Exploring the Trümmelbach Falls, a waterfall inside a Swiss mountain, and a walk along the Lauterbrunnen Valley

8 July 2015

After a thrilling morning of soaring above the Lauterbrunnen Valley, we went to the Trümmelbach Falls. This was a chance to see a giant waterfall inside a mountain!

Trümmelbach Falls is about midway between the Stechelberg gondola station and Lauterbrunnen. The Airtime Paragliding staff were supposed to send us back to Lauterbrunnen but we requested that they let us off at the entrance to the Falls, which they happily obliged.

There is a gift shop and restaurant near the entrance which served lunch. After lunch, we followed a path that led to a tunnel lift. This is a lift, that is inside the mountain, and it brought us up to level 7. We were to walk the rest of the way to the highest viewing point at level 10 and then make our way back down to level 1.

Trümmelbach Falls are a series of ten different tiered waterfalls that descend a total of 459 feet or about 140 meters. The unique feature about this attraction is that the falls are contained within the rock of the mountain itself and the water are drainage water from the glaciers of the Monch, the Jungfrau, and the Eiger mountains. The water has over time found its way into the mountain instead of forcing its way over cliff. The volume of water that roars through the well worn rock surfaces is about 20,000 liters per second. 

I have never experience anything like this before.  No wonder. This is the only glacier waterfall inside a mountain that is still accessible. Definitely a must-see when we were in the vicinity.

Stairs leading to the top of the falls.

Rainbow formed by the direct sun on the spray  from the falls.

Getting up close and wet!

There were places where we could get up close to the cascading waters.

Inside the mountain and amazed by the sound and power of the water rushing though the rocks.

For thousands of years, water has been gushing through the rock cavities, cutting it wider and wider. I think the flows must have alter their paths many times. Some of the tunnels we were walking through were naturally cut by the water many years ago but were now dry as the water found another path through the mountain.

It was not all dark and wet.  Some parts of the trail, especially the part leading to cascade Number 1 offered good views of the Lauterbrunnen Valley.

 See how small the humans were compared to the falls.

As we depart from the Falls, we spotted more para-gliders floating down from Mürren to Stechelberg. These were the afternoon’s sortie.

After visiting the Trümmelbach Falls, we walked the 2.8 km trail to Lauterbrunnen Village. This was an easy and enjoyable walk along the valley.

At some points, the trail ran parallel to the fast flowing river, fed from the many waterfalls that cascade down from the cliff above. This was supposed to be the valley of 72 waterfalls but I did not count that many.

Staubbach Falls.

With a height of nearly 300 meters, Staubbach Falls is the second highest waterfall in Switzerland. The highest is Murrenbach Falls, which we saw earlier in the day.

Winds swirl the waterfalls spray around in all directions. These droplets of water spray gave the brook and the waterfall its name. (Staub = dust)

Looking at the fast flowing river from one of the bridges along the trail. The river water was a brownish grey colour, signs of the rock sediments and particles carried by the fast flowing glacier meltwater.

A couple of Swiss cows near residential areas as we approached Lauterbrunnen.

Staubbach Falls in Lauterbrunnen.

We ended the walk at Lauterbrunnen. After tea break at a cafe, we went to stock up on groceries before heading back up to our apartment in Wengen. The best place to buy groceries was at the Coop store. The store at Lauterbrunnen seems to be slightly bigger than the one in Wengen. The stores were quite well stock but both close relatively early.