The Lauterbrunnen Wall is a term used in the

English-speaking Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest langua ...

mountaineering world to refer to a north-west-facing mountain wall in the

Bernese Alps , topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo , photo=BerneseAlps.jpg , photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau , country= Switzerland , subdivision1_type= Cantons , subdivision1= , parent= Western Alps , borders_on= , ...

in Switzerland. It runs for 8 kilometres from the

Gletscherhorn The Gletscherhorn (3,983 m) is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, located on the border between the Swiss cantons of Bern and Valais. It forms the eastern edge of the Lauterbrunnen Wall, south of the Jungfrau. See also *List of mountains of the ...

(3,983 m) in the east, through the

Ebnefluh The Ebnefluh, also known as the Äbeni Flue and the Ebenefluh, (3,962 m) is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, located on the border between the Swiss cantons of Bern and Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the ...

, (3,962 m), the

Mittaghorn The Mittaghorn is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, located on the border between the cantons of Bern and Valais. It is situated in the middle of the Lauterbrunnen Wall The Lauterbrunnen Wall is a term used in the English-speaking mountaineerin ...

(3,897m) and the

Grosshorn The Grosshorn is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, located on the border between the Swiss cantons of Bern and Valais. It is situated in the middle of the Lauterbrunnen Wall The Lauterbrunnen Wall is a term used in the English-speaking mountaine ...

(3,754 m), to the Breithorn (3,785 m) in the west, where the wall comes to an end at the col which separates it from the

Tschingelhorn The Tschingelhorn (3,562 m) is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, located on the border between the Swiss cantons of Bern and Valais. The summit of the Klein Tschingelhorn (3,495 m) on the west is the tripoint between the valleys of Kandertal, Laut ...

. The Wall is named after the village of

Lauterbrunnen , neighboring_municipalities= Aeschi bei Spiez, Blatten (Lötschen) (VS), Fieschertal (VS), Grindelwald, Gündlischwand, Kandersteg, Lütschental, Reichenbach im Kandertal, Saxeten, Wilderswil , twintowns = } Lauterbrunnen is a village ...

, which lies to the north. The Wall has been a popular venue for ice-climbing since the 1930s, when it was tackled by Feuz, von Allmen and Welzenbach. Many of the routes are less frequently attempted today, because of relatively difficult access (in the context of the Alps) and objective danger. On 12 April 2007 a

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

stationed in Lechfeld, Bavaria crashed high into the Wall between the Mittaghorn and the Ebnefluh. The jet was "practically pulverized" and the pilot was killed on impact; his weapon systems officer, who ejected, was rescued by the mountain rescue services. The cause of the crash was poor flight planning: The Lauterbrunnen valley is not suitable for military fighter jets because of heavy

paraglider Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like ' ...

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame cover ...

and helicopter traffic during the day time, and as the jet had refuelled just a short time ago, the configuration of the Tornado was too heavy for the necessary climb rate to clear the Lauterbrunnen Wall. The crew did not violate any regulations during their flight, though.

External links

Photos of the Wall

References

{{coord, 46.5730, N, 7.9030, E, source:wikidata, display=title Bernese Oberland Landforms of the canton of Bern Landforms of Switzerland Ridges of Europe