Trift Bridge

Trift Bridge
	View from the west
use	Footbridge
Convicted	Bergweg mountain station Triftbahn ( Unteri Trift ) - Trifthütte
Subjugated	Drift water
place	Gadmertal
construction	Rope bridge
overall length	170 m
width	0.8 m
Construction height	1.4 m (including rope railing)
height	100 m
building-costs	350,000 CHF
start of building	May 2009
opening	June 12, 2009
planner	KWO, Kraftwerke Oberhasli AG
	location
Above sea level	1720 m

46.694486111111 8.3575 1720Coordinates: 46 ° 41 ′ 40 " N , 8 ° 21 ′ 27" E ; CH1903: 670282 / 171885

The Trift Bridge is a pedestrian rope bridge based on the model of the Nepalese three- rope bridges , which crosses the Trift Gorge and the Trift Water in the south of the Gadmer Valley in the canton of Bern in Switzerland . The Trift Bridge is one of the longest and highest suspension bridges for pedestrians in the Alps.

history

Old Trift Bridge 2007

In the past, the tongue of the Trift glacier reached into the Trift gorge , enabling alpinists to cross the gorge over the glacier on the way to the Trift hut . As early as 1996 it was foreseeable that this path would shortly no longer be passable because the glacier was rapidly retreating. A lake formed above the gorge that had to be bypassed.

The first bridge was built in 2004. After a short time, however, it turned out that the bridge tended to rock dangerously due to the wind turbulence caused by foehn storms in the Trift Gorge. This also repeatedly led to damage to the walking surface and suspension. Originally intended for alpinists, the bridge became a tourist magnet and, after the KWO had opened its factory cable car to the public, now also attracted poorly equipped hikers. The accesses exposed on both sides were also a risk for them. For these reasons, it was planned to build a new bridge in autumn 2008, which should meet the changed requirements.

At a position slightly to the north and 30 m higher, the new bridge was built in the spring of 2009 in just six weeks, with a safer footbridge and easier-to-reach accesses. With guy ropes, it can withstand extreme wind conditions better. The five-year-old bridge was dismantled when the new one was completed and was given a new location in June 2010 in the Göschenertal as the Salbitbrücke .

If you want to get to the Trift hut, you have to cross the Trift bridge. One of the ascent routes to the Windegghütte leads past the west end of the bridge without having to cross it.

Technical specifications

The new bridge is now more easily accessible from both sides. The sidewalk was made safer by using square timber on the side and the railing by horizontal ropes. The wind forces are counteracted with two tensioning ropes that run diagonally downwards. Two suspension ropes each run on the left and right at sidewalk height, another two suspension ropes form the handrails. The upper and lower suspension ropes are connected by vertical steel fittings, which also serve as guides for the horizontal railing ropes. The suspension ropes are held by 24 rock anchors, each 2.5 m deep, each of which was tested with a tensile load of 18 t . The eastern bridgehead is about 16 m higher than the western one.

	Old Trift Bridge	New Trift Bridge
length	101.6 m	170 m
height	70 m	100 m
steel	220 parts	7,500 kg
Steel cables	6th	5,000 m (supporting and guy ropes)
Screws		6'500
Larch wood planks	210	340
building-costs	approx. 100,000 CHF	350,000 CHF
Project management	Walter Brog	Walter Brog
Statics, construction	Engineering office Pfaffen, Chur	Engineering office Pfaffen, Chur