The Trift Bridge (german: Triftbrücke) is a pedestrian-only suspension bridge in the

Swiss Alps The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps (german: Schweizer Alpen, french: Alpes suisses, it, Alpi svizzere, rm, Alps svizras), represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss ...

. The bridge is a

simple suspension bridge A simple suspension bridge (also rope bridge, swing bridge (in New Zealand), suspended bridge, hanging bridge and catenary bridge) is a primitive type of bridge in which the deck of the bridge lies on two parallel load-bearing cables that ar ...

design spanning at a height of . The Trift Bridge spans the lake, Triftsee, near

Gadmen Gadmen is a former municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014, the former municipality of Gadmen merged into the municipality of Innertkirchen.

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 ...

, an area that receives approximately 20,000 visitors per year to see the

Trift Glacier The Trift Glacier (german: Triftgletscher) is a long glacier (2005) in the Urner Alps near Gadmen, in the extreme east of the canton Berne in Switzerland. Morphology In 1973 glacier was 5.75 km long, 3 km wide at the top and around 500 m w ...

. An earlier bridge was built in 2004, as the glacier was no longer high enough to take visitors to the Trift Hut of the Swiss Alpine Club. A replacement bridge was opened on 12 June 2009. It is one of the longest and highest pedestrian bridges in the Alps. The old bridge stands today in the

canton of Uri The canton of Uri (german: Kanton Uri rm, Chantun Uri; french: Canton d'Uri; it, Canton Uri) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territ ...

with the name Salbitbrücke. Reaching the bridge requires taking a cable car in

Meiringen Meiringen () is a municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Besides the village of Meiringen, the municipality includes the settlements of Balm, Brünigen, Eisenbolgen, Hausen, Prasti, ...

, followed by a

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...

. Finally, a difficult 1.5 hour uphill hike leads to the bridge.

References

External links

Official Site
Pedestrian bridges in Switzerland {{Switzerland-bridge-struct-stub