Gemmi Pass

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Gemmi Pass
Daubensee on the Gemmi pass to the north. The hiking trail runs along the eastern shore of the lake.

Daubensee on the Gemmi pass to the north. The hiking trail runs along the eastern shore of the lake.

Compass direction north south
Pass height 2269  m above sea level M.
Canton Bern Valais
Watershed Kander Dala
Valley locations Kandersteg Leukerbad
expansion Mule track
Map (Valais)
Gemmipass (Canton of Valais)
Gemmi Pass
Coordinates 613 291  /  138 336 coordinates: 46 ° 23 '47 "  N , 7 ° 36' 41"  O ; CH1903:  613291  /  one hundred and thirty-eight thousand three hundred and thirty-six
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The Gemmipass is a 2269 meter high mountain pass in Switzerland . It is located in the Valais municipality of Leukerbad in the Bernese Alps . It forms a north-south connection between Kandersteg in the Kandertal ( Canton of Bern ) and Leukerbad in the Dala valley . The top of the pass is on the ridge between Daubenhorn (2942 m above sea level) in the west and the Plattenhorn (up to 2855 m above sea level) in the east.

Surname

There are various possible explanations for the origin of the name Gemmi . One interpretation suggests that the name Gemmi is probably derived from Latin gemini (German: twins), due to the similar appearance of the mountains Rinderhorn and Altels east of the pass path. Other interpretations are based on the French language: Gemmi could be derived from the French “chemin” (German: path, path) or from “gémir” (German: sigh, groan). The most credible derivation seems to be from the Middle Latin camini (German: ways, passages), as suggested by Winfried Lausberg.

geography

The Gemmipass geologically marks the western edge of the Aar massif and therefore separates the Bernese high limestone Alps ( Wildstrubel massif ) to the west from the crystalline basement mountains of the Balmhorn group to the east . In the high valley north of the pass there are numerous karst phenomena, for example Karrenfelder , the deep, drainless trough at Berggasthaus Schwarenbach and the Daubensee lake, which has no drainage above ground .

Access

Gemmi pass from Leukerbad

The area around the Gemmi Pass is a popular hiking area. The mule track over the pass begins at around 1400 m above sea level. M. in Leukerbad. After a relatively gentle ascent of 300 m, the 600 m high Gemmiwand , which crumbles into several almost vertical layers of rock on the south side of the pass, has to be overcome, whereby the daring route is always secured. At the saddle point, the path branches off to the northeast and reaches its apex at 2322  m above sea level. M. west of the mountain hotel, where there is a cross.

The 10 km long descent on the north side of the pass leads through an impressive natural landscape and is not associated with any difficulties. The path passes the Daubensee and follows the Schwarzbach, which flows into the Kander at the exit of the Gastern Valley , along which one arrives at Kandersteg . Many hikers spend the night halfway in the Schwarenbach mountain inn (2060 m above sea level).

Since 1957, a cable car has been leading from Leukerbad directly to the top of the pass; It was renewed from March to June 2012. The two- cable aerial tramway has two gondolas for 35 passengers each and can transport 335 people per hour. The height difference of 920 m is overcome by a single support, the distance to the ground is up to 300 m. Another, smaller cable car leads from the top of the pass on the other side down to Daubensee.

history

The Gemmi was first mentioned as a natural route in the early 13th century and later developed into one of the most famous alpine crossings for goods and passenger traffic. Even in the early Middle Ages , the Gemmi Pass was an important link between the Bernese Oberland and the Valais. For example, the Engstligenalp was cultivated from the Valais at that time . However, the rock face above Leukerbad was long considered insurmountable. At that time, the pass path led from Daubensee eastwards up the mountain slope and through the Furggentäli to an at 2730 m above sea level. M. lying gap near the plate horns, the so-called Alte Gemmi . The subsequent descent to the Clabineralp was very steep, but could be passed without crossing a rock face. Some of the Alemanni who migrated south around the year 800 came to Central Valais along this route . The old pass path was relocated around 1550 near today's mule track over the Gemmiwand.

As the health resort Leukerbad gained in importance in the 18th century, the call for an easier to walk route became louder. Messrs. Meier Stephan Matter and Landvogt Balet took the initiative to build a new path over the Gemmi Pass. They managed to get the Gemmizoll from Leuk and 12,000 pounds in money or powder from Bern as support. In 1739 the new path through the rock face was blasted. It was in Bern's interest to create a more direct connection to Italy via the Gemmi and Simplon passes .

Gemmiweg from Leukerbad to the Gemmi Pass

However, the route never developed into an actual transit trade route because there was no efficient transport organization. Around 1900 guests were driven over the pass in the Gemmi-Wägeli .

Gemmi toll road

In the fall of 1951, the Pro Gemmi action company was founded, which proposed the construction of a road from Kandersteg over the Gemmi pass to Leukerbad. The 23 km long road was planned as a continuation of the Simplonstraße and should be operated as a privately financed toll road . It would have led from Kandersteg with two hairpin bends into the Üschenental, at an altitude of 2000  m above sea level. M. pierce the Üschenengrat with a 1000 m long tunnel so that it would have reached the right bank of the Daubensee via Schwarenbach. At an altitude of 2240  m above sea level. M. would have crossed the flat horns with a 2400 m long vertex tunnel, in order to then reach Leukerbad with a few turns from Clabinualp. The action committee was active until the 1970s, but road construction was dropped.

Literary mentions

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described the rock face in front of the Gemmi Pass when he was in Leukerbad on November 9, 1779. Guy de Maupassant's story L'Auberge (German: Das Gasthaus ) takes place on the Gemmi Pass. Even in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story The Final Problem (German: The Final Problem ) of Gemmipass is mentioned right at the beginning of the story. Even Alexandre Dumas , Jules Verne and Mark Twain visited Leukerbad, the latter remarked on his steep path primarily women who were born in litters and looked "seasick and pale and white as the snows of Mont Blanc."

  • Mountain station of the Gemmibahn

  • Berghaus Schwarenbach

  • At Schwarenbach, to the south

  • To the Sünnbüel

literature

  • Aerni, Klaus: The Gemmi - From the connection to the path. In: Cartographica Helvetica Heft 19 (1999) pp. 3–15 full text
  • Initiative committee for the construction of a motorway over the Gemmi: A road over the Gemmi pass from Kandersteg to Leukerbad. Interlaken, 1952
  • Aerni, Klaus / Bitz Vanessa / Benedetti Sandro: The explosive powder opened the way through the Gemmiwand , publication on the inventory of historical traffic routes in Switzerland IVS. Bern, 2003
  • Lausberg, Winfried: The Gemmi. History of an Alpine Crossing , Hamburg, 1975.

Web links

Commons : Gemmipass  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ H. von Travel: Stratigraphy of the Balmhorn Group including the Gemmi Pass (Bernese Oberland) . In: Communications from the Natural Research Society Bern . 1937, pp. 43-120.
  2. ↑ a b Georges Hausemer: The Secret of Gemmi (PDF)  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article in Telecran, 27/2012, accessed March 12, 2013@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.leukerbad.ch  
  3. ↑ Winfried Lausberg: The Gemmi. History of the alpine crossing. Hamburg 1975, p. 23.
  4. ↑ Neue Gemmibahn 2012 ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Information page on the gemmi.ch website, accessed on March 13, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gemmi.ch
  5. ↑ Article about the renovation of the Gemmibahn 2012 in the International Cable Car Review , issue 4/2013, p. 16 f. ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (E-paper, accessed December 5, 2015)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.isr.at
  6. ^ Aerni, Klaus / Bitz Vanessa / Benedetti Sandro: The explosive powder opened the way through the Gemmiwand , publication on the inventory of historical traffic routes in Switzerland IVS. Bern, 2003
  7. ^ Pro Sempione per Gemmi per Gottardo . In: Building, Living, Living . No. 16 , 1954, doi : 10.5169 / SEALS-651382 .
  8. ↑ Message from the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly pertaining to the request for authorization to levy charges on a private road via Gemmi . In: Federal Gazette . tape I , no. 22 . Bern 1922, p. 961 ff .
  9. ^ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Leukerbad, the 9th, at the foot of the Gemmiberges , full text on fschuppisser.ch, accessed on March 12, 2013
  10. ↑ Guy de Maupassant: L'Auberge (1887) , full text on wikisource.org, French, accessed March 12, 2013
  11. ^ Arthur Conan Doyle: The Final Problem , full text at wikisource.org, English, accessed March 12, 2013