Tonale’s proposed Skywalk exposes a deeper fight over the future of the Alps

A new glass-floored viewing platform planned at Passo Paradiso is being presented as a gateway to the high mountains. Its critics see something very different: a permanent monument to a tourism model they believe is running out of time.

Construction has begun on the Skywalk at Monticelli, near Passo Paradiso in the Pontedilegno-Tonale ski area. Planned at an elevation of 2,585 metres, the cantilevered structure is intended to offer visitors panoramic views across Val Camonica, Val di Sole and the Adamello-Presanella and Ortler ranges. The project is scheduled for completion in summer 2027.

The platform will be positioned beside the upper station of the Paradiso gondola, making it accessible without a demanding climb. Transparent flooring, glass railings and sections of metal grating are designed to create the sensation of walking out over the void. It will form part of a circular walking route and sit at the entrance to a historically significant area of First World War trenches.

That combination — spectacle, easy access and dramatic elevation — is precisely what has divided opinion.

For the lift company and local tourism authorities, the Skywalk is a strategic investment in a resort that needs more reasons for visitors to come outside the core winter season. For environmental groups, mountaineering organisations and some local commentators, it is an unnecessary intervention in a fragile landscape, turning a battlefield and glacial environment into an Instagram backdrop.

The argument is no longer only about one viewing platform. It is about what the Alpine tourism industry should build as snow becomes less dependable, glaciers retreat and traditional skiing faces a more uncertain future.

A project designed to extend the season

The Skywalk forms part of a wider modernisation programme for Pontedilegno-Tonale. Alongside the viewing platform, the plans include new gondola infrastructure and expanded snowmaking on the Giuliana, Paradiso and Bleis pistes. The investment is intended to improve the area’s lift network and make the resort more competitive in both winter and summer.

Pontedilegno-Tonale currently links the Passo Tonale, Ponte di Legno, Temù and Presena Glacier sectors. The ski area offers approximately 100 kilometres of pistes and reaches around 3,000 metres at the glacier, where high altitude has traditionally helped support a long season.

The resort’s existing infrastructure already enables non-skiers to reach the high mountain environment. The Paradiso cable car climbs from the pass towards the glacier, while the Presena gondola provides access to the upper terrain and summer viewpoints. The wider area also promotes hiking, historical trails, mountain huts and glacier excursions.

The Skywalk would add a highly marketable focal point to that offer. Families, older visitors and people unable or unwilling to undertake a strenuous mountain walk could reach a dramatic viewpoint directly by cable car. Supporters argue that this makes the landscape more inclusive rather than less authentic.

The project’s defenders also place it within a broader interpretation of the First World War heritage around Monticelli and Passo Paradiso. The trenches, tunnels and fortifications of the so-called White War are already part of the area’s cultural identity. The proposed route is intended to connect the new viewpoint with those historic sites, giving visitors a controlled and accessible way to encounter them.

That is the commercial logic: use the gondola to bring people up, offer them a powerful visual experience, then connect the experience to history, walking and hospitality. A visitor need not be a skier or experienced alpinist to spend time at 2,585 metres.

The criticism: a theme park at altitude

Opponents argue that the same qualities make the Skywalk problematic.

Environmental organisations including Mountain Wilderness, Legambiente, CIPRA and Italia Nostra, along with the Italian Alpine Club and SAT, have criticised what they see as the accelerating commercialisation of the high mountains. Their concern is not limited to the platform’s footprint. It is the cumulative effect of building increasingly engineered attractions in landscapes whose value lies in their relative absence of infrastructure.

The central criticism is that a glass-floored platform creates a short-lived “wow” experience while imposing a permanent structure on a sensitive alpine site. The writer and mountain commentator Marco Albino Ferrari has described the project as irreversible infrastructure built for a temporary attraction, warning that its popularity may fade while the structure remains in place for decades or centuries.

Ferrari has also questioned the stated idea of “adding value” to the mountains. In his argument, the landscape, its geology, wildlife and historical traces already possess value. The priority should be maintaining paths and existing infrastructure, rather than introducing new constructions designed for rapid consumption and social-media visibility.

That criticism reflects a growing divide in Alpine tourism. One side sees experience-led development as essential: visitors need a reason to travel, stay longer and return in summer and autumn. The other sees the proliferation of viewing platforms, suspension bridges, mountain coasters and selfie points as evidence that resorts are treating the Alps like an amusement park.

The dispute is particularly pointed at Passo Paradiso because the site is not an empty scenic overlook. It is part of a landscape shaped by war, glacier retreat and high-altitude ecology. Critics say that a structure designed around transparency, height and spectacle risks overwhelming the quieter historical meaning of the place.

The paradox of a glacier resort

Pontedilegno-Tonale’s plans reveal a difficult paradox facing many Alpine destinations.

The resort’s high-altitude identity is an asset. The Presena Glacier rises to around 3,000 metres and has long helped the area offer late-season skiing. Official tourism material presents it as a place where skiing can continue into spring and where the cable car provides access to the glacier and surrounding mountains in summer.

But the glacier is also a visible reminder of climate change. The landscape that attracts visitors is changing, and the infrastructure designed to bring people to it is becoming harder to justify if it supports only a shrinking winter product.

This is why the Skywalk is being framed as part of diversification. Hiking, scenic sightseeing, historical interpretation, mountain dining and family attractions can continue even when skiing becomes less reliable. The platform would not depend on visitors having skis, technical equipment or advanced fitness.

Yet critics respond that replacing snow-dependent tourism with construction-heavy sightseeing does not necessarily amount to sustainable adaptation. A resort can reduce its reliance on skiing while still increasing pressure on the mountain through roads, lifts, buildings, energy use and visitor concentration.

The question, then, is not simply whether the Skywalk is attractive or whether visitors will enjoy it. It is whether the new attraction creates a viable year-round economy without reproducing the same high-consumption model in a different form.

A resort already in transition

The proposed Skywalk arrives as Pontedilegno-Tonale is investing heavily in the renewal of its transport system. A new six-seater Valena chairlift has replaced an older four-seater, while the Paradiso gondola’s original cabins were replaced during summer 2026. Further planned developments listed for the ski area include gondola, funicular and people-mover projects, alongside new and upgraded lifts.

This investment reflects the competitive reality of modern skiing. Resorts are expected to reduce queues, improve accessibility, offer more reliable connections and make it easier for visitors to move between sectors. Pontedilegno-Tonale markets itself as a linked area stretching from the pass and glacier down to Ponte di Legno and Temù, with modern lifts connecting very different mountain environments. The danger is that every improvement creates pressure for another. More efficient lifts increase carrying capacity; more visitors create demand for more attractions; more attractions require more infrastructure. A project that begins as a modest viewpoint can become part of a much larger cycle of expansion.

The Skywalk’s location beside the gondola is therefore both its strength and its vulnerability. Easy access makes it commercially attractive and potentially inclusive. It also means that large numbers of visitors could be delivered directly into a high-altitude site with limited room for the landscape to absorb them.

The case for a more accessible mountain

Supporters are not necessarily arguing that the mountains should be urbanised. Their case is that access has always been managed and mediated in the Alps — by paths, huts, cable cars, bridges and viewing terraces.

A safe platform can allow people who cannot hike to experience a landscape that would otherwise remain inaccessible. For families, older visitors and those with limited mobility, the Skywalk could provide a rare opportunity to see the Adamello-Presanella group at close range. It may also offer a controlled vantage point from which visitors can understand the surrounding glaciers and the geography of the White War.

The resort’s wider tourism initiatives show that it is also trying to attach local identity to its visitor offer. Mountain refuges in the Tonale area have developed a sustainability programme focused on regional products, renewable energy and stronger links with local producers. The refuges say their menus include seasonal and certified products, with at least half carrying recognised quality, organic or Slow Food designations.

Those efforts suggest that the region’s tourism strategy is not based only on spectacle. It also includes food, heritage, local employment and a longer summer season. The Skywalk could become one element in that broader network rather than a standalone attraction.

But that will depend on how it is operated. A platform designed only for photographs will support the critics’ argument. A project with serious interpretation, limits on visitor numbers, careful maintenance and meaningful connections to the area’s ecology and war history would make a stronger case.

The decision facing the Alps

The controversy at Passo Paradiso is part of a much wider European debate. Across the Alps, destinations are searching for alternatives to a business model centred on lift-served skiing. Some are investing in hiking, cycling, wellness, culture and public transport. Others are building dramatic structures intended to become destinations in their own right.

The strongest projects will need to answer two questions at once: how can mountain communities remain economically viable, and how can they avoid damaging the very landscapes on which that economy depends?

At Tonale, the proposed Skywalk offers a clear answer to the first question. It creates a new product, uses existing lift access and gives visitors a reason to travel outside winter. The harder question is whether it answers the second.

At 2,585 metres, the platform would offer a spectacular view of a landscape already capable of producing awe without architectural assistance. That is the source of the project’s appeal — and the source of the resistance to it.

If completed in 2027 as planned, the Skywalk will become a test of whether Alpine tourism can evolve through lighter-touch access and interpretation, or whether the next generation of mountain attractions will continue to rely on permanent structures, engineered drama and the promise of an instant image.

For its supporters, the project is a bridge to a more diversified future. For its opponents, it is a warning that the mountains are being asked to pay for a tourism model that has not yet learned how to change.