This was day 2 of our Swiss trip and it was time to start our excursion to the Jungfrau summit from Interlaken. The Jungfrau is the third-highest mountain of the Bernese Alps after the nearby Finsteraarhorn and Aletschhorn, respectively 12 and 8 km away but from Lake Thun, and the greater part of the canton of Bern, it is the most conspicuous and the nearest of the Oberland peaks. Once difficult to access, the Jungfraubahn cog railway now goes to the Jungfrau railway station at 3,454 m (11,332 ft), the highest in Europe. The construction of the Jungfraujoch railway east of the summit in the early 20th century made the area one of the most-visited places in the Alps.
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| Train to Jungfrau |
Once again we took our regular train from Interlaken OST to Lauterbrunnen which remains the most popular staging area for further excursions into the mountains. From Lauterbrunnen we took the cog wheel train to Kleine Scheidegg via Wengen. For those not familiar with cogwheel train, a cogwheel train is a train fitted with one or more cogwheels, which mesh with the toothed rail-rack, running usually between the normal rails. The system, operating on rack and pinion arrangement, is used in regions where trains operate on steep heights within a short span of time. There were amazing view of snow clad mountains welcoming on this most incredible train journey we were having. Although we were travelling at quite a height and it was snow all around we could open the train window and enjoy the fresh mountain air as you can see in this picture on the right. This train stopped at Kleine Scheidegg which was a pretty little train station within the mountains. We took another train from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch and the train entered the tunnel running eastward through the Eiger shortly above Kleine Scheidegg. Before arriving at the Jungfraujoch, it stopped for a few minutes at two other stations, Eigerwand (on the north face of the Eiger) and Eismeer (on the south side), where we were allowed to get down the train to see through the holes excavated from the mountain. The tunnel station Eigerwand (2864 meters above sea level) offers a breathtaking deep view from the famous Eiger North Face, across the rocks, to the Männlichen and the entire Bernese Oberland. The second stop at the Tunnel Station, Eismeer (”Sea of Ice”), located at 3,158 meters above sea level, reveals a view of the gigantic Sea of Ice at the southeastern flank of the Eiger. The journey from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch took approximately 50 minutes including the stops.
In the interior of the summit at Europe's highest train station, a high speed lift rose 107 m to take us to the peak with its observatory and the famous observation platform. We could see magnificent views of the mountains and the Aletsch Glacier from the observation platform. Once you reach Jungfrau, it takes a little while to get used to the thin air and may feel lightheaded initially. Also, during summer, do not forget to wear sunglasses as the glare can be quite strong. A large complex of tunnels and buildings has been constructed at the Jungfraujoch, mostly into the south side of the Mönch. There is a hotel, two restaurants, an observatory, a research station, a small cinema, a ski school, and the "Ice Palace", a collection of elaborate ice sculptures. Another tunnel leads outside to a flat, snow-covered area, where one can walk around and look down to the Konkordiaplatz and the Aletsch Glacier, as well as the surrounding mountains. It was amazing to observe such kind of infrastructure available at the top of the mountain.
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| Jungfrau Observatory |
You can see me sitting inside the observatory in this picture on the left. If you look carefully there is a restaurant visible in the backdrop which is actually the Bollywood restaurant complete with posters of Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Sunny Deol. Don't believe this? Switzerland and Bollywood have a strong connection, with the latter having been featured in innumerable Hindi films like Darr and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. Yash Chopra has been one of the Bollywood producers who was specially fond of this place and on 8 April 2011, he was the first person to be appointed «Ambassador of Interlaken».
The first attraction we covered after reaching the observatory was the famous ice palace. Story has it that in 1934, two local guides stared carving a glacier with their chisels and saws. Working tirelessly in the freezing cold, they slowly carved the innards of the glacier into a large hall, almost 1000 sq meters! Further then, using just their ice picks and chisels, they went on to shape beautiful sculptures out of the ice around. Slowly expanding to more chambers within the hall and adding lot many sculptures, today after 76 years, it has become a global attraction. These glacier ice masses move northwards and melt into the North Sea. To stop the Ice Palace from flowing down, it continuously needs to be sculpted, modified, and re-carved. Another obvious and major problem the Ice Palace faces is the heat. The body heat of the visitors is enough to melt the intricacies of the figures that the artists have toiled over for hours. Hence, cooling systems were installed which don’t allow the temperature to go above -3 to -2 degrees Celsius.
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| Ice Sculpture inside Ice Palace |
You have to walk through a long and slippery tunnel cut into ice which leads you to a hall which has the ice champers and connecting passages. The chambers have stunning ice figurines of birds and animals such as eagles, penguins, and bears. Everything here is made up of ice whether it's the flooring or the walls or the arches. You can see me besides an ice sculpture in this picture on the left.
After coming back from the ice palace we decided the explore the terrace at one side of the observatory. The Aletsch glacier is directly at the foot of this observation platform. At 22km in length, the longest glacier in the Alps also belongs to the Alpine UNESCO World Heritage Site. The terrace also provides a 360-degree panoramic view overlooking the neighbouring countries of France, Germany and Italy. We tried to locate the boundaries of various countries and people pointed us towards the area where french and German borders were supposedly starting.
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| Jungfrau Summit |
Finally it was time to experience the open mountains. At the time we went there it was pretty windy and cold and no activities were allowed in the open. There is a small area besides the observatory where you are allowed to go for a short while in bunches with other tourists. We ventured out in the open finally. It was snowing slowly but the wind speed was so high that the snow was thrashing our faces. Although we were barely able to open our eyes but it was an out of the world experience. We spent hardly 15-20 minutes outside but it was already getting unbearable and we returned to the observatory.
It was time to return to our base camp, Interlaken now. Excursion to Jungfraujoch was a once in a lifetime of experience. It's an amazing experience to come to the top of Europe with incredible ease and enjoy the Swiss natural beauty midst the impressive infrastructure created by man to make your journey comfortable.
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| Jungfrau Summit |
Jungfrau is also a place where the harshness and beauty of nature co-exist peacefully with man-made luxury. All in all an out of the world experience. You must visit this place at least once in your lifetime.
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