The famous Eiger and it's North Face in the Swiss Alps - impressive scenery and tourist attraction
I went to the top of Jungfraujoch in the Swiss Alps by train. I started at 4 AM in Baden-Baden, Germany and went to Interlaken via Basel and Interlaken the “Berner Oberland Bahn” took me all the way up to the station “Kleine Scheidegg” where I visited the famous Hotel Bellevue des Alpes from where alpine climbers like Reinhold Messner have been observed in the notorious North Face of the Eiger. I wanted to visit this place for a long time, since I really love the Alps, the alpine way of life and the storys of all the alpine heroes. I reached there at 11 am, it was a beautiful, sunny autumn first snow of the season had already fallen and melted impressive scenery with a special aura — but also great horror. Masses of tourists from all over the world were on the same way as I the way up to the famous and well marketed “Top of Europe”, Europe’s highest train station on the top of Jungfraujoch in meters altitude. I continued my journey although doubt and shame started to grow in me. When I reached the “Top of Europe” I felt amazed and miserably at one view on the icy landscape of the Aletsch glacier and the summits of Eiger, Jungfrau and Mönch is unique, breathtaking and the mass tourism up there is disgusting. I really saw several tourists throwing up their expensive so called “traditional Swiss meal” and stumbeling on to by some souvenirs like postcards, plush marmots or swiss untrained human body isn’t prepared at all for a stay in that altitude without proper acclimatization. I experienced dangerous symptoms in my own body: My head was aking with every move I made and I saw the blood getting really thick in my fingers. I was torn back and forth: Should I stay and take more pictures of that beautiful surrounding or flee into the next train down to the valley. My pictures are showing more of the beautiful and impressive nature, because this is what I came I also tried to capture some disillusioning reality.
Size: 3214px × 4821px
Location: Grindelwald, Switzerland
Photo credit: © Stefan Köhler / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: alpen, alpine, alps, climbing, cloud, cold, destination, eiger, europa, european, extreme, face, famous, glacier, heidi, heritage, high, hike, hiking, holiday, ice, interlaken, jungfrau, landmark, landscapes, monastic, mount, mountain, nature, north, outdoors, panorama, panoramic, peak, range, rock, scenery, snow, snowy, summit, swiss, switzerland, top, travel, vacation, view, white
