The erection of the 150 EC-B 6 Litronic Flat-Top at an altitude of 2,975m was conducted by a team of experts from Liebherr, together with Swiss helicopter firm Heliswiss and planners from Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG.

The 150 EC-B 6 is being used to build the new Eibsee cable car, designed to transport visitors from the Eibsee station to the summit of the Zugspitze. The cable car will have the highest steel support in the world, measuring 127m, and a record breaking 3,207m from the support to the summit station. The crane was set up with a radius of 50m and hook height of 18.6m, specially configured to withstand high wind speeds of up to 280kph and low temperatures.

The crane’s modular design allowed it be split into components weighing no more than 3.4t, tailored to the capacity of the helicopter.

The crane was prepared for the special erection process when it arrived at the site. It was transported to the Sonnalpin midway station in components on a rack railway. From there, Heliswiss flew the components up to the summit station where the crane was erected from the air with the help of Liebherr erection specialists.

Geo-Alpinbau GmbH in Mils in Tirol deliberately chose to use Liebherr’s many years of experience with complicated jobs of this nature. The planning work for the crane erection was carried out in close collaboration with Martin Hurm, project manager for the construction of the new Eibsee cable car, Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG and Michael Weißschädel, project manager at the tower crane solutions department in Biberach.