In the history of alpine passenger transportation, encrusting gondola seats with Swarovski crystals is surely not the most tasteful idea. Even in the Swiss town of Zermatt, a high-class, high-altitude tourist destination, it will remain an exception.
Of the 25 new cable cars slated to ferry people to the top of Klein Matterhorn, four will contain a total of 280,000 crystals — a blingy reminder of the operator’s intention to create a “unique installation.”
The lower terminus at the Trockener Steg station lies fully 2,923 meters (9,590 feet) above sea level, with the summit station at 3,821 meters, higher even than Austria’s highest mountain. Up here, the air is thin and the landscape harsh. The dusty, yellowed glacier beneath the cable car melts in the autumn sun.
The company that owns the new gondola, Zermatt Bergbahnen AG, invested 55 million Swiss francs (48 million euros) in its construction and it began operating last weekend, carrying passengers to Europe’s highest mountain station. The new cableway can transport three times as many people as the existing gondola beside it.
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