About us - Wyssen Avalanche Control AG

A Swiss Family Company

The story of the Wyssen enterprise starts in 1926 as Jakob Wyssen, just a little over 20 years old, starts his sawmill business. His exceptional pioneer spirit did not allow him to accept the way logging had been carried out, which was dangerous to the workers and lead to serious damage to the logs and the forest soil (see movie). He invented the skyline crane – a cableway for material transport able to lift up loads all along the cable line. He started to manufacture yarders and cableway carriages in serial production in the early 1940’s. The high quality and durability of the Wyssen cableway products have always set the standard in the branch and still does. The equipment is in use in more than 60 countries worldwide. Wyssen is a pioneer in preventive avalanche control as well. In 1974, one of the first bomb tramways were installed by Wyssen at the Weissfluhjoch in Davos.

Wyssen Avalanche Control AG

In the year 2000, Sam Wyssen ( † 2020), the grandson of Jakob, started the business segment of Wyssen Avalanche Control. It was the invention of the Wyssen Avalanche Tower, which he developed together with Hansueli Gubler, AlpuG Davos to provide the most operationally reliable and effective remote avalanche control system in the market. This was a milestone in the history of the company. Within 5 years, Wyssen became the market leader in Switzerland, Austria and in Norway. Meanwhile, Wyssen Towers protect ski resorts, roads and mines in Canada, USA and Chile too.

The company sets the state-of-the-art technology and services in the branch, thanks to its innovative solutions. Examples for this are the new operating software WAC.3® for Avalanche Towers or the variety of avalanche detection systems, which are indisputably regarded today as state-of-the-art. Wyssen Avalanche Control has installed over 690 Wyssen avalanche towers and 85 detection systems worldwide by 2022. The systems and software tools are operated via the WAC.3® information platform by over 500 active users.

Our employees

Our team on the front and in the background consists of top motivated and highly qualified people who are fully committed to satisfy customer needs.
> Our team

The management

Christian Wyssen (CEO), Andreas Egger (CTO) and Walter Steinkogler (COO) form the management team of Wyssen Avalanche Control and together with their team they offer innovative solutions at the highest quality level, functionality and safety. Our customers can count on the expertise and wealth of experience of the local Wyssen teams in the respective countries.
> Your contact in your country