Hiking in the Jungfrau Region

Lauderbrunnen to Gimmelwald, Switzerland

By Laura Muscelli

Last semester I studied abroad in Milan, Italy. For spring break my boyfriend and I traveled to Ireland, France and Switzerland. In Switzerland we stayed in Interlaken where we decided to hike the Swiss Alps. The experience was truly incredible! The height of the mountains, the crisp, thin air, the serenity- it was an amazing day. If I had more time and more money, I would have loved to travel to the top of the Jungfrau. For this trip, however, I got to experience the small towns of Lauderbrunnen, Grimmelwald, and the beautiful falls of Trummelback Falls

During my trip to Switzerland, my boyfriend and I took a day to hike the Swiss Alps in the Jungfrau region. We started in Lauterbrunnen, and hiked up to Gimmelwald.

Photo from: http://mappery.com/map-name/Jungfrau-Grindelwald-region-summer-map

Although the map may not clearly show it, Gimmelwald is pretty high up! 4,485 feet, to be exact!

That is approximately 440 stories high.The Jungfrau mountain, which is a

neighboring mountain in the region, is the highest point in Europe.

On the hike up, we saw a variety of animals.

Here are some donkeys that are enjoying the beautiful view of the mountain range.

There were also some sheep at a small house

near the hiking path. These sheep all wore bells

so the owner wouldn’t loose them.

It is believed that these huge mountains were caused by adduction over 100 million years ago.

This Jungfrau Region- meaning maiden- is still young and growing about .04 feet a year! However, the rate of erosion is greater and eventually these mountain will disappear.

The views were INCREDIBLE! I tried to document the feeling of how small I felt, although my video does not do it justice.

We took a cog train down the mountain, which was over 1,000 foot drop! It is incredible how drastically the elevation changes! There were many glaciers that formed these valleys. Perhaps a glacier formed this one.

Once getting to the bottom of the mountain, we hiked from Trummelback Falls back to Lauderbrunnen. This hike shows 12 waterfalls caused from melted snow and from rainfall.

We hiked in early April, and the falls were not especially strong. I would love to return when there is more water running over the mountains.

This fall actually shows that the fall’s water turned to snow by the time it hit the bottom of the mountain.

The water collects into this River Lütschine.

The water is some of the cleanest, clearest water I have ever seen. I was excited to drink some fresh, genuine mountain water from the Swiss Alps!

This trip through the Alps was truly breath taking and one of the highlights of my time in Europe. I wish I could have stayed longer and see more of the Swiss Alps and the Jungfrau Region. I hope to return in the future!

References:

http://www.myswissalps.com/switzerland/switzerland-nature.asp?lang=EN