Les Avants-Sonloup Funicular

The incline of Les Avants, in the Swiss Alps, is no joke. With a 54 percent grade, it’s not the most obvious place to string up cables and call it transport. But that bears no importance here, as the Swiss went ahead and did it anyway.

Les Avants, in the commune of Montreux, was one of the first ski resorts in Switzerland. A pair of enterprising brothers, Jean-Louis and Ami Dufour, summoned international travelers to the village by developing a dynamo hotel and resort, and inaugurating the Les Avants–Sonloup funicular in 1912 to transport visiting winter enthusiasts.

Today, the funicular still carries skiers and bobsledders throughout winter and offers a convenient hoist to hikers and purveyors of wild daffodils when the weather allows. Some of its passengers grasp the sides of their seats and squeeze their eyes shut, while others are brave enough to gawk out the window. Either way, this Little Cable Railcar That Could keeps chugging along.

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