The sun was out today so a mountain adventure awaited. With a 6:30am start we headed first up to Lauterbrunnen on the train. It is a pretty village in a valley with massive cliff faces either side. Perfect for waterfalls and BASE jumping. Mamfa loves the first but happy to watch the second.

There was a walk through the valley passing the waterfalls which were impressive even without being in full flow. At Staubbach Falls there was a cliffside path and tunnel that took you behind the falls.

The BASE jumpers were leaping off near the falls and landing near the path. For those that don’t know, this is just jumping off a cliff and pulling your parachute hopefully before you hit the ground. Mamfa asked them how long they had been doing it and they had just finished a 2-week course and were doing it on their own for the first time. Apparently it is still “shit-scary” when you first jump off! Mamfa had just finished reading “The girl who fell from the sky” about an Australian woman doing a tandem skydiving jump just nearby and the parachute failed and she survived but ended up a paraplegic. I think I’m safer on ground.

There was some more wandering with great views before catching the train further up the mountain.

The very steep train ride goes up to Kleine Scheidegg for a short stop to admire the view and change trains. Beautiful scenery all the way up.

The transfer is then onto the Jungfrau Railway train that goes up to the highest altitude railway station in Europe. The tunnel which was constructed between 1896-1912 is a marvel of engineering. It is 7km long with grades of up to 25% (suburban trains are max 4% for comparison). Halfway up the is a stop with a short tunnel for passengers to walk to a window out of the mountain. You arrive at a station still inside the mountain at 3500m elevation and walk out to breathtaking views of the alpine snowy peaks and glacier.

We went out into the snow for a bit of fun.

I also had a go at improvised tobogganing.

Inside the mountain was an Ice Palace with various impressive ice sculptures.

We headed back down as Mamfa was getting a headache from the altitude but not before I flirted with danger myself.

We took the cable car ride down to Grindelwald which is another pretty but very touristy alpine town. Met a few more friends before dinner on a terrace and a train ride back to Interlaken.

Overall it was 14hr day with a bus, six trains, a cable car and 20kms of walking. Exhausted but happy.

On this day in sporting history (8 July)

1889John L. Sullivan successfully defends last officially sanctioned, bare-knuckle world heavyweight prizefighting championship; Jake Kilrain’s trainer throws in towel after 75 x 1-minute rounds near Hattiesburg, Mississippi