Fundraising campaign proves disappointingWill the record-breaking lift in the Upper Valais soon be history?
Jan-Niklas Jäger
8.1.2025
The Törbel valley lift is to be renovated. The project is expensive: a fundraising campaign has so far raised a good 400,000 francs, but a million is needed. Now the record-breaking lift is threatened with closure.
08.01.2025, 19:45
08.01.2025, 19:50
Jan-Niklas Jäger
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The Törbeltal lift needs to be renovated.
This is due to shifts in the terrain, which have caused four of the masts to become misaligned.
The renovation will cost one million francs. The operators cannot raise the money on their own.
A fundraising campaign has so far met with too little interest: Less than half of the money has been raised so far.
If the required sum is not reached by the end of spring 2025, the lift will have to remain closed.
The Törbeltal lift is 2045 meters long and takes passengers from an altitude of 1883 meters to 2550 meters. The latter is a record: no other lift in Switzerland has a greater difference in altitude between start and finish. But the lift in the Moosalp ski area in Upper Valais could be history in the near future.
The lift, which is around 47 years old, is in urgent need of renovation. The environment in which it is located is to blame: The terrain is moving. As a result, four of the masts are up to 50 centimetres off axis. As a result, it could not be used last season.
The Moosalp Bergbahnen cannot possibly finance the necessary renovation alone: One million francs is needed to bring the lift up to scratch. If the renovation is not carried out, it will probably remain closed.
Less than half of the required money collected
The money was therefore to be collected in a fundraising campaign. But it has not had the desired success, reports the "Walliser Bote". At 400,120 francs, not even half of the money needed has been raised. However, collections will continue during the current winter season.
"If the planned funding does not materialize by the end of spring 2025, the painful decision will unfortunately have to be made to take the lift out of service," the operators inform on their website. Moosalp Bergbahnen itself has contributed 200,000 Swiss francs to the sum raised so far.
With the help of a traverse, an excessive loss of slope kilometers should be prevented in this case. As a result, the slope should only lose one of its 25 kilometers when the Törbeltal lift is closed. But there is still time to prevent not only this loss, but also that of a piece of history.