Tignes has unveiled its upgraded Grande Motte glacier cable car, and the big news is that now you can ride up on top of the cabins.
Climbing from 3,034 metres to 3456 metres in five minutes, the cable car originally opened in 1975 and the new cabins are part of a full overhaul of the area which includes the creation of ‘Altitude Experiences’ which will include a viewing platform and indoor exhibition accessible to all and due to open in May next year as part of the full 17 million upgrade project.
The two new ‘open-top’ cabins designed in Switzerland by Garaventa AG will offer passengers a unique 360-degree view of one of the most beautiful panoramas of the French Alps with views of Mont Blanc, the Cime de Bellecôte and the Aiguille de la Grande Sassière (3,747 m). Each cabin can hold 100 people indoors and 20 ion the roof. However the rooftop open-air sections will not operate in autumn and winter due to likely weather conditions at altitude, and will first be open to the public next May.
Inauguration du plus grand et du plus haut téléphérique terrasse au monde… et il est à Tignes ??
Posted by Tignes on Friday, 28 September 2018
Tignes has also annouced a three year clean up programme of its glacier and announced it had already removed five tonnes of rubbish in the first month of the project since August.
A similar but smaller cable car operates at Austria’s Dachstein glacier. Tignes was due to also open for the start of its 2018-19 ski season this weekend but has had to delay doing so due to inadequate snow cover on the glacier.
