Trummelbach Falls

Last Saturday morning we took a gamble to realise a dream. For years I have wanted to get to the top of the Jungfraujoch, and we were running out of time on this trip. However, we needed fine weather to justify the expensive tickets - 200 SF each! So we went to Interlaken by bus (down to Visp) and railway via Spietz on Lake Thun. But, by the time we reached Interlaken, the weather was closing in with low cloud and rain.

Having made the journey, which was interesting in its own right, we looked around for alternative attractionis at lower altitudes. Jungfraujoch is c. 3100m asl, whereas Interlaken is only about 700-800m. We chose to visit the Trummelbach Falls, which (a) deliver a vast amount of water to Lakes Brienz and Thun; and (b) plunge down inside a mountain! So we brought a train ticket for Lauterbrunnen and took a bus up a very steep sided, but broad, valley to the base of the falls. Several spectacular falls drop down the picturesque valley sides, as shown here.

The falls themselves lived entirely up their billing. Water levels had been swelled by the recent rain, together with meltwater from glaciers coming from the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau peaks above. And the warm summer had ensured theh further contraction of those glaciers. We travelled up alift inside the valley sides to the level of the 5th of the 10 separate falls. We then walked up passed numerous illuminated gaps in the rock as we walked both up and down, always accompanied by a tremendous roar. The falls had long ago smotthed the channel walls through which they flowed, but hadn't managed to avoid the dramatic contortions as they twisted directions. The remaining two pictures show something of the falls, but do not do them justice.

AS