Dan Will Travel

SWISS TUNNELS AND SEATTLE’S BERTHA

I had this crazy idea to entertain myself by counting the tunnels I drove through. To make it easier, I would not attempt the rail ones, just the drive through ones. Ha. That did not last long. OK, maybe I should have limited my counting to only those of greater than one mile in length? That would have been tough as well. So, let’s say, in two weeks, hundreds. That is the best that I can do. Probably close to 600 if we add all of the rail tunnels.

I have seen normal rail tunnels, some over 6 miles long. I have seen rail ferry sort of things where cars drive onto flat rail cars and are taken through a given tunnel and then they drive off after exiting. I have seen freeways with full interchanges inside tunnels. I have seen a one lane tunnel that was a mile long with no obvious way to determine who should be in it. I did not have the courage to try, but I assume there were periodic turnouts? I have even seen a pedestrian tunnel. When a city is approached, the freeway essentially goes underneath it in long tunnels.

So, knowing all of this skill exists, why didn’t Seattle hire the Swiss to do the Bertha tunnel?

This Landwasser viaduct and tunnel are over 110 years old.

Such a lonely road that I just stooped here in the tunnel to take the shot

This is the entrance to the long single lane tunnel to some mountain village, their only access. There does not seem to be any obvious way to know if the tunnel is clear before starting into it. I cannot image that backing out of a tunnel would be fun or easy, so I did not test it.

Here it is, clearly one lane.

A typical snow shed tunnel

This is the cream de la cream. A rail tunnel (A train came through minutes later.) To the right is the pedestrian tunnel. Further to the right, out of the picture is the highway tunnel. And, known only due to Heidi and the navigation system, far below is a massive new highway tunnel that will curt through and under this entire gorge area.

The tunnel at the Passo del San Berenadino, somewhat in the clouds.

Descending from the Sustenpass, probably my favorite of the passes that I did.

Sustenpass again. A pair of rugged tunnels on either side of a switchback.

As we are talking tunnels, I added this one from the Jungfraujoch railway. A tunnel for people to see out a window while deep inside Eiger mountain.

Also from the jungfraujoch. A bit klitchy, but a long ice tunnel to walk/slip-slide through.

Lastly, a cog railway tunnel on the Pilatus line, the steepest cog railway in the world at 48 degrees. And, yes, that is a sheer drop off of thousands of feet to the left,and the railway is 124 years old. But, fortunately, it still works, as going up or down at that gradient is a bit unnerving. This is not a funicular. It is a regular train but with cogs to grip in the center.

Posted: September 28, 2015 by admin

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JUNGFRAUJOCH “The Top of Europe”

That is how they bill this amazing cog railway that goes entirely through the famous Eiger mountain and ends up at 11,401’ high.

Engineering wise, it is truly something to see how, in the 1890’s they were able to determine a route that would end up at the point desired. (Remember, no computers, no ability to fly over to chart a route, no fancy drilling machines, and all of this above 8,500’ so the conditions were very tough as well.) It took 16 years of work to achieve it, and today, you spend close to 50 minutes going up in the five mile long tunnel.

But, look below to see why they did it.

Thinking that each round trip costs about $350 and seeing thousands of people going up and down all day, while the developer may have gone broke, the current Swiss owners are doing quite fine with it I am sure.

The view from my room the morning of the trip. This is Eiger and I will soon be inside it, literally.

A view from the transfer point at Kleine-Scheidegg at 8,500.’ The train goes up around this bend and literally into the mountain, winding about until it get to the saddle between the two peaks.

Looking down on Grindelwald from 8,500′

Kleine-Scheidegg, literally a major transfer rail station at 8,500′. Amazing.

No, I am not leaning, the camera is straight. This is the other route down from the transfer point.

The top of Europe.

About as close to a glacier as I will get.

From the top looking down to Grindelwald 8,500′ below!

A close-up of Eiger. This north face was not conquered at all until 1938. I have no idea how they did it even then.

And trails still go higher to another facility and restaurant. You would be hard pressed in Switzerland to go hungry. There is a facility everywhere.

Looking down on the early part of Aletsch Glacier, the largest in the Alps. It goes for about 20 miles

Yes, I am cold, but I am there and still breathing even at that altitude. I guess I should thank the recent Cuzco days as they were about the same altitude. There were many signs in all languages advising to “walk slowly.” Because, taking a train up, you can forget how high you are.

Another view down to Grindelwald, far below in the distance.

Of course you can hike all directions. So civilized. But, you would need to be prepared to hike on snow and I decided I was not.

Nice contrast with some fall color.

I did hike down from Kleine-Scheidegg to a lower station. about 1,500′ down. Of course, being Switzerland, most people were hiking up.

A classic Swiss photo

Yes, even the trails all have warning signs if they cross a track. It seems like it would be obvious when you are on foot, but just to be sure……

Fall color at the base of Eiger

My lunch stop after the hike down. This is not a town. Just a restaurant where the trail meets the train. After a sausage and a beer, I just boarded the train for the final leg back to Grindelwald. Again, so civilized.

My hotel, I was below the l in hotel. 150′ from the station, looking directly at Eiger. Another tough day completed. LOL

Posted: September 27, 2015 by admin

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SO, WHERE AM I ANYWAY?

I do not know about you, but when I think of Switzerland, I assume German-speaking Switzerland as that is the predominate language over most of the country.

Maybe I should have had an inkling as I went over the Passo del San Bernadino that things might change, but it was still a surprise to see the exit signs not be “Ausfahrt,” but “Uscita,” the Italian word for exit. So, here I was in the Canton of Ticino, which is totally an Italian area. Pretty much the only thing Swiss was the currency and the flags.

Maybe in hindsight, when I had booked my room in a tiny town called Olivone, and the booking was totally in Italian and I had to use Google translator to confirm that I did have the room, I should have also known? So, loving Italy and being quite a bit more comfortable struggling with Italian rather than German, it was really quite fun.

The place was a sort of historic roadhouse with a bar and ristorante attached. Although over 100 years old, the room was fine and all was good. There were no rating stars over the door, so government rating wise, it was, well, not worthy I guess. But totally a fun experience.

Tiny village

On this part of the day, I had made a wrong turn and really was lost. But everywhere is very beautiful so it was OK.

Always a bit scary to drive under these things

In Europe, when you enter a town, the road width is determined by the building placement as they far pre-date cars and such. So, it varies quite a bit,and sometimes you will see corners of buildings cut away to create a bit more room.