Day 74: Top of Europe

Date: Tuesday 10^th June 2008
Staying: Camping Jungfrau – Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: How much is that doggie in the window?

To prove how much we love mountains, Cam and I got up at 5.30am to take the train up to the heights of the Jungfrau (plus, it was cheaper to go early). The Jungfraujoch has the distinction of being the worlds highest train station, the last 6km or so of the journey being entirely inside the mountain (including the train station). The cogwheel train gets so steep in parts that the seats are fixed at a permanent angle.

Unlike in Chamonix, we had perfect weather conditions, with clear blue skies all around. Arriving at the summit at 8.30am we made straight for “The Sphinx”, where a lift takes you up the last 120m to the highest point. We were only the second couple out there for the day, so we had a perfect view of mountains, glaciers and crevasses without the usual hordes. Overnight, ice had frozen to the grating of the viewing platform, so we had fun stamping on the grates and watching the ice plummet down the cliffs beneath us.

It was only a mild -1° outside, so it was a chilly shock to go into the ice palace, a series of rooms carved in ice. Inside, the ice was so dry that it felt like smooth plastic under your fingers. Featured in the palace is a permanent display of ice sculptures: penguins, polar bears and the like. Quickly making our way back outside, we warmed up on the plateau, taking photos among the (newly arrived) tour bus crowds.

Since time was getting on, we headed out toward the glacier where they had an attraction I just couldn’t resist – sledging with huskies. On the reasoning that this would probably be the only opportunity to go sledging in my life, I got into the sledge and was whisked around in the snow by four incredibly keen (and very beautiful) huskies, whose little feet threw up a small shower of snow over me as we went. To dispel the Hollywood myth, there was no whip, and the driver did not yell mush at them, but rather chatted away in much the same way as you would to a dog at a sheep dog trial trying to herd sheep. (Mum: I tried to sneak one back with us, but Cam wouldn’t let him in the van, sorry.)

By the time we got back to Lauterbrunnen, I was shattered from the high altitude (lots of puffing again), so I had a poke around town while Cam went to Trummelbach, a series of 10 glacial waterfalls inside a mountain just a few miles down the road. Going up by lift, you walk down whilst watching 20,000 litres of water per second flowing by. Cam says “It was wet and cold, but pretty.” On the way back to the van, he took the time to be chased by a bull before returning for dinner.