September 28, 2019 | #Events & more

Goosebumps at 3000 metres

Driving over a suspension bridge with Scewo BRO. This is the wish Claudia presented to the «Scewo fulfils wishes» campaign. Together we stormed two summits. A tale of many moments of happiness in Gstaad.

 

About «Scewo fulfils wishes»

In 2018, we won the IFAS Innovation Challenge launched by Cosanum. We not only won CHF 10,000 in prize money, but also a valuable collaboration with the health logistician. A conversation with Cosanum gave rise to the idea of giving away the winnings to wheelchair users through the «Scewo fulfils wishes» campaign. In this competition, people with reduced mobility had the opportunity to submit a wish that we could only fulfil with the help of Scewo BRO.

We received dozens of wishes from people in Switzerland and abroad. We fulfilled two peoples’ wishes to take them to places they could not (no longer) visit due to their handicap.

Claudia’s adrenalin rush at an altitude of almost 3000m

It was almost 30 years ago that Claudia experienced her first episode of MS. Today she can still move around the house on crutches, for longer distances she uses her active wheelchair. Stairs present a major obstacle in Claudia’s everyday life. That is why excursions into nature – and especially into the mountains – became less and less frequent. This was partly the reason why Claudia decided to submit her wish to the «Scewo fulfils wishes» campaign to cross a suspension bridge.

Up to this point, we had never crossed a suspension bridge with Scewo BRO. This made it all the more interesting for us to test whether BRO could fulfil Claudia’s wish. The Glacier 3000 Peak Walk was the perfect place for this: The suspension bridge connecting two peaks can only be reached by stairs.

Something’s in the air

Already when we met Claudia in Gstaad, we could see the look of excitement on her face: She could not (yet) imagine climbing the two summits by herself. We went straight to the Glacier 3000 valley station, where Claudia switched to Scewo BRO. Now nothing stood in the way of the adventure. We took the cable car to the summit station, where we were immediately greeted by sunshine and a breathtaking panorama. It was no surprise that Claudia decided at lunch «Let the adventure begin!», as her seat offered a direct view of the suspension bridge and the connected peaks.

Let’s do it!

Already on her way out of the restaurant to the Peak Walk, Claudia confidently negotiated the single step: Using the stair function, she casually descended to the Peak Walk overpass. We continued via a ramp to the stairs leading to the first summit. «Uneven terrain usually knocks me out of the race. BRO is easy to drive over bumps – it just does what you expect it to do,» she said in complete amazement after only the first two obstacles. Without batting an eyelid, she immediately climbed the 100 steps on her own. She even had the time and courage to wave at our drone and joke with her husband Dani and her friend Ruth. «Because the seat always levels out, I always felt safe,» is how she sums up her stair-climbing experience. For panoramic views, the height-adjustment mode was the obvious choice. At a seat height of just under 90cm, Claudia was able to enjoy the full view of the mountain panorama. Before crossing the suspension bridge, Claudia took one more deep breath: «There was a moment when I thought to myself: Will I or won’t I? And then I just did it. It swayed a little from other people walking across. But I felt safe at all times.»

A moment of happiness that will never be forgotten

Beaming, Claudia drove the last few metres to the second summit. We are almost certain that, if the sun hadn’t already been shining, it would have shown itself now at the latest. Claudia looked out at the expanse of the Swiss Alps, breathed in the mountain air and beamed. She hugged her husband Dani and her friend Ruth and just enjoyed the moment: «It was incredibly important to me that I was able to share this moment with my husband and my friend. My husband has been at my side and has supported me throughout my time with multiple sclerosis – he is my confidant. And I really wanted Ruth to be there because it was her idea to do the suspension bridge.»

Mission accomplished

It was incredibly motivating for us to be able to make Claudia’s wish come true. To not only fulfil someone’s wish, but also to be able to be there and experience it first hand is a gift. Claudia’s, Dani’s and Ruth’s joy was contagious, we were able to learn a great deal about living with multiple sclerosis and were able to create – and experience – many goosebump moments. We would like to thank the three of them very much.

We would also like to thank the Glacier 3000 cable car company, who helped us with the implementation.