Gelmerbahn

The Gelmerbahn climbs a granite wall above the Grimsel Pass road at a maximum gradient of 106 per cent — steeper than 45 degrees — which makes it the steepest open funicular in Europe. Over a track of about a kilometre it gains some 448 metres, and the ride, roughly ten to twelve minutes, is made in a small open car that holds just 24 people. Passengers sit facing downhill, so the whole ascent is spent looking back into the depth of the Aare valley as it opens beneath their feet, with the rails dropping away almost vertically below. The car moves slowly, at about two metres a second, and on the steepest section it seems to hang from the rock rather than ride up it.

The line was never meant for sightseers. It was built in 1926 by the hydroelectric company Kraftwerke Oberhasli to carry materials and workers up to the site of the Gelmer dam, part of the great scheme that harnesses the waters of the upper Aare, and for three quarters of a century it served the power station alone. Only in 2001 did it open to the public, and its industrial origins are still visible in the plain metal car, the metre-gauge track and the uncompromising line straight up the slope. It remains owned and run by the power company.

At the top waits the Gelmersee, a reservoir held back by its dam at about 1,850 metres, its water an intense turquoise against bare granite slopes. Because it stores water for the power plants, its level rises and falls with use. A trail circles the lake, and the Handeck suspension bridge is close by, so the funicular is often combined with a walk.

Getting there

The valley station stands at Handegg on the Grimsel Pass road in the Haslital, in the Bernese Oberland. PostBus services between Meiringen and Oberwald cross the pass and stop at "Handegg, Gelmerbahn"; Meiringen has a railway station. Parking at Handegg is limited. The nearest airport as the crow flies is Lugano (LUG), about 82 km away on the far side of the Alps, but in practice most visitors come from Zurich Airport (ZRH) by train to Meiringen and continue by PostBus or car.