Trummelbach

Underground Waterfall

The Trümmelbachfälle are in Swiss Lauterbrunnen valley between Lauterbrunnen and Stechelberg.

They lie within the area of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Jungfrau -Aletsch- Bietschhorn and include the Swiss Federal Inventory of Landscapes and Natural Monuments of National Importance.

Located in the Lauterbrunnen valley shortly before Stechelberg, the Trümmelbach from east plunges over the sheer rock walls of the valley. The creek, which drains the glacier defiles of the mountains Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, has washed here a gorge into the rock wall, which is very narrow and hardly expands upward. In this gorge the stream tumbles over ten waterfalls, where he overcomes a height difference of 140 meters. The top cases are so deep in the narrow, winding gorge that no more sunlight reaches them and they are called subterranean waterfalls.

The Trümmelbach has a catchment area of 23 square kilometers, which is half covered with ice and snow. He carries an average of 20,000 liters of water per second and 20,200 tons of sediment annually.

A 600 -meter-long trail system via stairs and through tunnels makes the Trümmelbachfälle since 1913 accessible. Especially the upper waterfalls inside the mountain could only be inferred through galleries and tunnels. An inclined lift in the mountain, which overcomes a Höhfendifferenz of 100 meters, easier to climb. For the visit of cases admission is paid.

Pictures

One of the lower cases

A case in daylight

Underground