- A fire broke out in the Botta restaurant last week. It is now clear: the Glacier 3000 cable car was not damaged in the fire.
- This has been shown by research by experts.
- The reopening of the cable car, together with the ski area of the same name, is planned for November 12th.
The shock was great for the famous Swiss architect Mario Botta. The panorama mountain restaurant Botta on the Glacier 3000 in Les Diablerets (VD) went up in flames on the night of September 19th. The cause of the fire is still unknown. Nobody got hurt.
Specialists in the construction of cable cars have now confirmed that the system is 100 percent functional. This was announced by the mountain railway company Glacier 3000.
The two upper floors of the building with the Botta restaurant and the self-service area suffered irreparable damage, according to the communiqué. However, the building structure is stable and the foundations were spared. The design of the building and the fire safety measures taken during construction would have prevented the flames from reaching the lower level where the cable car is located.
Eviction in progress
In order to be able to use the infrastructure at 3000 meters normally again, the summit station has to be secured. Extensive clearing of the upper part of the building has already begun.
The company is examining two solutions for operation this winter. The first is that the upper floors are completely dismantled. A temporary roof would then be erected over the third floor ceiling to protect the cable car.
In the second variant, the ceiling of the top floor would be stabilized with load-bearing pillars and the openings in the windows caused by the fire would be closed. Construction work for a new restaurant will start in spring 2023.