The Jungfraujoch (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: lit. "maiden saddle") is a

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

connecting two major 4000ers of the Bernese Alps: the Jungfrau and the Mönch. It lies at an elevation of above sea level and is directly overlooked by the rocky prominence of the Sphinx. The Jungfraujoch is a glacier saddle, on the upper snows of the

Aletsch Glacier The Aletsch Glacier (german: Aletschgletscher, ) or Great Aletsch Glacier () is the largest glacier in the Alps. It has a length of about (2014), has about a volume of (2011), and covers about (2011) in the eastern Bernese Alps in the Swiss ca ...

, and part of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, situated on the boundary between the cantons of

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

and

Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 ...

, halfway between Interlaken and

Fiesch Fiesch is a municipality in the district of Goms in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Nearby Fiescheralp is administered by Fiesch and is accessible by the Eggishorn lift. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site for its view of ...

. Since 1912, the Jungfraujoch has been accessible to tourists by the Jungfrau line, a railway from Interlaken and Kleine Scheidegg, running partly underground through a tunnel through the

Eiger The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends a ...

and Mönch. The

Jungfraujoch railway station Jungfraujoch is an underground railway station situated near the Jungfraujoch, in the canton of Valais, a few metres from the border with the canton of Canton of Bern, Bern. At above sea level, it is the terminus of the Jungfrau Railway and the ...

, at an elevation of is the highest in Europe. It lies east of the saddle, below the Sphinx station, and is connected to the

Top of Europe The Top of Europe is a high-altitude building located in the Swiss canton of Valais. It overlooks the eternal snows of the Aletsch Glacier from the south side of the Jungfraujoch, at a height of above sea level. It is connected to the underground ...

building, which includes several panoramic restaurants, shops, exhibitions, and a post office. Several tunnels lead outside, where secured hiking trails on the

crevasse A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...

d glacier can be followed, in particular to the

Mönchsjoch Hut The Mönchsjoch Hut (German: ''Mönchsjochhütte'') is a mountain hut located in the Bernese Alps in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. At an altitude of is one of the highest huts owned by the Swiss Alpine Club. The hut lies just above the Obe ...

. The normal route to the Jungfrau and Mönch starts from there. The Sphinx Observatory, one of the highest astronomical observatories in the world, provides an additional viewing platform at a height of , the second-highest in Switzerland. It can be reached by an elevator from the Jungfraujoch. The observatory houses one of the

Global Atmosphere Watch The Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) is a worldwide system established by the World Meteorological Organizationa United Nations agencyto monitor trends in the Earth's atmosphere. It arose out of concerns for the state of the atmosphere in the 1960s. ...

's atmospheric research stations. The

Jungfraujoch radio relay station The Jungfraujoch radio relay station (german: Richtfunkstation Jungfraujoch) is a former Swisscom microwave radio relay station atop the Jungfraujoch, the mountain ridge between Mönch and Jungfrau, in the Swiss Alps. At an altitude of above s ...

, which is not accessible to the public, is installed west of the Jungfraujoch, on the Jungfrau ridge. It is Europe's highest

radio relay Radio stations that cannot communicate directly due to distance, terrain or other difficulties sometimes use an intermediate radio relay station to relay the signals. A radio relay receives weak signals and retransmits them, often in a different di ...

station.

Etymology

Swiss and Austro-Bavarian German '' Joch'' (lit. '

yoke A yoke is a wooden beam sometimes used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, us ...

') is a term for 'ridge between two higher peaks' recorded in the 14th century (Grimm, ''

Deutsches Wörterbuch The ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' (; "The German Dictionary"), abbreviated ''DWB'', is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence.weisth. 1, 4 (Zürich)"). The name ''Jungfrau'' ('maiden, virgin'), which refers to the highest mountain overlooking the Jungfraujoch, is most likely derived from the name ''Jungfrauenberg'' given to

Wengernalp The Wengernalp is an alpine meadow at an elevation of 1874 m, above Wengen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. It lies on the southern slopes of the Lauberhorn, just below Kleine Scheidegg, a mountain pass connecting the valleys of Lauterbrunn ...

, so named for the nuns of

Interlaken Monastery , order = Augustinians , established = by 1133 , disestablished = 1528 , mother = , dedication = , diocese = Lausanne , churches = , founder = Ba ...

, its historical owner. However, the "virgin" peak was heavily romanticized as a "goddess" or "priestess" only in late 18th- to 19th-century Romanticism. After the first ascent in 1811 by Swiss alpinist Johann Rudolf Meyer, the peak was jokingly referred to as ''Mme Meyer'' (Mrs. Meyer).

Geographic setting

The Jungfraujoch is a snow saddle located directly between the summits of Mathildespitze (west) and Sphinx (east). It is, however, most notably the lowest point between the Jungfrau and the Mönch, respectively third and fourth highest mountains in the Bernese Alps, and the key col of the former. The south side (canton of Valais), almost flat, is constituted by the Jungfraufirn, one of the branches of the

, the longest in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

. From the south, the Jungfraujoch can be relatively easily accessed by mountaineers in two days from the region of

, via the

Konkordia Hut The Konkordia Hut (German: ''Konkordiahütte'') is a mountain hut of the Swiss Alpine Club, located north of Fieschertal in the canton of Valais. The hut lies above Konkordiaplatz, the point of convergence of several glaciers in the great Aletsch G ...

. The north side (canton of Bern) is almost vertical with a difference of height of nearly 3,000 metres from the bottom of the valley at Interlaken, with no easy natural access. For those reasons, the only easy and quick access to the Jungfraujoch is through the 7 kilometre-long tunnel of the

Jungfrau Railway The Jungfrau Railway (german: Jungfraubahn, JB) is a mountain railway in the Bernese Alps, connecting Kleine Scheidegg in the Bernese Oberland to the Jungfraujoch, across the Valais border. The railway, which uses a and racks, runs from the st ...

, accessed via Kleine Scheidegg on the north side, the railway pass between Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. Administrativelly, the Jungfraujoch is split between the territories of the municipalities of Lauterbrunnen and

Fieschertal Fieschertal is a village and municipality in the district of Goms in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Besides the village of Fieschertal, the municipality includes the nearby hamlets of Wichul, Zer Flie and Wirbul. History Fieschertal is fi ...

. Nearly all built infrastructure, including the

complex and the Sphinx Observatory, are on the Valais side of the border, therefore in the municipality of Fieschertal. The ridge between the Jungfrau and the Mönch is a major European watershed as well. The north side is drained by the

Weisse Lütschine Weisse or Weiße is a surname which means "white" in German. It may refer to: People * Charles H. Weisse (1866–1919), American politician * Christian Felix Weiße (1726–1804), German writer * Christian Hermann Weisse (1801–1866), German Prot ...

, the Aare and the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

. The south side is drained by the

Massa Massa may refer to: Places *Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara. *Massa (river), river in Switzerland * Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...

and the Rhone. Jungfraujoch 090425

First crossing

There is a tradition in the Bernese Oberland, supported by some documentary evidence, that a pass existed between Grindelwald and

in the late medieval period, later lost to the advancing glaciers. With the early development of

tourism in Switzerland Tourists are drawn to Switzerland's diverse landscape as well as the available activities, which take advantage of the Alpine climate and Alpine region, landscapes, in particular for Alpine skiing, skiing and Alpinism, mountaineering. As of 2016 ...

and the exploration of the High Alps in the 19th century, there were once again attempts to traverse the great ridge that encloses the head of the

, and connecting Fiesch with Grindelwald and

. Four such routes were found, with the Jungfraujoch and the

Eigerjoch The Eigerjoch is a high Alpine pass lying between the Mönch (south) and the Eiger (north). The lowest point (3,605 m) on the ridge is named ''Nördliches Eigerjoch'' while another pass (3,747 m) located closer to the Mönch is named ''Südliches ...

being among the most difficult passes in the Alps, John Ball, ''The Alpine guide, Central Alps'', p. 106, 1866, London despite the former having a relatively easy southern approach on the Aletsch Glacier. The first ascent of the north side of the Jungfraujoch succeeded in July 1862, by a party of six English climbers and six Swiss guides: Leslie Stephen, F. J. Hardy,

H. B. George H is the eighth letter of the Latin alphabet. H may also refer to: Musical symbols * H number, Harry Halbreich reference mechanism for music by Honegger and Martinů * H, B (musical note) * H, B major People * H. (noble) (died after 1279) ...

, Living, Moore, and Morgan, with

Christian Almer 220px, Christian Almer Christian Almer (29 March 1826 – 17 May 1898) was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascentionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alpinism. Almer was born and died i ...

, Christian and Peter Michel, Ulrich Kauffmann, P. Baumann, and C. Bohren as guides. The time of ascent from Wengernalp was nine hours. The party turned back on the first day at a

bergschrund A bergschrund (from the German for ''mountain cleft'') or rimaye (from French; ) is a crevasse that forms where moving glacier ice separates from the stagnant ice or firn above. It is often a serious obstacle for mountaineers, who sometimes abb ...

, returning on the following day with a ladder in length, carried by Peter Rubi, a porter from Grindelwald. The way lay at first by the rocky buttress of the Mönch, separating the

and Guggi glaciers. From the buttress the route descended a short distance in order to reach the Guggi Glacier, which could be ascended to a plateau. This halting place was reached in about three hours. 2009 Jungfraujoch

Above the bergschrund was a second and smaller plateau which was situated immediately under the long slopes of broken neve that lay below the saddle. The final and very arduous stage in the ascent was a single patch of dark rocks jutted out from the snow in the ridge connecting the Jungfrau with the Mönch. After more than an hour of climbing, a great wall of ice, whose projecting

cornice of snow A snow cornice or simply cornice (from the Italian cornice meaning "ledge") is an overhanging edge of snow on a ridge or the crest of a mountain and along the sides of gully, gullies. Formation A snow cornice forms by wind blowing snow over sha ...

was fringed by long icicles, had to be avoided bearing left in the direction of the Mönch, along the base of the wall by a slippery pathway of ice formed from the dripping from the icicles above. At a point where the pathway thinned out nearly to a point, and was cut across by a transverse

, the wall became low enough to be scaled by the ladder. This was the last serious obstacle: a moderate slope of névé, unbroken by crevasses, then led up to the summit of the saddle. After reaching the first patch of rocks, a short way below the saddle on the south side, the party divided: George and Moore, with C. Almer and U. Kaufmann went down to the Eggishorn and Fiesch, therefore completing the first crossing of the Jungfraujoch, while the remainder of the party returned to Grindelwald by the Mönchsjoch.

Jungfrau Railway

History

Adolf Guyer-Zeller Adolf Guyer-Zeller (1 May 1839 – 3 April 1899) was a Swiss entrepreneur. Born in Bäretswil, Switzerland on 1 May 1839, Guyer-Zeller was the son of an owner of spinning mill and creator of a textile export trade in Zürich. After the death of ...

first thought of the idea of a tunnel in 1893, and at that point, he had planned to have seven stations inside the tunnel before reaching the peak of the Sphinx. The building of the tunnel started on July 27, 1896 and took 16 years to complete. The construction phase was troubled by many problems including monetary shortages, inclement weather and mounting deaths due to construction accidents. The worst accident occurred in 1908, when 30 tons of

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

accidentally exploded. When construction finally finished, the railway reached only to the height of the Jungfraujoch saddle, rather than the summit of the Sphinx, and had only two intermediate stations. However, even in its current state, the Jungfraubahn is a significant achievement in engineering and construction, still holding the title for highest railway in Europe.

Railway

The train into the mountain leaves from Kleine Scheidegg, which can be reached by trains from Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen. The train enters the tunnel running eastward through the Eiger shortly after leaving Kleine Scheidegg. It runs close behind the Eiger's north face, stopping at Eigerwand, where there is a window about 8 m long and a metre high, halfway up the face. The windows have been placed in holes used to remove excavated rock from the tunnel during construction, and are also occasionally used as access points, by climbers, and also rescue parties. This window was used for one of the final scenes of a

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

spy movie The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many James Bond films) ...

, '' The Eiger Sanction''. There one can get off the train to admire the view before the train continues five minutes later. The tunnel then turns west, heading towards the Jungfrau. There is a second stop at a window looking out on the Eismeer ("Sea of Ice") before the train continues to the Jungfraujoch. The tunnel was constructed between 1898 and 1912; it is about long, with gradients of up to 25%. The journey from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch takes approximately 50 minutes including the stops at Eigerwand and Eismeer; the downhill return journey taking only 35 minutes. The Jungfraujoch complex plays an important role in John Christopher's '' The Tripods'' novels.

Climate

Located above the permanent

snow line The climatic snow line is the boundary between a snow-covered and snow-free surface. The actual snow line may adjust seasonally, and be either significantly higher in elevation, or lower. The permanent snow line is the level above which snow wil ...

, the Jungfraujoch is officially the coldest place in Switzerland,Swiss records - Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss
/ref> although other higher locations with no weather station, for example the top of the nearby Jungfrau and Finsteraarhorn, probably experience a more extreme climate. According to

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

, the Jungfraujoch has an alpine climate on the border between

tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. undra climate https://www.britannica.com/science/tundra-climateThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019 It is classified as ET according to Köppen ...

(ET) and ice cap climate (EF) with long, cold winters lasting most of the year and a brief period during summer where the average daily highs rise above freezing.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Jungfraubahn
{{Authority control Mountain passes of Switzerland Mountain passes of the Alps Bernese Oberland Tourist attractions in Switzerland World Heritage Sites in Switzerland Mountain passes of the canton of Bern Bern–Valais border Mountain passes of Valais Rail mountain passes of Switzerland