We woke again to the sound of the cow bells, but this time there was an excitement in the air. The cows had escaped and were having a fantastic time rooting up the shrubs with their horns, destroying the fruit trees and generally demolishing the kitchen garden. Their favourite game seemed to be sticking their heads right into the middle of a large bush and twisting and turning their heads vigorously until the entire plant was inverted. They were having a ball, but what a mess.
We didn’t have time to enjoy the rest of the show as we had a date with a cable car. Through a series of four cable cars we headed up through clefts in the vertical rock walls to the summit of the Schilthorn (2970m – 10,000ft). It was 8 degrees when we arrived up there at 9am, but with the promise of a stunning day. Looking out at the 200 named peaks around us, some still with patches of snow and glaciers, with mountains and peaks marching back to the horizon. What surprised us was just how high the farmland continued. There were sheep, goats and active grassland, just a few meters below where we were. This is a landscape of Ice, snow, screed slopes, vertical craggy rock faces, huge blocks of rock seemingly balanced on pinnacles of stone.
A morning coffee was welcomed at the café and this was served by an assistant who was doing her bit to disprove the generalization … she smiled! Maybe they feel more comfortable at altitude.
Schilthorn was completed in 1968 and that was the year that they filmed James Bond 007 – ‘On her majesties secret service’ here. And they still make quite a thing of it with a theatre that shows highlights from the film, and all manner of 007 souvenirs.
In the promotional film they also highlight a local triathlon. 3.1 kms swim in the lake (cold), 97 km road bike, 25 km mountain bike (up hill, where the road bikes can’t make it), and a 30 km run (more up hill). They finish at 2170m elevation (one of the cable car stops). That looks and sounds like hard yakka.
We stopped at a couple of the villages on the way back down, and they are everything that you would expect of an alpine Swiss village. It really is beautiful up here. We thought that we would buy some lunch at Grimmelwald (the last stop before the start point), but we were out of luck. This village is only accessible by foot or by cable car. Very small (smaller than we thought), and nowhere to buy anything at all. A very cool little place though, made more adorable by the fact that there is limited access, and no cars. All through here the chalets are scattered amongst the mountains like hundreds and thousands. From Grimmelweld, we decided to walk down to the last stop, about an hours walk down a fairly steep but well marked track, between the houses and across the farmland.
We agreed that the ‘cable car operator’ job had to be the sweetest job in the village. One of these guys hopped on last, stood by his console covered in buttons and flashing lights, he pushed one button to close the door, and another to open it at the other end. Everything else seemed to be automated. In between he had his head buried in a magazine, and the only way he knew that we had arrived and needed to open the door was because an alarm sounded to tell him so. They could just have a sign that says ‘last one in close the door’.
Once back in the base village we walked along to Trummelbach falls. These are absolutely amazing. From the top of the wall of rock, these falls tumble, fall, and corkscrew their way down inside the mountain. From the bottom you have the choice of taking an elevator or stairs up through the rock, and there are 10 access points where you can see the water hurtling down. Like I said, amazing. There are ten glacial waterfalls in this complex, and they drain the glaciers from Jungfrau, Mouch, and Eiger. 20,000 litres of water pour through here every second (it isn’t a very wide passage), and 20,000 tons of boulder debris per year. The whole interior is curved, carved and scoured into the most incredible shapes and patterns. The sound as you walk up the stairs is like a continuous incoming freight train, the earth is shaking, and you need to be prepared to get wet.
We didn’t have time to enjoy the rest of the show as we had a date with a cable car. Through a series of four cable cars we headed up through clefts in the vertical rock walls to the summit of the Schilthorn (2970m – 10,000ft). It was 8 degrees when we arrived up there at 9am, but with the promise of a stunning day. Looking out at the 200 named peaks around us, some still with patches of snow and glaciers, with mountains and peaks marching back to the horizon. What surprised us was just how high the farmland continued. There were sheep, goats and active grassland, just a few meters below where we were. This is a landscape of Ice, snow, screed slopes, vertical craggy rock faces, huge blocks of rock seemingly balanced on pinnacles of stone.
A morning coffee was welcomed at the café and this was served by an assistant who was doing her bit to disprove the generalization … she smiled! Maybe they feel more comfortable at altitude.
Schilthorn was completed in 1968 and that was the year that they filmed James Bond 007 – ‘On her majesties secret service’ here. And they still make quite a thing of it with a theatre that shows highlights from the film, and all manner of 007 souvenirs.
In the promotional film they also highlight a local triathlon. 3.1 kms swim in the lake (cold), 97 km road bike, 25 km mountain bike (up hill, where the road bikes can’t make it), and a 30 km run (more up hill). They finish at 2170m elevation (one of the cable car stops). That looks and sounds like hard yakka.
We stopped at a couple of the villages on the way back down, and they are everything that you would expect of an alpine Swiss village. It really is beautiful up here. We thought that we would buy some lunch at Grimmelwald (the last stop before the start point), but we were out of luck. This village is only accessible by foot or by cable car. Very small (smaller than we thought), and nowhere to buy anything at all. A very cool little place though, made more adorable by the fact that there is limited access, and no cars. All through here the chalets are scattered amongst the mountains like hundreds and thousands. From Grimmelweld, we decided to walk down to the last stop, about an hours walk down a fairly steep but well marked track, between the houses and across the farmland.
We agreed that the ‘cable car operator’ job had to be the sweetest job in the village. One of these guys hopped on last, stood by his console covered in buttons and flashing lights, he pushed one button to close the door, and another to open it at the other end. Everything else seemed to be automated. In between he had his head buried in a magazine, and the only way he knew that we had arrived and needed to open the door was because an alarm sounded to tell him so. They could just have a sign that says ‘last one in close the door’.
Once back in the base village we walked along to Trummelbach falls. These are absolutely amazing. From the top of the wall of rock, these falls tumble, fall, and corkscrew their way down inside the mountain. From the bottom you have the choice of taking an elevator or stairs up through the rock, and there are 10 access points where you can see the water hurtling down. Like I said, amazing. There are ten glacial waterfalls in this complex, and they drain the glaciers from Jungfrau, Mouch, and Eiger. 20,000 litres of water pour through here every second (it isn’t a very wide passage), and 20,000 tons of boulder debris per year. The whole interior is curved, carved and scoured into the most incredible shapes and patterns. The sound as you walk up the stairs is like a continuous incoming freight train, the earth is shaking, and you need to be prepared to get wet.
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