Switzerland - Muckinabout

jungfrauflowers

2012 - Looking up the Lauterbrunnen valley at Jungfrau from Interlaken

jungfraupara

Red paraglider in front of Jungfrau

tramup

The only way besides hiking up a massive cliff to get to Gimmelwald

pensiongimmel

Base camp for 2 nights

breakfastdeckpension

Morning coffee on the deck of our pension

gimmelvalleyfalls

Looking up the Lauterbrunnen valley. Gimmelwald (unseen) sits
high on the cliff around to the right about 1 mile past the waterfall

hikelaurieriver

Hiking around Gimmelwald

hikehorse

Making friends along the trail

hikelauriefalls

Waterfalls, big and small, were all around

gnomes

Frontyard decorations in Gimmelwald. The village was so peaceful with no cars allowed

hikelaurieflowerhouse

The main drag in Gimmelwald

hikeus2

Out for an afternoon stroll through alpine meadows filled with horses and cows grazing

morncloudspeaks

Afternoon view from our pension

obama

An old phone booth in Gimmelwald put to new use

eigertrain

We took the Jungfrau Railway up to JungfrauJoch. The north face of the Eiger (13,026 ft.) is at left, above train. Monch (13,475 ft.) is the peak on right

junfraujochdistance

Jungfraujoch is the dark structure in the saddle to the left of Jungfrau. It is Europe's highest train station, at 3,471 meters (11,388 feet) and has 2 million visitors each year

transferpoint

Kleine Scheidegg - transfer point from regular train to funicular type train

glaciersgreen

Rising up above the treeline

trackspeaks

Notice the gears in the middle of the tracks, necessary to keep us
from sliding back down the sometimes 25 degree incline

traincoverup

Where the train enters the mountain

insidemountainstation

The trains go through the Eiger and Monch. The tunnel is 7 km. long and it took 3,000 men 16 years to drill. It was completed in 1912 - 100 years ago!

glacierviewlong

View from the top looking south. This is the Aletsch Glacier, the largest in the Alps at
23 km. (14 miles) long, covering 120 sq. km. (46 sq. miles)

whitepeak

Looking up at the summit of Jungfrau at 4158 m. (13,642 ft.), 2300 ft. above us

icelauriebigtunnel

Inside the ice palace

icebears

Bears

iceeagles

Eagles

icesign

icepenguins

Penguins

icetony

Iceman

laurieicetunnel

lauriejungfrau

Back outside in front of Jungfrau

topicetrail

We hiked this 3 km. long trail (the black dots are people). At this
altitude, and with the dodgy footing, it took us about 1 hour

laurielotionsnow

Applying sunscreen along the trail. It was a beautiful day - about 80 degrees

laurieplanesnow

We ended up at the hut upper left that has dorm rooms for climbers attempting the Eiger and Monch and a cafe serving warm soup and ice tea! The airstrip is for emergency evacs and aerial tours.

miniglacier

tonylaurieglacierview

glaciermountians

schlep

You don't have to be a mensch to get up here. Schlep is a noun as well as a verb and this guy's picture is in the yiddish dictionary! We watched him slip and slide in his loafers.

downatinterlaken

Looking down at Interlaken

downlower

On our way back down

tonylaurieafterjungfrau

gimmelvalleyfalls1

chaletfirewood

Same afternoon we hiked from Gimmelwald to Murren

flowershouses

Murren - again, only reachable by hiking or tram - no cars!

lauriemurrenview

lauriewildflowers

Me little luvflower in a field of wildflowers

lauriewildflowers1

tonymurren

neatfirewood

Stacked firewood - who said the Swiss weren't anal?

witchesonroof

Parting shot from Gimmelwald (notice witches on roof)

laurietram

Heading back down for the final time. These cliffs are very popular with base jumpers and paragliders. Not only are the views spectacular, they can hop back on the tram and get in quite a few flights a day.