AS POSTED IN THE JANUARY '12 ISSUE OF FREESKIER. WORDS & PHOTO: MATTIAS FREDRIKSSON

I took this photo in Engelberg, Switzerland, late January 2011. I have been in Engelberg about 15 times since my first visit in 1997 but had never seen this tram before. I had heard about it and thought it was at the end of the valley. One day I was skiing around with some friends who knew about it. The locals call it the secret lift, and it is really a secret—you hardly see it while skiing by.

The tram is super small. There’s only room for six people per load, and you’ve got to pick up a phone and tell the dude on top you wanna go. This day was a cold, windy whiteout, so we were trying to find something to ski and shoot in the trees. Most of the lifts in Engelberg are above treeline. This tram takes you just above tree level, so it services the only trees on Mount Titlis. It was pretty cool to go straight into the whiteout, but not so much fun to walk out and ski down in the milk.