Matterhorn Alpine Crossing Wins Swiss Mountain Award 2023
The highlight of this year's Forum Cable Cars Switzerland industry conference in Davos was the presentation of the 10th Swiss Mountain Awards. The award for a particularly innovative achievement in the cable car industry went to Zermatt Bergbahnen AG for the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing project.
Every two years, Cable Cars Switzerland (SBS) honors outstanding, innovative achievements or projects in the Swiss cable car industry with the Swiss Mountain Award. The prize is endowed with CHF 10,000 and is sponsored by SISAG. For the final selection in 2023, the jury had previously nominated three projects from numerous applications: heating the Stoos Lodge using recuperated energy from Stoosbahnen AG; the SyBaB® cable car station without staff from Bergbahnen Hohsaas AG and the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing from Zermatt Bergbahnen AG. The latter was able to convince the jury best.
Since the summer of 2023, the long-held vision of a continuous, year-round connection between Zermatt and the Italian town of Cervinia through the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing has been a reality. As the final piece of the puzzle, the Matterhorn Glacier Ride II between the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise and Testa Grigia makes it possible to cross the Alps between Italy and Switzerland by cable car. The modern 3S cable car enables the seamless connection between Zermatt and Cervinia, which has been desired for more than 80 years.
Markus Hasler, CEO of Zermatt Bergbahnen AG says about the Matterhorn Alpine Crossing: “In addition to the added value for our guests, this visionary cable car project also brings an increase in value for tourism development on both sides of the border by establishing cross-border partnerships. Not only Zermatt and Cervinia benefit from this, but also the Aosta Valley and Valais as well as the whole of Switzerland."
The award ceremony took place on Thursday afternoon, October 19, 2023 in front of around 380 people at the Swiss Cable Car Forum industry conference in Davos.
