After reading Will's account of his Pyreneean holiday I am hoping to
do much the same thing in Switzerland - ie get snow and thunder in the
same place - w/b 18/08/03 - although I haven't told my wife - she
thinks were going to visit museums and castles.

Unlike Will advancing age means 3 and 4 star hotels and
air-conditioned cars rather than canvas and backpacks.

I would dearly love to go on the train to Jungfraujoch but the £90
fare is a bit of an off-putter.

Has anyone any experience of Switzerland? I have only ever passed
through before, either on the train at night or via Zurich Airport.

Any suggestion of good glaciers and snowfields to visit (by car or
cable-car/funicular/rack-and-pinion railway, of course) would be
welcome.

Thanks in anticipation.

JPG

"JPG" wrote in message
...


Has anyone any experience of Switzerland? I have only ever passed
through before, either on the train at night or via Zurich Airport.

Hi,

I'm afraid I won't be much help for locating glaciers, but you may find this
comprehensive list of Swiss glaciers of some interest...

http://129.132.60.46:8888/messnetz/glacierlist (in English)

If you want further information about Switzerland itself, don't hesitate to
contact me - I lived there for 2 years, both in Zürich and in Canton
Graubünden (Grisons).

James

"JPG" wrote in message
...

Oh and you might want to take a trip on the Glacier Express...between
St.Moritz and Zermatt (or vice versa)... an all day trip passing through
some stunning scenery. Reservations are normally advisable though I think.

http://www.rhb.ch/glacierexpress/glacierexpress.e.php

James

On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 11:44:08 +0100, JPG wrote:

...
Any suggestion of good glaciers and snowfields to visit (by car or
cable-car/funicular/rack-and-pinion railway, of course) would be
welcome.


Take the cable car from Zermatt to Kleine Matterhorn.

--
Alan White
Twenty-eight miles NW of Glasgow.
Overlooking Loch Goil and Loch Long in Argyll, Scotland.
http://tinyurl.com/55v3

Any suggestion of good glaciers and snowfields to visit (by car or
cable-car/funicular/rack-and-pinion railway, of course) would be
welcome.
JPG

Try the rotating cable car from Engelberg to the Titlis. And the
Jungfraujoch trip is amazing, despite the cost (mind you, I would baulk at
£90 too - first time around my father did the paying, and second time around
the trip was included in a week's ski pass in the region).

Anne

Dear JPG-The next issue [13] of Weather eye, coming out very soon, has a
full colour A4 sized picture as a back cover of a weather station high on a
mountain side at around 2400metres with a dramatic backdrop of the Fee
glacier and the 4548 metre high Dom mountain towering above Saas Fee. This
area is not far from Zermatt. I have spent many holidays in Switzerland and
have been involved in some dramatic weather with on one occasion flooding
and destruction to rival Lynmouth that led to a storm lashed evacuation of
my remote camp site as a river rose 5 to 6 metres in a few hours . Yet I
have had many a fine day. Where to go is like saying how long is a piece of
string as there are so many walks, climbs, views and so much weather. I am
going somewhere extremely interesting this year not a million miles away to
find out about a remarkable place for Weather eye magazine. All will be
revealed later in the year.

Ian Currie-Coulsdon,Surrey.

"JPG" wrote in message
...
After reading Will's account of his Pyreneean holiday I am hoping to
do much the same thing in Switzerland - ie get snow and thunder in the
same place - w/b 18/08/03 - although I haven't told my wife - she
thinks were going to visit museums and castles.

Unlike Will advancing age means 3 and 4 star hotels and
air-conditioned cars rather than canvas and backpacks.

I would dearly love to go on the train to Jungfraujoch but the £90
fare is a bit of an off-putter.

Has anyone any experience of Switzerland? I have only ever passed
through before, either on the train at night or via Zurich Airport.

Any suggestion of good glaciers and snowfields to visit (by car or
cable-car/funicular/rack-and-pinion railway, of course) would be
welcome.

Thanks in anticipation.

JPG

"JPG" wrote in message
...
After reading Will's account of his Pyreneean holiday I am hoping to
do much the same thing in Switzerland - ie get snow and thunder in the
same place - w/b 18/08/03 - although I haven't told my wife - she
thinks were going to visit museums and castles.

Any suggestion of good glaciers and snowfields to visit (by car or
cable-car/funicular/rack-and-pinion railway, of course) would be
welcome.

Thanks in anticipation.

I'm passing through Switzerland on my hols at the end of the month -
Jungfrau trip certainly good, might also want to go to Saas Fee (this is
where I am going, skiied there many times). Still has skiing in the summer
on the glacier, and also boasts the highest revolving restaurant which has
great views. There is also an "ice palace" thing inside the glacier, but
I've not tried this...
James.

In message
"David Gartrell" wrote:



One thought on your comments on the train up the Jungfraujoch - I haven't
been on it myself but one thing I can tell you from what others have said -
Go and do it, it'll be the best 90 quid you ever spent!


Did the Jungfraujoch trip last year. Absolutely stunning, and we didn't even
pick a particularly good day. So we missed a lot of the view. Lots of
Japanese tourists, lovely people.

We were fortunate that somebody on our campsite gave us a couple of
Jungfraubahnpass tickets with a couple of days left on them. This got us up
from Interlaken to kleiner Sheidegg ( most of the way, at the foot of the
glaciers) but we needed to buy another ticket to get to the top.

The rail journey up to kliener Shiedegg is spectacular, whether you go via
Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald. Above Klienr Shcidegg it is mostly in tunnels.

On the way the trsin stops at various points allowing views of the glaciers
(at one point there is a window in the north face of the Eiger, complete with
climbing ropes dangling over it).

At the top we were well aware of the thinner air at 12000 odd feet. If is
possible to walk out onto the snow, but the slightest incline left us light
headed (no problems with breathing though, which surprised us).

But for a real glacier experience, go to chamonix (in France) and take the
train up to the mer de Glace. You can walk on the glacier, and it is
surprisingly spippery (I ended up on my backside immediately after my first
step). As at Junfraujocch there is an ice palace with sculptures inside the
glacier.

We also visited Zermatt and Chamonix as I mentioned, but the hightlight of
the holiday was without doubt the Jungfraujoch trip. My wife described it as
the trip of a lifetime! It is expensive, but worth it!

Martin


--
Created on the Iyonix PC - the new RISC OS computer.

The rail journey up to kliener Shiedegg is spectacular, whether you go
via Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald.
Martin

Make a point of going up to Kleine Scheidegg one way and coming down the
other, if you can. I'd go up by Wengen and down by Grindelwald to have the
sun behind me rather than shining in my face (better for photographs too).
Sit on the right-hand side of the train if you do it this way.

Anne

P.S. If you decide to do the Gornergrat trip from Zermatt, get the earliest
train you possibly can in the morning. Later in the day the face of the
Matterhorn is in its own shade. Sit on the right-hand side of the train
going up.

Anne