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SETTING THE SCENE……
I guess that all of us have different interests in life; consequently if you ask any one of us just what our idea of 'rest and recuperation' is, you will receive a subtly different answer from each person that you ask. For many lounging on a beach, cruising the ocean waves or just morphing out at home with a good book constitutes a relaxing holiday. Whilst there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of that, I myself and, fortunately for me, my wife, prefer to be rather more active, to see different scenery, meet new people and yes, after all these years, still, if possible, experience something new each day.
With all of this in mind, back in the summer, when planning what is now becoming our traditional autumn break, I raised the idea of a short, five day, stay in Switzerland. Sharing my passion for lake and mountain scenery, my wife was more than keen to run with this. As a child I had been driven through Switzerland several times by my parents on the way to our Italian two week holiday, Italy always was cheaper than Switzerland and my mother hated high altitudes. To this day though I had vivid memories of the beautiful blue lakes, with the dramatic peaky Alps as a backdrop, for the last 35 years I had dreamed of returning, preferably under my own steam.
THE ITINERARY - OR LACK THEREOF
This is not a review of Switzerland, suffice to say here that we had chosen Brienz, to the east of Interlaken in central southern Switzerland, so that we were in the heart of the most mountainous region. I had read that October was a reliable month for weather and that the mountain passes would be open at least until the end of the month. We arrived in Brienz on 2nd October on a beautiful, but rather cold, sunny autumn day.
As always when we travel, we briefed ourselves before going about the attractions in the region, but did not plan to do certain things on certain days - a trick that I learned many years ago as a solo traveller in the Lake District here, unpredictable weather in such regions will always upset any itinerary that you may have planned.
SNOW! A DELIGHT AND AN UNDOUBTED CURSE!
The ONE thing that we had definitely planned to do was to drive as many of the spectacular Swiss passes as we could whilst there. During our first night the rain fell and fell harder still, a few hundred feet above us it was falling as the first snowfall of winter. It was very early and unexpected, leaving the ever-efficient Swiss un-prepared, they simply closed all of the routes that we wished to drive.
Even behind the wheel of my rally-bred four wheel drive Subaru I was not going to attempt the impossible and climb steep mountain passes - they put barriers down across them anyway, just in case anyone is brave or stupid enough to attempt it.
Day after day, as the snow continued to fall, we sought destinations that were reachable, all the time longing to be let loose on those mountain roads. We were in Grindelwald on Sunday for an early lunch, the Eiger looked beautiful, glistening under a thick layer of fresh snow, my wife came up with the brilliantly obvious (oh why didn't I think of it?!) idea of going into the Information Centre and enquiring about the passes! Yes! They had just finished clearing, and had opened, the Grimsel and Furka passes. Even if we could not complete the circular on the Susten Pass, at least we could climb up high above the snow line to admire the views.
GETTING TO THE RHONE GLACIER - THE PASSES
Along the lines of "it's not the destination that counts, but the journey there" whichever direction you approach the Rhone Glacier from, you cannot help but to be impressed, no awestruck, by the stunning scenery. Also in my
case, simply amazed by the skill and technology employed by the Swiss engineers who built these incredible alpine passes.
Unless arriving by tele-transportation (yet to be invented) or helicopter (more later!) you have no choice but to get there by means of motorised transport. At a stretch I suppose the super-fit could hike it, but for we mere mortals, either a Post Bus or a car would appear the sensible option.
Unlike some of the Polish and Slovakian mountain roads which are poorly maintained and in places lacking road surface altogether, the Swiss passes are in a state of very good repair. They are however extremely tortuous in nature, having many very steep, first gear hairpin bends.
If you are a keen driver, experienced with, rather than frightened by, challenging mountain roads, then I would thoroughly recommend doing as we did and driving up to Belvedere, site of the precariously located mountain-edge hotel, car park, shop and grotto entrance. Having traversed the extraordinary Grimsel Pass which summits at an altitude of 2165 metre (7103ft), we approached the Rhone Glacier from the little town of Gletsch, which was in 1602 situated immediately below the mouth of the glacier. Now the glacier is some distance and a big climb from Gletsch.
The big climb takes place on the breathtaking Furka Pass, which has a summit of 2431 metres (almost 8,000ft) just a couple of hairpins above the Belvadere Hotel.
A SURPRISE ATTRACTION……
…..well it was for us at least! On the final hairpin bend below the Belvadere was an advertisement cut into the cliff for the Ice Grotto - an advert which, upon sight, had my wife quite excited at the prospect! We knew that the Rhone Glacier was situated up here - that you could hardly miss from a distance, it is massive and very distinctive in appearance, even though it is very many years since I last set eyes on this or any other glacier.
What we did not know however was that, here at the foot or mouth, as it is properly known, of the glacier was a man made grotto…….
……but first we must put the horse before the cart, without the Rhone Glacier there could be no Ice Grotto!
THE RHONE GLACIER - HOW THE ICE CAME TO BE HERE
Glaciology is a specialist subject in its own right and, regrettably, my A Level Geography hardly qualifies me to explain it in depth here for you. In the simplest possible terms, glaciers are formed by the compaction of snow into hard ice, this is a slow process, each snow flake taking several years to bond itself into a solid mass and therefore build on the existing process. The constant state of snowfall, freezing, melting re-freezing and more snowfall keeps the total mass - or glacier in its final form - in a constant state of movement.
One would assume that the mass of a glacier forming an ice flow would be extremely heavy and flow down the mountainside. Due to the complexity of the formation and the added complications of climate change, the reverse is actually visibly true here on the Rhone Glacier.
The recession up the mountain - to ever higher altitude has not just happened during the period in which "global warming" has become an environmental concern. Since the last ice age, roughly 150,000 to 15,000 years ago, when the Rhone glacier actually covered much of Switzerland and stretched well into France, it was the largest central European glacier of all, in the upper Rhone valley this expanse of ice was no less than 1500 metres thick.
During the intervening period all of the Swiss glaciers have receded, none more so than the Rhone Glacier during the last 1000 years. The shrinkage has been thoroughly documented over the last 600 years, there being many drawings, photographs and indeed scientific studies still in existence.
What we see today is a veritable ice cube in comparison to the vast glacial expanse that once was.
However, that actually makes this none the less interesting it is, after all, the most accessible of glaciers, conveniently approached by a long standing and historically important trade route - that is the Furka Pass.
It is difficult to describe in mere words the appearance of the Rhone Glacier; it is a truly extraordinary site when seen close to, a strange un-worldly lunar landscape almost. Fortunately I have dozens of my own photographs to go by, a selection of which are published below; even they barely do this unique place justice though.
At first sight, especially from a distance, the glacier appears a rather dirty, sludgy, grey, without the aid of bright sunlight shining on it, it is difficult to pick out the ice from the surrounding rocky, grey, mountains - those that are not covered in snow on this occasion that is.
Approach the glacier on foot though and you are in for a real treat. The ice is actually full of deep colour, mostly intense blue changing to green. This is most visible where shafts have been cut through it from above, or lumps of the sludgy grey top layer are missing.
After the previous three days of heavy snowfall, on the Sunday afternoon that we visited, there was a fresh white layer of snow topping all of the glacier that had not come into the sun, that being most of it at this time of the year.
Refreshingly, all of this you can see, without paying to do so, from a large observation platform next to the Ice Grotto shop and entrance. However, the entrance fee of 5CHF (Swiss Francs - approx. £2.50 at the then exchange rate) purchases you a much closer, more detailed look at the Rhone Glacier and indeed allows you the unique, in my experience anyway, privilege of actually walking inside it.
Approaching the glacier on the winding, but well maintained path, you have not only fabulous views if the ice itself, but also of the surrounding Alps and the passes which snake up them on either side.
We were here right at the very end of the season; however the site generally gave the impression of being well managed. The gravel path was even and safe to walk on, I would not want to push a wheelchair on it however, parts of it were icy and slippery, other parts were decidedly soft under foot. Each year this path has to be re-laid as the snow and ice of winter virtually destroys it - the movement of the glacier over winter also means that the grotto entrance moves and has to be re-cut afresh each spring.
IT'S A LONG WINTER UP HERE……
……Indeed it is, and, I suspect that this winter (2008 / 09) is going to be a particularly long one. A good year for the Rhone Glacier though - it will actually have the chance to grow in size - if not for the Carlen family who own and run this particularly unusual, and seasonal, attraction.
The Rhone Glacier and its' Ice Grotto give a whole new meaning in fact to the term 'seasonal attraction'.
Due to the altitude and alpine terrain, once the first snows fall, usually late in October, the passes are closed; cutting off all of the facilities up here - namely the Belvadere Hotel and the Ice Grotto shop. Once shut, the passes remain impassable until the late spring thaw, and that can be as late as the end of May or the beginning of June. It is then, a short, five month season. During the winter the family board up the buildings here - the hotel was in the process of being "winterised" during our visit - and retreat to the kinder lowland climate of Brig some miles to the south.
They need a good rest during the winter months for, come spring, there is much heavy work to do in preparing the site for business, for me this aspect of the operation is a major fascination.
SANTA'S PERFECT GROTTO
OK, so I am publishing this review at Christmas!
However the Rhone Glacier and, more specifically, its ice grotto really COULD be Santa's grotto! Up here there is no chance of being disturbed, during the two months leading up to Christmas all is silent and frozen, nature has re-claimed a site that man has only a tenuous, at best, five month lease over.
For over 170 years a grotto has been cut into the ice on this very site. In the last century, when the glacier reached far lower altitude, there were other grottoes cut into it which were more accessible without having to traverse
Pictures of Rhone Glacier & Ice Grotto, Switzerland
As you approach the Glacier - this is the view "out of this world"!
the passes, which only until recent times, with powerful motorised transport, must have been very challenging indeed.
In order to be up and running from the first day that the passes open, the whole site has to be prepared without any access by road. In modern times this has been achieved by landing a work-team by helicopter on the roof of the Ice Grotto Shop. Firstly the path has to be cleared and repaired leading to the glacier.
Once the path to the glacier has been created, last years grotto entrance and indeed the tunnels, if still there, will have moved between twenty and thirty metres. This effectively makes them un-useable.
The team that flew in stay up here for between two weeks and a month, working extremely long (5.00am to 11.00pm in two shifts), hard, hours, seven men cutting the tunnels are accompanied by mechanics, electricians and a cook. None of the work that they carry out is easy or straight-forward. When they arrive, even in May, there may be as much as 10 metres (over 30ft!) of snow piled up behind the Belvedere Hotel. Thanks to avalanches during winter there is rarely any power available at Belvedere, all of the work has to be carried out using portable generators until the mains power can be restored.
Additional work is required in order to have the Hotel, the Ice Grotto Shop and Café, situated below the shop, operational for the first visitors once the pass opens. The main attraction however undoubtedly remains the Ice Grotto.
THE FRUITS OF THEIR LABOUR
There are many ways of looking at the ice grotto, take small children there and, regrettably, I think that they are likely to look at you askance and ask just what you are doing standing in an ice tunnel. The tunnel is usually around 100 metres (330ft) long, over 2 metres (6ft 6ins) high and wide enough for two people to pass. Near to the end of the passage a large square chamber (8 x 5 x 3 metres) is cut, where, apparently, in summer months two men dressed as Polar bears wait to greet visitors.
Our visit in October was not accompanied by the circus act, but the memory of actually walking inside the Rhone Glacier is one that I will take to the grave with me. The initial tunnel has a wooden boarded floor, as you enter you are stunned by the fabulous deep blue colour of the ice. A 'cellar' was cut into one ice wall, in which large barrels had been placed. Beyond the blue ice was terrifically clear ice, it is difficult to estimate how far into it you could see - well over 45cm (18 inches) I would guess.
Incidentally, the ice that you are looking at inside the glacier is between two and three-hundred years old. This is a temperate glacier; therefore the temperature here inside the ice is at, or fractionally below, freezing point all year round.
The end chamber had been cut out in a different style, simulating building blocks, here there was no boarding on the floor either - you walk on clear blue ice. Strangely, although I was wearing silicone soled boots, it was not nearly as slippery as I would have expected.
Whilst the end result may appear almost childishly simple, due to the nature of the glacier, much skill is needed when cutting these features into the ice. Within the grotto are spectacular crevasses letting in natural daylight, melt water runs through these from the surface, requiring a drainage system to be created along with the tunnel.
THE ICE ENGINEERING CARRIES ON THROUGH THE SEASON
Whilst cut just once a year, in order to keep the grotto open throughout the season, weekly maintenance has to take place in order to allow access to the tunnels, remember, the glacier is in a constant state of movement. Each week the bridge entering the grotto has to be re-built to compensate for this movement.
During the course of an average season, the tunnel will shrink by approximately 20% as the ice melts causing the glacier to recede up the mountainside. In some, warmer, years the 100 metre tunnel will have shrunk to a mere 60 metres by October!
OTHER ATTRACTIONS ON THE SITE:
THE BELVEDERE HOTEL
This place just fascinated me! It is far from unique in this region in being a short, summer, season only hostelry. I would very much like to find out more about the history of this unusual hotel, built in the mid-nineteenth century, well before motorised transport was here.
Regrettably it had already closed by the time of our visit in October, the restaurant perched on the inside of a hairpin bend must be one of the most spectacularly situated that I have ever seen.
Reading a little about the hotel has really whetted my appetite further - one reviewer, following his stay there described it as; "strictly only for those with a sense of humour"! We would just love to spend the night there!
THE ICE GROTTO SHOP A.K.A. THE BAZAAR
In all honesty, this place was one of the highlights of our Swiss adventure. A large, but unassuming, shop, its' range of merchandise was incredibly diverse and - a first in Switzerland - surprisingly reasonably priced! There was an end of season "closing down" sale in progress, but even at full price this is a good place top pick up authentic souvenirs, guide books and even top-quality outdoor clothing. The elderly ladies running it were simply charming too!
A WORD ABOUT THE LOO - MAKE SURE THAT YOU VISIT THE GENTS!
Oh yes, I almost forgot, whilst apparently, according to my wife, there was nothing particularly unconventional about the ladies toilet here in the shop, the gents was the most extraordinary public loo that I have ever used!
There is no side wall to the toilet - bare mountainside projects into the gents loo! At the time of my visit it was freezing cold in there as melting snow flowed down the side of the mountain and therefore through the gents toilet in the ice grotto shop. As with other public toilets elsewhere in Switzerland, this one was very clean - just rather colder than most!
THE CAFÉ
More of a kiosk than a café, hot and cold food is served to be eaten in the open - tables and chairs under parasols being laid out on the side of the car park. We did not stop here for anything to eat or drink, but again, were impressed with the very reasonable - by Swiss standards - prices.
IN CONCLUSION
This may not exactly be your idea of a fascinating day out, however we found it a unique, educational and very enjoyable attraction - one to which we will, in future, look forward to re-visiting and even staying over-night.
The Rhone Glacier and its' Ice Grotto was the least greedy and most friendly place that we visited in Switzerland!
CONTACT DETAILS:
www.gletscher.ch (Do have a look at the Adobe picture file - there are some great photos!)
Touristische Betriebe am Rhonegletscher CH-3999 Belvedere Furkapass Switzerland.
I have always fancied Switzerland and that was reinforced after my daughter went last year, the photo's she brought back look wonderful and after reading and seeing another swiss location I am even more sure I need to go.
exceptional by (74%):
very helpful by (26%):
