Gelmersee (or Lake Gelmer) is a
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
in
Bernese Oberland
The Bernese Oberland ( en, Bernese Highlands, german: Berner Oberland; gsw, Bärner Oberland; french: Oberland bernois), the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern, is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. The
hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
reservoir was completed in 1932, at about the same time as the
Grimselsee
The Grimselsee or Lake Grimsel is an artificial lake near the Grimsel Pass in the Canton of Berne, Switzerland. With a volume of 95 mio m³ (20.9 billion imperial gallons, 20.1 billion US gallons), it is larger than other hydroelectric reservoirs i ...
reservoir, and both are operated by
Kraftwerke Oberhasli. The reservoir's volume is 13 million m³ and its surface area .
The reservoir may be reached by the
Gelmerbahn
The Gelmer Funicular is a cable railway in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It links a lower terminus at Handegg, in the Haslital (the valley of the upper Aar River), with an upper terminus at the Gelmersee lake.
The Gelmerbahn was the steepest ...
from
Handegg
Handeck is a village in the municipality of Guttannen, Switzerland. The village is located near the lake Gelmersee, which may be reached by Gelmerbahn from Handeck. There is a hotel and bridge at the village.
Geography
Handeck is located approx ...
,
Guttannen
Guttannen is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
Origin of the name
Guttannen is the name of a meadow, which became the name of the municipality. It comes from the phrase ''ze ...
at 1,412 m. The
funicular
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...
's track with a length of 1,028 m has a maximum inclination of 106%.
See also
*
List of lakes of Switzerland
This article contains a sortable table listing all major lakes of Switzerland. The table includes all still water bodies, natural or artificial, that have a surface area of at least , regardless of water volume, maximum depth or other metric. Th ...
*
List of mountain lakes of Switzerland
This is a list of high-altitude lakes in Switzerland. It includes all significant lakes, natural or artificial, with an area over 4 hectares and a height over 800 metres above sea level. This height approximately corresponds to the transiti ...
External links
Lake Gelmer*
Reservoirs in Switzerland
Bernese Oberland
Oberhasli
Lakes of the canton of Bern
LGelmersee
{{bern-lake-stub