Difference between revisions of "Charles Kuonen Footbridge"
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Revision as of 04:47, 14 August 2019
Charles Kuonen Footbridge
Charles Kuonen Hängebrücke
Randa, Valais, Switzerland
279 feet high / 85 meters high
1,621 foot span / 494 meter span
2017
The longest span footbridge in Europe and the second longest footbridge span in the World, the Charles Kuonen hanging bridge is located along a popular hiking trail between Zermatt and Grächen in the Valais Canton of Switzerland.
Designed and built by the famous footbridge company Swissrope, the gargantuan length of the free span of nearly 500 meters was accomplished via 2 main cables totaling 8 tons in weight. The deck is .65 meters wide and sags 20 meters below the anchorages.
The Charles Kuonen Footbridge is a replacement for the 2010 Randa Hängebrücke that was also known as Europaweg. Completed in June of 2010, the 250 meter long main span was heavily damaged just 3 months later in September of that year when a rock slide took out a 10 meter long section of walkway at the center of the bridge. With no guarantee that future slides would not destroy the Randa Footbridge, a decision was made to build a replacement span almost twice as long as the original but at a much lower elevation across the same ravine.
A typical round trip hike to the Charles Kuonen Footbridge is 4 hours with an elevation gain of more then 500 meters. The bridge was named after the renowned Swiss psychologist and winery owner Charles Kuonen.
Click on the page below to see the many other spectacular and high footbridges that have been built by Swissrope.
http://swissrope.com/website/?page_id=25
Image by www.nzz.ch.
Image by Valentin-Flauraud.
Image by Valentin-Flauraud.
Image by Valentin-Flauraud.
Image by Valentin-Flauraud.
Image by Valentin-Flauraud.
Image by Valentin-Flauraud.
The following images are of the now defunct 250 meter span Randa Footbridge that was damaged and removed in 2010.
Note the partially visible slide area bypass tunnel below the bridge.
The damaged span from a rock slide in September, 2010.
The 2010 Randa Bridge was not high enough to clear winter glacier flows.
The unique slide tunnel bypass that is now permanently damaged.
Image by Christian Wasmer.
Charles Kuonen Footbridge satellite image.
Charles Kuonen and Ronda Footbridges location map.
