Italy’s Cervinia ski resort, which is connected by piste and lifts to Zermatt in Switzerland, has made a major investment of 11.5 million Euros in a state-of-the-art new chairlift.
The new Pancheron six-seat lift, which has all the latest safety features, departs from the top of Cretaz (close to the arrival station of the chairlift of the same name), and has an hourly uplift capacity of 3,000 people/hour.
The lift rises 512 vertical metres from 2,438m above-sea-level to 2,950m above-sea-level providing access to an expanded Cretaz sector and creates a new, even faster and more convenient, way to access the higher pistes of the ski area from the resort centre. In addition the ski area accessed by the new “Pancheron” chairlift allows off-piste skiers to access multiple lines throgh the powder snow in areas like Val Furggen.
The new lift gives great access to the Pancheron piste, regarded as one of the resort’s most spectacular with multiple changes in terrain as it descends in Cervinia, and makes a 1000m vertical descent possible.
As well as improving uplift on the mountain the new lift, which has been largely funded by the area’s local government which is the major shareholder in the ski resort, is expected to lead to a decrease in vehicle traffic in resort by making uplift more efficient.