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JUNGFRAUJOCH RAILWAY - TOP OF EUROPE
Alps Views and Eiger Windows
The Jungfrau, the Mönch and Eiger
are three Alps peaks joined into one solid mountain ridge massif which
divides the Bernese Oberland Alps
from the southern range. The Eiger is perhaps the most famous of the
mountains, known for its treacherous North Face for mountain climbers.
This mountain is also famous for its windows, looking out on the permanent
snows clinging to the steep crags. The windows of the Eiger are remnants
of the building of the Jungfrau railway to the Jungfraujoch, the highest
railway station in Europe. Conceived by German engineer and visionary
Adolf Guyer-Zeller, the Jungfrau Bahn Railway was begun in 1894 and completed
in 1912. The rack rail line for most of its entire length, except for
a distance from the Klein Sheidegg station, runs inside the mountain,
tunneling mostly through the Mönch and Eiger mountains, before reaching
its terminus below the “saddle” or “joch” between
the peaks, with the weather station, restaurant and observation building
above called “The Sphinx”. The Jungfraujoch rail station
is inside the rock.
As the train travels through the tunnels of rock,
a movie plays on screens, telling the story of the ingenious railway,
its construction and details
about climbers on the Eiger and about the Aletsch Glacier which cloaks
the mountain crags. Visitors are most curious about the windows in the
Eiger mountain, made famous in the “Eiger Sanction” film
with Clint Eastwood. The train makes a stop at the windows so visitors
can
disembark
for five minutes to peer out the side of the sheer face of a mountain.
The windows are remants of the construction tunnels. There are two sets
at different elevations, the lower set allows views of into the distance
to the valleys below, the upper level at the Eismeer station look out
on the high crags and cliff face, usually covered in ice. The train stops
at
each
before
arriving
at the Jungfraujoch station.
At the Jungfraujoch station are a few activities
to entertain visitors. The view deck of metal overhanging the edges of
the building below the
Sphinx Observatory Dome look out across the glacial ice to the long mountain
valleys crowded with jagged peaks. Depending on the weather, you’ll
stay her for a long or short time. When the sun is out, there is perhaps
few more impressive mountain views, when the very changeable weather
is bad, it can be a daunting experience outside. Behind the outdoor deck
are full view windows incase outdoors is not the best idea.
There is a restaurant and a snack bar to while away some time, along with a souvenir shop and a little history corner with a model of the first rack railway trains which climbed through the mountain. Underneath the Sphinx and the station, an elevator ride down into the perpetual cool is the Ice Palace, a cavern carved from the ice of the glacier. Tunnels of glistening ice and sculptures fill the cavity, even sometimes a stairway into an upper chamber, lit by colored light in a translucent iridescence. Since this is glacial ice, it needs to be re-carved from time to time, so it’s never exactly the same if you go back again.
Prepare
for a minimum of at least 3 hours for a trip to the Jungfraujoch starting
from Interlaken Ost station and return. A good half day is more
leisurely, if you have lunch. If you want to make other stops in Grindelwald
or Kleine Sheidegg, allow more time. If the weather allows for venturing
out onto the outdoor trail of the Walking Plateau for the best views
back toward the Sphinx. There is not a lot of hiking otherwise and
no skiing or sporting center. The air is a bit thin at the 11,330 ft.
altitude
(not quite as high as the Klein Matterhorn on the southern range).
The elderly and breathing impaired should take note.
A ticket for the Jungfraujoch Railway trip includes the connections needed from Interlaken and you can take one of two routes on the way up via Grindelwald, or through Lauterbrunnen. It is possible to take one direction up and the other on the way down. With a Swiss Pass or other Eurail Pass the Jungfraujoch offers a price discounted by 25%.
Visit the Jungfraujoch
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