Collar of Groaned

The collar of Gemmi ( Gemmipass in German) is a collar of Suisse culminating with 2.314 meters. It connects Kandersteg in the Canton of Bern to Loèche-the-Baths (Canton of Were worth) on approximately 10 kilometers. The passage is wedged between Daubenhorn (2942 m) in the west and the chain of Plattenhörnern (max. 2855 m) in the east. The collar is entirely Valaisan side and after the Daubensee, the path cuts the Bernese border then goes down on Kandersteg. Relatively soft on the Bernese side, the collar is spectacularly abrupt Valaisan side. It suitable for motor vehicles, but is non-groudronné, on the Bernois slope. The Valaisan slope is traversed only by one relatively broad path (>1m) and arranged well. Its accesses offer a complete panorama on more the Valaisan high summits: Cervin, Mount Pink, Dom or White Tooth.

The collar is borrowed at least since the Roman epoch (discovery of parts on the way). Later, he will be traversed in a frequent way by people going in cure to benefit from thermal springs of the station. At one time, the passage of this vertiginous collar was facilitated by carriers which transportaients on the escarpments of the small path travellers little accustomed to the mountain and the vacuum.

The area of the collar is a field of ski touring and ski touring, accessible since Loèche-the-Baths. A cable car makes it possible to directly reach the coll In winter, the cross-country skiers can traverse the cold surface of Daubensee. During the Years 1950, a project of highway of Kandersteg with Loèche-the-Baths passing in tunnel under the collar of Gemmi was considered but abandoned.

Goethe speaks about the imposing rock frontage in 1779 in the account of its passage to Loèche-the-Baths (which was already a thermal spa at the time): “we saw in front of us this Gemmi, of which one makes so terrible descriptions”. Via the collar, Goethe joined Interlaken then goes to Lucerne. This voyage in the Swiss mountains will inspire it later for its novel Die Alpen (version French: In Switzerland and in the Alps ).

External bonds

www.gemmi.ch
Extracts from the account of Goethe

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