It could not be that long before the first snowfall in the Valepp, a comparatively remote valley in the Schliersee mountains on the border with Tyrol. So the negotiating partners turned the “first snowfall” into a real “onset of winter”. From the onset of winter to Palm Sunday there should be peace and quiet in Valepp. National goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and Tegernsee restaurateur Johannes Rabl, as investors and future operators of the traditional Forsthaus Valepp, have now agreed on this with several nature conservation and heritage conservation associations.
Until then, they had heavily criticized the project, mainly because of the intended winter operation. The dispute over the well-known excursion inn that the Free State awarded to Neuer and Rabl in July seems to have been settled. Now the focus is on a traffic concept that gets by without private vehicles as far as possible.
“We said from the start that we wanted to create an inn for everyone in the Valepp. And we keep that promise. It wouldn’t fit in with that if we got in touch with associations that mean well with the Valepp, or with the authorities get into lengthy arguments,” says Johannes Rabl, who runs two bars on Lake Tegernsee, one of which is in the vicinity of his business partner Manuel Neuer.
The two take over the Forsthaus Valepp with a leasehold for 99 years and want to invest at least four to five million euros in the urgently needed renovation of the listed ensemble. The state forests had previously searched in vain for a new tenant for the inn, which had been closed since 2014. When the plans by and with Neuer and Rabl became known at the beginning of the year, the Nature Conservation Union, the Association for the Protection of the Mountain World and the Bavarian State Association for Homeland Care initially reacted with great skepticism. They petitioned the state legislature to prevent the deal, which amounts to privatizing the state-owned forester’s lodge.
In April, the two investors Manuel Neuer (left) and Johannes Rabl informed Ilse Aigner (CSU), President of the State Parliament and local Miesbach MP, about their plans.
(Photo: Matthias Köpf)
But in July, the finance committee of the state parliament rejected this petition and approved a long-term lease agreement with Rabl and Neuer. Several clauses in it are intended to prevent the excursion restaurant, which only operates in the summer, from becoming an expensive celebrity bar for private parties, as the petitioners and the Tegernsee Valley protection association had feared. Before the contract was awarded, Neuer and Rabl had agreed, among other things, on a traffic concept with a significant reduction in the parking space and a capacity limit and a winter closure of the toll road from Tegernsee to Valepp, which was already threatened by avalanches. Guests who want to stay in one of the twelve rooms should have been taken by shuttle bus over the otherwise permanently closed road from Schliersee to the Forsthaus.
Now only the small Jagerhäusl and the Klausenhaus, which is in dire need of renovation, are to be rented out from the ensemble in the Valepp in winter as pure self-catering accommodation. That’s what investors offered their critics last week, to their surprise. At another meeting on Tuesday, the agreement was documented in writing.
Neuer and his business partner avoid lengthy processes
With the complete renunciation of winter catering operations, Rabl and Neuer are not only reacting to the concerns of the clubs, but also of the authorities. You may avoid lengthy processes and can also plan a little less because significantly more staff accommodation would be needed for the winter. “I can assure you that the Valepp will go back to what it used to be,” says Rabl. “May we have an inn in Valepp in two or three years that everyone can be proud of. Manuel Neuer and I will do everything to make this dream come true.”
Hans Kornprobst from the Bund Naturschutz considers this turn of phrase “downright sensational” in his own words. Rabl and Neuer had assured that they would only like to have the Valepp opened up with an electrically powered public bus and to block all private transport, as the BN has been demanding for years. “We are happy to be partners of the landlords when it comes to fighting for it in the municipalities and at the state level,” says Kornprobst about this possible “flagship project”.
Lorenz Sanktjohanser for the Association for the Protection of the Mountain World and Angela Brogsitter-Finck for the Tegernsee Valley Protection Association express similar views. The managing director of the national association for home care, Rudolf Neumaier, had always remained in contact with Rabl and Neuer and had sought a joint solution. With this, according to Neumaier, the investors could now preserve the Forsthaus as a monument and “save the magic of this place”.