Gletscherschlucht

Useful Information

Location:	Near Grindelwald.
Open:	Summer months, weather depending. Momentarily closed tue to works at the Glacier tunnel. [2010]
Fee:	Adults CHF 7, Children (3-18) CHF 3.50. Gästekarte (Guest card): Adults CHF 6, Children (3-18) CHF 3. [2010]
Classification:	Gorge
Light:	n/a
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided, L=1,000 m, D=45 min.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Grindelwald Tourismus, Postfach 124, 3818 Grindelwald, Tel: +41-33-8541212, Fax: +41-33-8541210. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

Starting at the Restaurant Gletscherschlucht, elevated trails and bridges lead along the 100 m deep into the socalled Gletscherschlucht. Gletscherschlucht means literally translated glacier gorge, not exactly a name, more a description. The water from the klciers formed this narrow gorge. At the entrance to the gorge is the Kristallmuseum (crystal museum), which exhibits typical minerals of the Bernese Alps.

This place has a certain fame because of the glacier behind the gorge. The glacier is rapidly melting, a fact which is interpreted as a circumstantial evidence for the global warming. A strange thing is the formation of a so called Gletschersee on top of the lower glacier. The lake is formed by melting water collecting in a depression on top of the ice. It has no drainage, but as soon as the water finds a way through a crack, the crack is very fast widened by the flowing water and the water flows in a great flood through the channel at the bottom of the glacier, down the Gletscherschlucht to Grindelwald. This flood could potentially destoy anything in its way and the lake is becoming bigger and bigger every year.

To avoid this danger, the city of Grindelwald constructed a tunnel which is intended to drain melting water during the spring and hence impede the formation of a lake. At the moment the gorge is closed because of works at the tunnel. As the tunnel was actually completed in early 2010 it may soon be reopened.