We broke up our stay in Lucerne with four days in the Swiss Alps – no trip to Switzerland would be complete without a visit here. Gimmelwald is a village located above the gorgeous glacial Lauterbrunnen valley, which reminded us of Yosemite for its sheer cliff walls and waterfalls cascading from hanging valleys. After a scenic train ride to Lauterbrunnen, we hiked along the valley floor for about 90 minutes to Stechelberg where we caught a cable car up and out of the valley to the village. In addition to the gorgeous natural surroundings, the walk was made more interesting by watching BASE jumpers fly around the valley. We would usually first notice them from the flapping noise of their wingsuits or the loud clap of their parachute bursting open at perilously low altitudes. It was quite a sight to take in.
Situated high above the valley near the cliff’s edge, Gimmelwald has magnificent views of the Lauterbrunnen valley and up into some of the highest parts of the Alps (the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau peaks all loom over town). The village is small, only a couple hundred residents, and most make their living through traditional farming. The Swiss government subsidizes their work in order to preserve these old (but not particularly profitable) farming techniques.
We went to Gimmelwald primarily to hike and our first day we set out early for one of the lower peaks across the valley from Gimmelwald which was supposed to afford us views back to town as well as uninterrupted views of Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. About 2 hours into the hike, however, storm clouds quickly rolled in and we began hearing thunder. We took cover under a tree as the sky turned dark, the thunderclaps grew louder, the wind picked up, and the once visible mountains on the other side of the valley disappeared. As the storm approached an unusual sound grew louder – at the last second we realized it wasn’t just a thunderstorm, but a hail storm. We huddled up against the tree trunk, curling into balls to protect our heads as grape-sized hail rained down on us. Eventually the storm subsided, the sun peeked out, and we decided to continue our trek up the mountain. When we got nearly to the top, however, we heard thunder and the skies began darkening again, so we decided to turn around. We reached the same tree that we had huddled under previously just in time for the rain to begin again. Ultimately, as we grew wetter and the rain didn’t let up, we decided to hike back to town in the rain. Of course, once we got there, the sun came out and stayed out for the rest of the afternoon.
On our second day we stayed on our side of the valley and hiked up toward Schilthorn (the highest peak on our side of the valley - which we were never able to see) to visit a waterfall and ascend one of the lower peaks while staying below the clouds that shrouded the upper reaches of Schilthorn. The weather stayed nice most of the day, and we spent the day hiking along the mountain ridge, stopping for lunch at an Alpine hut (where cows are brought from the village during the summer to graze and produce milk for cheese), sharing a cheese plate and a slice of homemade chocolate cake. We then hiked down into a tributary valley and followed the river to a huge open meadow at its headwaters.
On our last day, we hiked back down into the valley with our packs on, and then along the valley floor until we got to Trummelbach Falls. These falls are the run-off from the largest peaks in this part of the Alps, and as such, dump up to 20,000 liters of water per second. The falls have carved a corkscrew tunnel into the mountain, and the Swiss (excellent engineers that they are) have carved a route for tourists to walk along the falls inside the mountain. Neither of us had seen anything like it. The water thunders around you as you gape at the tunnel it has carved out over time. Unfortunately our photos didn’t do this place justice.
Click the photo below for our Gimmelwald photo album.
Situated high above the valley near the cliff’s edge, Gimmelwald has magnificent views of the Lauterbrunnen valley and up into some of the highest parts of the Alps (the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau peaks all loom over town). The village is small, only a couple hundred residents, and most make their living through traditional farming. The Swiss government subsidizes their work in order to preserve these old (but not particularly profitable) farming techniques.
We went to Gimmelwald primarily to hike and our first day we set out early for one of the lower peaks across the valley from Gimmelwald which was supposed to afford us views back to town as well as uninterrupted views of Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. About 2 hours into the hike, however, storm clouds quickly rolled in and we began hearing thunder. We took cover under a tree as the sky turned dark, the thunderclaps grew louder, the wind picked up, and the once visible mountains on the other side of the valley disappeared. As the storm approached an unusual sound grew louder – at the last second we realized it wasn’t just a thunderstorm, but a hail storm. We huddled up against the tree trunk, curling into balls to protect our heads as grape-sized hail rained down on us. Eventually the storm subsided, the sun peeked out, and we decided to continue our trek up the mountain. When we got nearly to the top, however, we heard thunder and the skies began darkening again, so we decided to turn around. We reached the same tree that we had huddled under previously just in time for the rain to begin again. Ultimately, as we grew wetter and the rain didn’t let up, we decided to hike back to town in the rain. Of course, once we got there, the sun came out and stayed out for the rest of the afternoon.
On our second day we stayed on our side of the valley and hiked up toward Schilthorn (the highest peak on our side of the valley - which we were never able to see) to visit a waterfall and ascend one of the lower peaks while staying below the clouds that shrouded the upper reaches of Schilthorn. The weather stayed nice most of the day, and we spent the day hiking along the mountain ridge, stopping for lunch at an Alpine hut (where cows are brought from the village during the summer to graze and produce milk for cheese), sharing a cheese plate and a slice of homemade chocolate cake. We then hiked down into a tributary valley and followed the river to a huge open meadow at its headwaters.
On our last day, we hiked back down into the valley with our packs on, and then along the valley floor until we got to Trummelbach Falls. These falls are the run-off from the largest peaks in this part of the Alps, and as such, dump up to 20,000 liters of water per second. The falls have carved a corkscrew tunnel into the mountain, and the Swiss (excellent engineers that they are) have carved a route for tourists to walk along the falls inside the mountain. Neither of us had seen anything like it. The water thunders around you as you gape at the tunnel it has carved out over time. Unfortunately our photos didn’t do this place justice.
Click the photo below for our Gimmelwald photo album.
