Alpine ‘rollercoaster’ goes viral

A video of a ride on the Gelmer funicular – one of the steepest mountain railways in Europe – has gone viral, having been seen by millions of people on Instagram.

The power company that produces hydroelectricity from dams near the Grimsel pass in the Bernese Alps opened the funicular to the public in 2001.

Up until then it had been in service to provide employees with access to the many dams and turbine plants on the pass.

It’s become a popular tourist attractionExternal link due to its near vertical ascent and descent down the mountainside in open carriages.

But now a video of the descent, done in time lapse, could make it even more popular.

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Visit Switzerland 🇨🇭 (@visitswitzerland)External link am Jul 25, 2018 um 9:22 PDT

The national tourism marketing body told swissinfo.ch that such viral posts reach people who may have never considered holidaying in Switzerland.

The office said it would begin using more “influencer marketing” (targeting influential people) in future alongside traditional approaches.

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Gelmerbahn Funicular🇨🇭 (@gelmerbahn)External link am Jul 28, 2018 um 12:00 PDT

The viral video was posted on the “​​​​​​​Visit SwitzerlandExternal link” Instagram account and shared by thousands of others. 

However, anyone travelling to Switzerland to experience the alpine ‘rollercoaster’ as seen in the video may be disappointed. The funicular travels at a much slower speed than shown.