Swiss Cable Car Summits

In Switzerland we have a number of “cable car” summits (this also includes ski lifts plus cog railways / funiculars) where you can ride up to within a short walk of the summit. For the benefit of visitors to Switzerland, we have assembled a list of such summits for summer activation. We do not claim this is an exhaustive list and encourage feedback if you have other suggestions. Further, be aware of several notes:

• There are a large number of cable cars running in Switzerland, but in this list we have included only those that involve only a short hike (15 minutes or less) to the activation zone. There are many more cable cars / trains that involve an extended hike to the actual summit.
• In this list we have made two exceptions:
  • HB/NW-011 Pilatus – Tomlishorn: Pilatus, near Lucerne, is such a well-known and popular summit that its omission would be obvious. One route up (starting in Alpnachstad) is with the world’s steepest cog railway; the other way up (starting in Kriens) is with a gondola aerial cableway. Tomlishorn is a roughly half-hour hike over a well-maintained trail that is very popular with tourists. The activation zone will be packed with people.
  • HB/NW-019 Bürgenstock: From the hotels/resort area (accessible by bus and also by cog railway starting at the lakeside) there is a relatively easy half-hour hike to the base of the Hammetschwand Lift (Europe’s highest free-standing outdoor elevator and which is a nice attraction). The activation area is adjacent to the elevator’s summit station.
• These cable cars and ski lifts are often not open all year round. They run during the summer hiking season (starting mid June through anywhere from late August to mid October, and especially late in the season many run only on weekends) and then for ski season (late December through late March). In the inactive periods they undergo maintenance and inspections. Please check the website for the cable car or the local tourist office for exact operating dates.
• Many of these summits are the location of large radio/TV/telephone/microwave towers. QRM can be a problem, any may occur both on shortwave and on 2m (some HTs are particularly easily desensitized by strong transmitters on nearby frequencies).
• These summits are generally very popular tourist destinations with lots of people around, and it can be difficult to set up an antenna without disturbing them. Stringing up a full-sized dipole or inverted Vee can sometimes be troublesome; better options are a vertical or an end-fed dipole. In addition, we have heard on BE-048 Schilthorn that operators have been told emphatically to take down their antennas because they were visible on the summit station webcam.
• In addition to the actual summit, these cable car rides are often great starting points for the activation of additional nearby summits. Be sure to check the SOTA mapping project (and look at the number of activations for summits in question — if there are only a few activations, there is likely a very good reason!).