2023-07-20 20:06:01
According to information from the RTS, Glacier 3000, in Les Diablerets (VD), is facing a technical problem. The second cable car that leads to the summit is out of order.
“The 10:50 a.m. cabin on the second section had an electrical failure,” explains Bernhard Tschannen, director of Glacier 3000, in the Forum program. “A part that changes the frequencies to run the cable car has dropped,” he says.
Several people were in the stopped cable car, but it was “pulled into the station with the emergency motor”.
Helicopter evacuation
As for the tourists present at the restaurant of the station, they remained stranded there for more than an hour. “We tried to repair the breakdown, but we saw that it was going to take longer than expected,” explains Bernhard Tschannen. “This is where we decided to call Air-Glaciers,” he continues.
Two helicopters evacuated the 270 people who were on site to the intermediate station. “We did 54 rotations, it took a good hour and a half,” says the director of Glacier 3000.
According to Bernhard Tschannen, the helicopter was the only valid solution to bring down the stranded tourists. For him, the main thing was to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
“The most important thing, especially at 3000 meters, is always to minimize the risk and bring everyone back safe and sound at the bottom,” he said, adding that the incident did not cause any injuries.
Not fixed yet
It is still too early to say whether the cable car will be repaired on Friday. “We are working hard on it with specialists to repair the breakdown,” assures Bernhard Tschannen.
But the parts to be repaired are not necessarily easy to find. “You can’t just buy them at the supermarket,” jokes the director of Glacier 3000.
“We have to wait for the feedback from the specialized companies. They will come on site and we will try to restart it for Friday,” he explains. Bernhard Tschannen recommends consulting glacier3000.ch to find out if the cable car is working again.
Bad luck
Part of the top station of Glacier 3000 had been ravaged by a fire last September. The restaurant designed by Ticino architect Mario Botta on the 4th floor as well as the self-service on the 3rd floor had been destroyed by the flames, but the cable car had remained intact.
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Bernhard Tschannen is not discouraged by this misfortune. “A power failure can happen,” he relativizes. However, he recalls that all the engine parts of the cable car had been changed “about 4 or 5 years ago to really be up to date again”.
If this incident is “annoying”, it is “not so serious”, according to the director. As for the costs linked to the evacuation interventions and the repair, Bernhard Tschannen does not yet know how much they will amount to.
“For the moment, we have not yet discussed with our insurance. It will cost us something, but here it is, it is part of the exploitation of a glacier domain at 3000 meters”, he concludes.
Sandrine Hochstrasser/noble
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