A decent drive

Last Friday, we spent the day at Thermalbad Brigerbad. The pools are pretty awesome, there’s a 182-metre waterslide, we had some great weather, and it was an enjoyable time.

We drove to Brig via the Gotthard Tunnel and the Nufenen Pass. It’s steep, windy, alpine country. The Nufenen pass is the highest mountain pass with a paved road in Switzerland. It has amazing views; you can see the impressive Gries gravity dam (holding back the Griessee), some large wind turbines, and lots of rocks.

After our time at the pools, we wanted to try a different route home, so consulted a map and determined that the Grimsel Pass was in the right direction.

This was some next-level mountain pass action. From Oberwald, it gets a bit windy, and then you drive through some trees, around a bend, and you see this:

Once you get up those switchbacks, you get a great view back across the upper valley of the Rhône. In the distance you can see the Furka Pass, as featured in the James Bond film Goldfinger.

Over the top, we got into some heavy fog (cloud, I guess?) and the place was quite surreal, with the Totensee appearing out of the mist. What’s particularly fascinating about this point on the pass is that, as well as being the cantonal border between Bern and Valais,  it’s right on the continental divide, with the tributaries to the north draining into the Aare, then the Rhine, and into the North Sea, while those to the south are in the Rhône catchment, ultimately flowing to the Mediterranean.

The Totensee itself is interesting, as it naturally drains into the Rhône, but was dammed as a reservoir, which raised its level by about 16 metres, and now has an aqueduct flowing out the other side, into the Grimselsee, and into the Aare.

Which brings us to the Grimselsee.

The Grimselsee is impressive – an artificial lake, created in 1932, held back by two hydroelectric dams, one each on either side of a decent chunk of rock, upon which is perched the Hotel Grimsel Hospiz. 

We probably won’t get to see the Spitallamm Storage dam again, as it is being replaced next year. The new dam will be built in front of the existing dam, and the old dam will be flooded/submerged.

The rest of the valley down is pretty amazing – rugged alpine country, with interesting colours and textures.

And on the way out is the impressive Aareschlucht, which I failed to photograph. We’ll have to go back and explore it one day.

So, all-in-all, it was a great day!