Matterhorn Paradise Cable Car Station
Now extended all the way to Trockner Stegg, relax and enjoy the view.
Matterhorn Glacier Paradise is technically the Klein Matterhorn. Suitable Zermatt vacation rentals place the whole premier skiing experience at your fingertips. It is the highest altitude in the Zermatt-Cervinia area, a premier skiing site in Switzerland, and is also the end point and termination of the highest cable car in Europe, at 3,820 metres.
It was a difficult challenge just getting the project off the ground, and once negotiations between governmental organisations, nature groups and the local populace had concluded and everything set, actually getting the men to do the work proved difficult, with such altitudes involved.
Construction began in 1976 on three associated sites, which were the terminal in the valley, three towers and the terminal up the mountain.
The mountain station had to use 2,000 cubic metres of concrete, transported by helicopter in special tanks protecting it against the extreme weather conditions. Temperatures could fall to below minus forty degrees in winds of 100 km per hour, making for extremely difficult working conditions.
By 1977 work had progressed enough for the actual track to be dragged into place, a major feat in itself. It was 22 miles long and weighed 300 tons and had to be transported from Schweigmatten to Trockener Steg, a distance of 3,600 metres. Giant wheels were used to wind and unwind the immense cables.The four cables were installed in December 1978 and everything else completed by 1979, in a remarkable and internationally-acclaimed feat of mechanical engineering.
Two passenger cabins were then flow from Tasch, each with a capacity for 100 people, to the terminal in the valley, and operations were underway just in time for the new season on 23 December.
Matterhorn Paradise Cable Car Station marks the end of the multi-stage journey from Zermatt, a veritable web of various types of chairs, lifts, trains, funicular tunnels and sheer leg-work. Over 14 million skiers have used the station since it was completed. In Zermatt, vacation rentals places you conveniently close to the station since there are no cars and Zermatt is a small area.
The cable car station provides a panoramic view platform that was installed recently, reached by means of an elevator placed mid-way along the tunnel. Then there’s a climb up some stairs. There’s an attractive ‘Ice Cave’ just beyond the station, with sweeping views.
When staying in Zermatt, vacation rentals are booked well in advance due to the exclusive nature of the area.
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