What Happened to the Six-Blanc Chairlift Project in Bruson?
Concept image of the proposed Pissevache Chargerat detachable 6-seater chairlift in Bruson. © Bartholet Maschinenbau AG
What Happened to the Six-Blanc Chairlift Project in Bruson?
For a while, the rumours about a new Six-Blanc chairlift in Bruson felt slightly vague. The sort of thing skiers talk about over coffee in Le Châble before disappearing back into Alpine mythology a few weeks later.
Apparently not.
Digging into it properly, the project was actually surprisingly advanced.
Under the technical project name “Pissevache Chargerat”, the proposed lift already appeared publicly on ski infrastructure databases as a planned detachable 6-seater chairlift built by Bartholet BMF. The published specifications included a projected construction date of 2026, a lift length of 1524 metres, 463 metres of vertical rise and a planned capacity of 1600 skiers per hour linking Pissevache towards Chargerat and Grand Tsai.
In other words, this was clearly a real project.
And not just buried quietly online either.
Older Téléverbier masterplan documents also appear to show the proposed connection marked out in light blue as part of the resort’s longer-term infrastructure vision for the mountain.
Which is why it came as quite a surprise when Téléverbier recently confirmed to me directly that the project has now been “entièrement mis en attente” – completely put on hold.
No timeline. No construction dates. No indication if or when it may return. Honestly, that feels slightly difficult to understand.
Because Bruson Is Quietly Becoming One of the Best Parts of Verbier
For years Bruson was treated as Verbier’s quieter neighbour. Slightly slower. Slightly less fashionable. Somewhere people disappeared to on bad weather days.
Now? On many days it is arguably the better ski experience altogether.
When the queues start building around Médran, Attelas and Tortin, more and more good skiers quietly drift across towards Bruson. Not because they are avoiding skiing, but because they are usually heading towards better skiing.
The snow around Pasay, Six-Blanc and Grand Tsai often stays good long after the main sectors have been tracked into oblivion. The trees provide contrast when the high mountain disappears into flat light. And somehow the whole place still feels slightly calmer and less frantic than the main Verbier lift system during busy periods. It still feels like skiing rather than logistics.
Which is exactly why the Six-Blanc project made so much sense.
This was not some giant vanity project or another flashy cable car for Instagram drone footage. It was simply a smart infrastructure upgrade in a sector of the mountain that genuinely deserves investment. Because the skiing itself in Bruson has never really been the issue.
Once beyond La Pasay, the mountain can still feel slightly disconnected compared to the faster-moving main sectors above Verbier. The proposed Six-Blanc lift would likely have transformed that by improving circulation towards Chargerat and Grand Tsai while making the whole Sur le Six area far easier to lap efficiently.
Simple things. But important things.
Especially as more and more resorts across the Alps continue investing heavily in lift infrastructure while parts of Verbier still feel strangely stuck somewhere around 2004 on busy powder mornings.
Téléverbier 15-year ski area masterplan showing the proposed Six-Blanc / Pissevache Chargerat lift connection in Bruson. Credit: Téléverbier
But There May Be Another Reason
There is also another layer quietly sitting behind the project which may partly explain why things have stalled.
Increasingly, local discussion around the proposed lift has centred on potential conservation restrictions in the terrain around Tête de la Payanne if the development ever moved forward.
That matters because the terrain above Bruson is not just another lift-access sector. It is also one of the most popular freeride and ski touring areas in the region, used heavily by mountain guides, ski instructors, ski tourers and strong off-piste skiers precisely because it still feels relatively wild and accessible. And that creates a difficult balance.
Because while improved lift infrastructure would undoubtedly spread skiers more effectively across the mountain, there also appears to be concern that future development could eventually come with stricter access limitations into some of the surrounding terrain.
In Switzerland, tensions between freeride access, ski touring freedom, wildlife protection and resort development are becoming increasingly common. Which means the Six-Blanc story may actually be about something much bigger than a chairlift.
The Strange Part
What makes the pause even more curious is that the project actually fitted remarkably well with Téléverbier’s own published long-term strategy.
Their masterplan talks repeatedly about improving skier distribution, modernising infrastructure and adapting the ski area to changing mountain conditions. And honestly, Bruson naturally solves many of those problems already.
More shelter. More trees. Better visibility during storms. Better snow preservation. Less concentrated skier traffic.
If you were designing the future of skiing in Verbier from scratch today, you would probably build more around Bruson, not less.
Of course there may be perfectly valid reasons why the project has been paused. Alpine lift projects are never simple. Permits, environmental concerns, politics and investment priorities all play their part.
But from the outside, it still feels surprising that one of the most logical infrastructure projects in the ski area has quietly disappeared just as Bruson is becoming more important than ever. Not every improvement in skiing needs to involve building another headline project to Mont Fort. Sometimes the smartest investments are simply the ones that make the mountain better and speed up uplift.
If you want to discover why so many local skiers quietly disappear towards Bruson on storm days and powder mornings, book a private ski lesson with Roddy Willis and explore the terrain around Pasay, Six-Blanc and Grand Tsai for yourself.
Whether the new lift ever arrives or not, the skiing over there remains some of the most interesting, snow-sure and underrated terrain in the 4 Vallées.