Gimmewald: Hiking in the Swiss Alps, Hanging over cliffs, & hanging out with Base Jumpers!

We have finally made our way out of the big cities in Germany, to Gimmewald, Switzerland. Gimmewald is a small village on the cliffs of the Jungfrau region in the alps. The hotel we are staying at is very old, but quite clean and cozy.

Hotel Mitaghorn:

 The first night upon arriving, we settled in and got some pizza at the Mountain Hostel down the hill from us. Early the next morning we set out to climb to the Summit of the Schilthorn. The Schilthorn is 9,744 feet.  We started our ascent in Gimmewald, climbed up through a forested area and past Sprutz Falls, which you could hike right behind. Next we hiked up to another small village on the mountainside before ascending up to a ridge line.

Met some cows on the road in the early morning:

Gimmewald below us:

The ridge line was pretty steep on the right side and had a wire for you to hold on to.

Shortly after we began our ascent up to the alpine lake in between the Birg and Schilthorn cable car stations. The lake was beautiful with the mountains in the backdrop.

Paraglider:

 

Alpine Lake w/ cable car in background:

After another hour of hard climbing we finally made it to the summit!

Jeremy making it up to the summit:

In the clouds!

Up at the top, there is a round building where the James Bond movie was filmed and sweeping 360 degree views all around. Some clouds had started to roll in by the time we got to the top, but the views were still spectacular. After having a small lunch, we started our descent down the back side of the Schilthorn. This trail was very narrow and had sheer cliffs on either side with several thousand foot drops. There were cable wires for you to hold on to and a few ladders that you had to climb down. The views were amazing on either side though.

After about 2 hours of hiking we made it down to Rockstockhutte, which is a restaurant in the summer.

Rockstockhutte:

We got a bit lost on a cow trail here, but after about 20 minutes eventually made our way back to the main trail. The trail continued to descend down to a river and along some wooded areas for another hour or so until we came to a dirt road that brought us back up to Gimmewald. The hike was long and hard, but well worth the amazing views of the Jungfrau Alps! That night we did some laundry and got some food at the Mountain Hostel and then slept in the next morning.

The following day, after catching up on some sleep, we set out to hike the Vera Ferrara. This trail goes from Murren down to Gimmewald along cable wires that you have to hook a carabineer onto and wear a harness. The trail seemed pretty easy at first, but after about 20 minutes we came to an area where we had to walk across small metal foot bearings along a legitimate cliff. The cliff dropped below us several thousands of feet. It was nerve-racking!

Don't Fall:

Living on the Edge:

At one point it was so sketchy, that we weren’t sure if we could go on. But then we saw a base jumper platform and shortly after a base jumper came along. I took a short video of him as he jumped off the platform…it was CRAZY!! After seeing that, we had to keep going!

Base Jumper platform:

We made it along the cliffs and then came to a “tight rope” bridge. The bridge went over a gorge for about 50 yards. The rope beneath your feet would vibrate and sway as you went along, again it was nerve-racking! There was another “tight rope” bridge shortly after that that went next to a waterfall. This bridge was a bit shorter.

Jeremy singing to himself as he crosses:

We hiked another hour or so through a forested area and then down a lot of steep ladders on some more cliffs before coming to the final bridge. This bridge had about an 18 inch platform that you could walk on, but it was very wobbly and there was barely anything to hold onto! I tried to just focus on putting one foot in front of the other and making sure I was clipped to the cable at all times.

About to cross the last bridge:



Just keep walking, just keep walking:

After Jeremy made it across we only had about another 10 minute hike until the end of the trail. We were both glad there weren’t any more cliff sections! We had a nice picnic in Gimmewald after our hike, and then hiked back up to Murren for some groceries. It was definitely an adrenaline packed day!

Enjoying our picnic:

Cows enjoying the green pastures:



 

During our last day in the Alps, we went on another 6 hour hike up into the mountains.

Gimmewald below:

This hike took us up to an impressive ridgeline with unbelievable views of the Jungfrau (13, 642 ft) and the Bernese Alps.

We hiked along the ridgeline for about an hour before dropping down to some traditional swiss homes/farms. The homes were all shut down for the winter though, and the trails were quite peaceful, as we were the only ones out hiking.

Amazing views of the Jungfrau from the trail!

The weather was just about perfect all three days we were here, in the low 60’s, perfect for hiking. The peaks of the Jungfrau and the surrounding mountains were covered in snow which made for some great scenery. Along the trail there were several waterfalls from the snowmelt from up above. As we hike we went in and out of the forest, along a few rivers, and enjoyed the changing of the seasons with the bright yellow and orange trees. We decided to hike down to Stechelberg where we were able to catch the cable car back up to Gimmewald instead of hiking all the way back up the cliffs. On the tram we actually saw the base jumper from the day before and some other crazy jumpers/paragliders. When we got back we were finally able to have dinner at the Hotel Mittaghorn, which was quite nice compared to the bread and cheese we have been living off of for the past few days. Overall the Bernese Alps have been quite spectacular. The scenery and the small village of Gimmewald have been a nice break from the two cities in Germany. Tomorrow we will travel to Venice, and hopefully get some authentic Italian food while we’re there!