There is currently a great deal of dynamism and motivation in Valais when it comes to mountain biking: new trails here, the organization of the World Championships in 2025, specific campaigns there, new transport options elsewhere. The current message from the Gornergrat Bahn is completely at odds with the landscape. They have announced that from summer 2025, bicycles will no longer be transported - even transportation in a Tranzbag is prohibited. The Gornergrat should belong exclusively to hikers and day trippers. There is no room for mountain bikers in the Gornergrat region.

The mountain railroad operators describe their approach as "unbundling". However, "unbundling" refers to an orderly and structured coexistence. However, the Gornergrat Bahn's approach is called conflict prevention through "exclusion". Notabenexperience has shown this to be an unsuitable and long outdated model - but this has obviously not yet reached the far end of the Mattertal valley.

Skewed light and against all trends

The withdrawal of the Gornergrat Bahn is incomprehensible in that bike transport has only been possible early in the morning and late in the afternoon since 2020 - a perfectly suitable and accepted procedure. The complete exclusion casts a skewed light on the railroads and thus also on the entire Zermatt region. While the whole of Valais is courting mountain bikers, here they are being blocked. While a little further down, the destination and the mountain railroads (a different operating company, of course) are conjuring up one flow trail after another in the mountain, just a few meters further up they want to set up a kind of MTB exclusion zone.

The Gornergrat Bahn has every right to stop transporting bikes. This is an independent company with independent sovereignty over its transport capacities. But it is also the arrogant behavior of a company that simply doesn't need the mountain bikers because the international tourists bring in so much money. The bulky bikes with the potential for conflict are too troublesome from a business point of view. That would have been the honest argument instead of using the transparent cloak of "disentanglement" and raising a conflict on the shield that you want to counter prudently.

Message from the Gornergrat Bahn, 13.12.2024:

"The Gornergrat Bahn stands for high-quality, natural and easily accessible adventure offers in both the winter and summer seasons. This consistent strategic orientation as an adventure mountain has proven its worth and frequencies have increased steadily.

In order to improve the quality of service for guests and increase the seating capacity per train, the Gornergrat Bahn has decided to discontinue bike transport from the 2025 summer season. The transport of bikes in the TranZBag will also no longer be possible from then on.

An important aspect for the discontinuation of bike transport is the separation of hikers and bikers in the Gornergrat area. In the past, there have always been misunderstandings and conflicts between these groups. With the completion of the Blauherd flow trail, the current expansion of the bike infrastructure by the municipality of Zermatt is complete. No further flow trails are planned in the Gornergrat area. The existing bike trail on the Riffelberg will remain accessible in summer using the Zermatt Bergbahnen facilities.

From the Gornergrat Bahn's point of view, this step makes sense in order to achieve the best possible coexistence of all parties involved and goes hand in hand with the sustainability efforts of the BVZ Group. The aim is to relieve the burden on tourist leisure trails and promote the preservation of sensitive ecosystems, such as those around Lake Riffel. The decision is the result of careful consideration of customer needs and the strategic direction of the Gornergrat Bahn."

Further information about the Gornergrat Bahn can be found here: gornergrat.ch/en/stories/setting-biketransport