MILESI TURNS MONT BLANC INTO AN OPEN-AIR LABORATORY TO TEST EXTERIOR COATINGS IN EXTREME CONDITIONS
The durability of Exterior Coatings will be tested on the benches of Skyway Monte Bianco
Skyway Monte Bianco is the futuristic cable car in Courmayeur that carries visitors from 1,300 meters up to Punta Helbronner at 3,466 meters, the closest accessible point to Mont Blanc. Since its opening in 2015, it has become one of the Alps’ most advanced engineering marvels, welcoming over 250,000 visitors each year—more than 2.5 million in a decade.
For Milesi, this unique location becomes a high-altitude open-air laboratory, at 3,466 meters above sea level, where the durability of Exterior Coatings is monitored under extreme weather conditions—at an altitude never tested before.
On the panoramic terrace, known as “Osservatorio 360°”, climate conditions are typically alpine: sub-zero temperatures for much of the year, unpredictable weather patterns, frequent snowfall in winter (with lows below -20°C), and strong UV rays in summer, when temperatures rarely exceed 10°C. These wheather challenge push coatings to their limits like nowhere else.
Due to the site’s unique climatic conditions, Milesi proposed a collaboration with Skyway Monte Bianco: to inspect and restore the conifer wood benches on the panoramic terrace, exposed to mountain weather elements all year round.
During the winter off-season, the benches were dismantled, airlifted by helicopter to the valley, and fully restored after careful assessment.
The restoration process began with a deep cleaning phase, revealing the wood’s natural character. A conifer-specific impregnating agent was then applied, enriched with UV-filtering pigments that offer effective shielding against solar radiation while maintaining the wood’s original appearance.
This was followed by carefully layered protective coatings. Water-based Exterior Coatings, certified by CATAS and WKI for their outstanding durability and environmental resistance have been used for this project.
Standard certification for coatings generally considers altitudes up to 1,500 meters. Thanks to this partnership, Milesi can now observe product performance of its products at elevations exceeding 3,000 meters, under environmental stressors rarely replicated in standard laboratory conditions.
This isn’t just routine maintenance: it marks the beginning of a long-term research project designed to turn Punta Helbronner into an open-air lab for real-world testing under extreme conditions.
Further inspections are scheduled for late September (end of summer season) and April (end of winter season). These evaluations will measure how well the coatings protected the benches over time. Based on the results, this project could mark a new chapter in the history of Water-based Exterior Coatings.
Watch the video:
July 2025