Belvedere - Otro
A 1950s gondola from Alagna up to the Vallone dell'Otro, closed and abandoned in 1972 after an accident in which four people were killed.
- Region
- Piedmont
- Country
- Italy
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1950s
- Year closed
- 1972
- Reason for closure
- Safety, following an accident in 1972 in which four people died. The deaths compromised the installation's operation and it was closed and abandoned.
History
This gondola was built in the 1950s to link Alagna Valsesia, at 1,190 m under Monte Rosa, with the Vallone dell'Otro at 1,875 m - ground the Piedmont census singles out for its high environmental value. It did not end for any of the ordinary reasons in this dataset. In 1972 there was an accident in which four people were killed, and the line was closed and abandoned on safety grounds; the survey is explicit that the deaths compromised its operation. What remains on the mountain is the pylons, both the departure and arrival stations, and the ruins of a hotel building, with some parts since dismantled. The surveyors graded the environmental damage four out of six and the feasibility of clearing the site two. The census also notes, separately from this record, that the cable car higher up from the Bocchetta delle Pisse at 2,396 m to Punta Indren at 3,260 m in the Monterosa Ski area had been closed as obsolete a few years before the survey and was being held potentially operable rather than removed - a different installation from this one, and not recorded here as abandoned. The coordinates mark the Otro hamlets at the top of the line and should be treated as approximate.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed lift | Gondola | A cabinovia linking Alagna at 1,190 m with the Vallone dell'Otro at 1,875 m. Its pylons and both stations remain, along with the remains of a hotel building; some parts have been dismantled |
Sources and further reading
More in Italy
Location
45.8381, 7.9084