Top Of Europe

This morning we woke up to totally blue skies. The clouds that were hanging in the mountains the last couple of days, finally cleared. Since it is such a gorgeous day, we decide to make the trip up to Jungfrau, Top of Europe.  We have to get ready quickly as we are hoping to catch the 8:06 train out of Murren. We leave the chalet at 7:35, which gives us enough time to walk to the train station, purchase tickets, and board the train.

After walking for about three minutes, Kathi asks if I put the milk in the fridge. I couldn't remember so we hightailed it back to the chalet and Kathi ran back with the key. Good thing she did as the milk was still sitting on the kitchen table.  We head back out and get to the train station to buy our tickets.  After buying the tickets, Kathi then asked if I turned the burner off on the stove after cleaning up this morning. Neither of us could remember....guess we will find out when we get back at the end of the day. 

Our train adventure today is similar to yesterdays as we will go to Kleine Scheidegg.  When we get to Kleine Scheidegg, we will switch trains and get on the one to Jungfrau. The ride to Jungfrau takes 50 minutes with 7 km of the 9.3 km of the track running through the mountains. In 1893 Adolfo Guyer Zetler penciled a sketch to blast a tunnel through the Eiger and Monch mountains to construct a cogwheel railway to the Jungfrau summit. Construction began in 1896 with 100 Italian laborers. In February 1912 they finally broke through to the final station on Jungfrau and opened the railway in August after 16 years of construction. The cost to build was 16 million francs which is twice as much as what was estimated.

Getting on the train in Kleine Scheidegg with the hordes of people all trying to get on was a bit of a challenge. We were lucky to get a seat as it was standing room only when the doors closed. The train made a couple of stops along the way. This offered some sight-seeing options to skirt off the train, down a short tunnel to a glassed window overlooking Kleine Scheidegg or some glaciers. It also allows time for the downward train to pass the upward train. These sight-seeing stops might also mean if you leave your seat, someone will take your seat so weigh carefully your decision to get off the train.

We arrive at Jungfrau right on schedule at 10:22. We are at 11,333 feet. The first activity was to get on the speed elevator to the top of the Sphinx to take some photos and then we started our tour. We learned about the history of drilling and the design of the train railway. We then went outside to a sea of glaciers surrounded by mountain peaks. As we walked a little further out, there was an outdoor play area that included a zip line, snow tubing, skiing, and sledging all for a fee. There was also a maintained trail across the glacier that led up to Monchsjochhuette. We decide to hike up the trail which took us 45 minutes and we were then at 3,650 meters, which is just over 12,000 feet. It is very important to stay on the marked path on the glacier, as open crevasses are very visible.

As we were hiking to the top, there were frequent helicopter tours flying through the area and some landed on the glacier. We also saw several people climbing on the backside of Monch Mountain as we approached the hut. The hut provides sleeping accommodations for people planning to do some climbing. Here we chatted with a French couple in very purposeful sign language. They did not speak English and we did not speak French.  Topics we discussed were rugby, racquetball, and climbing as we exchanged photo taking opportunities....all in good fun. We had lunch and then hiked back down to the winter play area.

In the flatter section of the glacier by the play area, a 5-lane running track was set up. As we got closer to it, we could hear the announcer introducing the various Olympic athletes who were in attendance. Included in the group was Asafa Powell a gold medalist sprinter from Jamaica and several other Swiss athletes. We stood and watched some running events with the athletes and area children. We were also able to listen to about 30 seconds of some alphorn playing. We were hoping to hear more alphorn playing and see less running.

We then went back inside to the Ice Palace and had a great time viewing all of the ice carvings.  The palace’s ice sculptures include vaulted rooms, birds, animals, a few very skinny passages and at times a whimsical stuffed animal sealed in the ice. 

The floors and walls are complete ice. We had fun slip, sliding through the tunnels with some tunnels wider and others very skinny. There were also various carved ice sculptures to view.

We finished the tour by heading to the Lindt Swiss Chocolate Heaven, the highest chocolate store in the world. We purchased some chocolates and enjoyed a couple of samples.

We then headed down to the train and caught the three o'clock standing room only train. We scored two jump seats in the conductor’s end of the train. We had a private room and were the last two people to have our tickets punched. On our exit we each received a Lindt chocolate.

In Kleine Scheidegg we made a quick train change down to Lauterbrunnen and then headed back up to Murren for a bit of shopping. We found nothing to purchase. 

The evening was spent having some dinner, doing a little wash, and spending time with Albert and Kitty our hosts. They offered us a very large excellent German Weiss beer, it was slightly warm, but very full and rich with flavor.  As we each enjoyed our beer, Albert and Kitty told us a story about the famous Inferno ski race which is the pride of Mürren's history.  The amateur racers plunge from the start house up on top of Shilthorn Mountain and then ski all the way down to the Lauterbrunnen Valley. After the first steep pitch, the course swoops and jags down the mountain, alternating between more steep pitches and flat traverses with a few short uphill sections.  The course descends almost 6,500 vertical feet over 9 and a quarter miles. In comparison, the longest downhill on the men’s World Cup circuit is 2.78 miles.

on the train ride up you can start to glimpse the buildings up in the saddle of the two mountains.  All of the white you see are glaciers.

At the first train stop, Kathi jumped out to take this picture of Kleine Schiedegg below  I saved the seats

Second stop I hopped out to take pictures of Glaciers, Kathi saved the seat.

At the top we are 11,000 feet above sea level and we are in the basement of the building

Tunnels are the hallways

Ariel view of the building we are in.  Called the Sphinx 

Huge Glacier with large crevasses.  Can you see the two little people walking on the glacier.

Walking out to the winter play land.  Stay on the safe path!

People roping up to walk on the glacier off of the safe area.

Another little building high above us

Walking up the marked path on the glacier to the climbing hut.

It is pretty warm and VERY bright!

You can see the people walking up the path we just finished, this helps provide some scale!  This glacier is HUGE

Hiking hut sitting on the back side of Monch mountain.  People use this hut before climbing Eiger.

Back inside, this is wooden carving of a guy sitting on the bench.  Kathi stops for a picture.

Italians were hired to dig out the train tunnel.

One of the medium size tunnels in the ice cave.

This tunnel was skinner an at one point we had to crouch down as it was about four feet tall.

Polar bears of ice

Picture perfect

Chocolate store at the top!!!  Nice!

We score a private room with the conductor of the train for a ride down the mountain!  You can't make this stuff up!!!

Albert won the race twice in 1968-69 and their daughter won the race four times in the 1980's. They also have a large personalized plaque honoring Albert’s 50 years of participation in the Inferno.  Here is a link if you would like to read a bit more about this year’s race.  http://welove2ski.com/how-to-ski/murren-inferno

As we were sitting and talking, Albert was looking out at the remnants of the last sun shining on the north face of the mountains. Albert said this beautiful moment called for an alphorn recital.  He went down and retrieved a long horn measuring around 8 to 10 feet and played us a private concert.  Such a beautiful lonesome tune. His second tune was a bit more upbeat and more in line with festival music.  Albert is a very busy alphorn player in the area and is very well known and respected.  The following link has a video clip of him playing if you would like to watch and listen.  He is not playing an alphorn, but some other type of traditional horn.  After clicking on the link, you will want to select the second video clip which is a photo of a man standing outside holding a horn.  http://www.jungfrauzeitung.ch/artikel/112165/

After the concert we moved back upstairs to the porch area where Albert has a spotting scope.  Here, Albert placed the scope on some chamoix that were grazing across the valley on the steep walls of the north face of the mountain.  Chamoix are goat like animals and like to stay away from people.  He also showed us we could see the train entrance into the tunnel over on Eiger.  This is where the train that goes up to Jungfrau disappears into the mountain. 

It has been a long day, filled with wonder, amazing sights and sounds.  Off to bed with a smile.

Not sure of the mileage we hiked as we walked around inside of the glacier and then walked up to the upper hut.  We'll just call this an off day.