Alp Mountain High, Switzerland

Our last full day on this trip dawned bright and beautiful. I had to get up at 5:30 to write a memo for work. After doing that, I got ready, woke everyone up, and then looked out the window to a clear blue sky, and the snow-covered, rocky peaks of Jungfrau and Silberhorn staring back at me from 11,000+ feet up.

(Well, Lauterbrunnen is at the 2600 elevation, so it’s technically about an 8,400 foot differential, but only a pollster would obsess about that.)

The folks at Hotel Silberhorn were kind and let us leave the car, with our luggage in it, in the parking lot after checking out, instead of parking it in what may have been a more risky spot – the train station. So we ambled down to the train station, and bought the expensive round-trip tickets from Lautterbrunnen to Jungfraujoch. It bills itself as the “Top of Europe” because it is the highest point reachable by regular folks because of the train.

We started out at 2,611 feet in Lauterbrunnen, and slowly made the climb to 11,332 feet up. There are numerous stops along the way – you can get off, wander around, hike, explore – and then hop back on the next train(s). Because we still had to make the half-way cross Switzerland drive to Geneva, we did none of that until the way down.

Wengen looks like the kind of town we could stay in next time we come – it’s perched 4,200 feet over the valley, with spectacular views of the Schilthorn, Breithorn, and Grosshorn, as well as some of the falls. As the train climbed, we must have seen another seven or eight falls, some spectacularly beautiful, others not so much.

As we rounded the corner at Wengeralp on our way to KleineScheidegg, the big three came fully into view – Jungfrau (13,600+), Monch (13,475), and Eiger (13,000+). Eiger may be the smallest of the three, but it has a (North) face to die for – 45 or 64 deaths (depending on your source) trying to climb and counting. Eiger means “ogre”, Monch is “monk” and Jungfrau means “maiden.”

Once we moved on from the Eigergletscher stop, we entered the famous Jungfraujoch tunnel – which is 7 kilometers long and quite famous as the highest railway in Europe, and one which took years to build. It’s still incredible that they were able to do this – starting in 1896 and finishing in 1912 – they have a big countdown clock at Kleine Scheidegg to the 100th anniversary.

I got off the train during the five minute stop at Eismeer (“Sea of Ice”), and the views were amazing – ice fields as far as the eye could see. At 10,360 feet up, it’s probably the second highest stop in Europe!

We reached the top of Europe about two hours and ten minutes after leaving Lauterbrunnen. The set up is fabulous – once you fight your way past the immediate throngs of those getting off the train. We went outside – and it was warm enough that I unzipped the lower legs of my zip-off hiking pants (notice how it IS about my zip-off pants!).

Like characters in the Lord of the Rings, we wandered under the mountain and up the elevator to the Sphinx Observation Terrace – 11,760 feet up. The views all around were stunning. We then went back down, and walked out to the glacier, where we did zip-lining. That was great fun – climbing up shaky stairs partway up the rock face, and then down the zip line into the snow. After that, we hit the cafeteria for (once again) an overpriced lunch. After that, we headed out to the Plateau, which afforded great views. Even with the snow, because of the sun, it was pretty warm. Getting out of the building onto the Plateau took some work – it was icy and slick. Tourists were going down.

Carol had some challenges with the altitude change – we of course read afterwards that plenty of people have challenges going from the Valley to the top in the same day – we saw one lady having to receive oxygen. They actually suggest staying higher up the night before going to the top – or at very least stopping for a long lunch at Kleine Scheidegg. Whoops.

We finished off at the Ice Palace, which was a pretty cold, slick underground chamber full of ice sculptures of penguins, polar bears, etc.

Given that we had to drive the two hours plus to Geneva, we headed to the train and caught the 1:30 heading back down. We got off at the first stop on the way down – Eigergletscher and hiked down an easy trail to Kleine Scheidegg. It was an alpine meadow trail, with great looks at the big three, the waterfalls coming off of the mountains, the bright blue alpine lake near Kleine Scheidegg (which one brave soul was swimming in), and lots of cows.

We all wished we had more time to hike around and to explore. It would be great to spend multiple days in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and the Grindelwald Valley. It’s clearly an amazing part of the world, with the Alps, the Alpine Meadows, the lakes, and the waterfalls.

And, we did ‘t even explore the Schilthorn side of the Valley, including Murren. Well, now we have a reason to go back!

We caught the next train leaving Kleine Scheidegg and made our way down. If we had time, I would have gotten off in Wengen and hiked down to Lauterbrunnen. I had to wake everyone up, so we climb the hill to get the car and head off to Geneva and the end of the trip.