From December 13, 2024, Switzerland will be home to the world’s steepest aerial tramway. Schilthorn-Piz Gloria in the Jungfrau Ski Area in the Bernese Alps will open the first section of its aerial tramway to the peak at Schilthorn on December 13. The first of three sections is the steepest, with a gradient of 159.4% in its steepest part and an average gradient of 91.8%. The aerial tramway is built by Garaventa, a subsidiary of the Doppelmayr Group. The 85-person Garaventa cable car can transport a total of 800 people per hour from Stechelberg Valley at 866 meters (2,841 feet) to the station at Mürren 1,641.40 meters (5,384 feet), covering an altitude difference of 775 meters (2,543 feet).
The incredible project has been marked by a series of unique engineering feats. Due to the steep incline in the first section of the cable car, the valley station features a unique design that sees the cable car coming in and out of the roof. The unique cabins by Carvatech, another Doppelmayr subsidiary, feature windows that slide down to chest height, giving passengers an open-air feeling as well as offering ventilation during the summer months. While not the fastest cable car in the world, the new tramway still travels at an impressive speed of 7 meters per second, cutting the journey to less than 4 minutes from the valley to Mürren.
Up until now, the steepest cable car in the world has been the “Loen Skylift” in Norway with a maximum gradient of 133%. With the opening of the first section of the aerial tramway at the Schilthorn, the Swiss will claim that crown. The opening of the second section will take place in two parts, with the second section projected to open in March 2025, and the third section at the end of July 2026.
The Schilthorn-Piz Gloria ski area offers 54 kilometers (34 miles) of groomed runs serviced by 17 ski lifts. The ski area opens this weekend, on November 2. At a peak elevation of 2,970 meters (9,744 feet), Schilthorn-Piz Gloria is the highest ski resort in the Bernese Oberland. From the peak at Piz Gloria, visitors can enjoy spectacular panorama views to the world-famous peaks Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. The revolving restaurant at the peak of the Schilthorn is named Piz Gloria after the fictive peak in James Bond’s “On her Majesty’s Secret Service.” The restaurant was built for the filming of the James Bond movie featuring George Lazenby, while the novel’s peak is actually in the St. Moritz ski region. “Piz” is the Rumantsch word for peak, while Swiss-German is spoken in the Bernese Oberland.
