Grindelwald and Area

Grindelwald is in the alps, near Interlaken. Along with Zermatt, Grindelwald is considered one of the better places to hike in Switzerland. From Grindelwald, you're surrounded by alps, but particularly Jungfrau, Monch, and the Eiger.

Road in the side of the cliff at Lake Thun.

Facility at St. Beattus' Caves. We went here from Interlaken by boat, on the way to Grindelwald.

Alien Sheep that confronted us on the way into the youth hostel in Grindelwald. The youth hostel itself was great - clean, wonderful views of the Eiger, friendly staff, and very, very cheap (for Switzerland).

Folks from our table, night 1 at Grindelwald.

Rather scary picture of Steph and I.

Foggy evening look at the gap between (I think) Monch and Wetterhorn.

This is, believe it or not, how the Eiger looked the first time I got a chance to look - the blue color is because the sun is already down.

Evening shot. Jungfrau in background, Monch to foreground right.

Panoramic wide-angle shot, except I didn't use a wide-angle lense, or take a panoramic shot - this is actually what it looks like. Eiger again on the left.

Waterfall on the other side of a little valley we hiked around. The ground was somewhat soggy, the snowmelt hadn't completed yet. Good hiking anyway, if a bit wet.

Ramshorn? Wetterhorn? I lost track. One of the lesser peaks anyway since it was losing all the snow. Ramshorn I think.

Closer shot of waterfall.

Wetterhorn, I think. Didn't notice that it was any wetter there than anywhere else.

Steph, forming a snowball and lethal intent, in the snowfields above Grindelwald.

Eiger again? I gave up trying to keep track.

Best shot of the Eiger, with plume.

Frog. We found dozens of these in little melt-pools that the snow was leaving, plus basketball-sized clumps of frog eggs.

"Buchalpsee" or mountain lake or something. Maybe an hour of hiking from the top of the "First" lift.

Meltwater valley.

Flowers by side of creek.

Eiger, in afternoon, with parasailer.

Close-up of flower. Think I got the focus slightly wrong.

Waterfall further down.

Got lucky and caught a picture of an avalanche as it came down. We heard them rumble down one mountain or other maybe three or four times an hour, but you didn't often see one.

One of my favorite shots - a beautiful chalet under the Wetterhorn.

Eiger, from Jungfraujoch train, sun still not fully up in the sky. We lucked out on the weather the morning we went up - not a cloud in the sky. The Jungfraujoch is a cog-wheel train that goes up, under and into the Eiger, Monch, and eventually stopping just short of the peak of the Jungfrau - in fact, it takes you to 13,500'.

View of Grindelwald and the valley it sits in from the Jungfraujoch, at the first viewpoint.

View of valley south of Grindelwald. Slightly overexposed, or maybe it was just bright.

Icefall to right of second observation window (Jungfraujoch).

Snow/Ice field in front of second observation window (Jungfraujoch).

Jungfrau from outside, at the top.

Phoenix Terrace at the top, in it's Farraday cage, Jungfrau Station at bottom right - amazing what they can build up here.

Another shot of the Jungfrau Station.

Glacier from Jungfrau Station.

Steph at Phoenix Terrace. The wires form the Farraday cage that protects the installation from lightning.

Hallway through the ice - part of the "Ice Palace" carved into the glacier at Jungfrau Station.

Bear.

Cameo under the ice.

El freezo penguini.

Outside again, Jungfrau in the background.

Face in the Glacier.

Pfingsteggbahn.

The Rodelbahnen is a cool sledge-riding chute that you ride down the mountain for 750 metres or so. You start from the top of Pfingsteggbahn, at the restaurant, and ride down for a few francs a shot. Good fun, wish we had these in California!

Ice cave entrance, at the bottom of the glacier. It's a brutal staircase to get up here, that they charge you six francs for, then you get very dripped on in the (carved-out) ice caves in the glacier. Just a big tourist trap I think. Probably gives the best example of the Swiss ability to squeeze a franc out of every possible tourist attraction.