schedule and would continue over the weekend.

But in a letter dated January 29th to the central government's top representative in the Belluno province, Chief Games Operations Officer Andrea Francisi said Simico had notified organisers the previous day that the gondola lift would not be delivered within the planned timeframe.

Simico had no immediate comment. On Friday, Simico said that technical works would be completed early in the coming week, with required safety checks to follow.

The Milano Cortina organising committee declined to comment.

In the letter, which has not been previously reported, Francisi described the lift as an essential element of the Olympic mobility plan for Cortina, which will also host curling, bobsleigh, luge and skeleton events.

"The loss of this strategic