Understock
| Understock | |
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| State : |
 Switzerland
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| Canton : |
 Bern (BE)
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| Administrative district : | Interlaken-Oberhasli |
| Residential municipality : | Innertkirchen |
| Postal code : | 3862 |
| Coordinates : | 660 558 / 171 692 |
| Height : | 860 m above sea level M. |
| Website: | www.innertkirchen.ch |
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Understock (also Unterstock) is a place in the municipality of Innertkirchen (formerly Oberhasli district , today Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district ) in the canton of Bern in Switzerland .
The name of the place comes from the fact that it is in the shadow of the 1621 m above sea level. M. high mountain Loibstock lies. The place description “under the floor” ( Bern German : under em floor ) probably led to the place name “Understock” over time.
geography
Understock is located on the elevated foothills of the Urbach valley between Guttannen and Innertkirchen . From both places steep serpentines lead through the forest up to the place built on the slopes and hills.
The road from Innertkirchen to Understock leads for a short time through the almost completely flat Urbachtal , which was formed by the Gauli glacier during the Little Ice Age and is now enclosed by the Engelhorn and Stock massifs. The river flowing through the Urbachtal is called Ürbachwasser (or Urbach ). Understock and the surrounding mountains are part of the Aar massif .
Countless mountain peaks can be seen from Understock. Including the Grosse Engelhorn , the Dossen ( 3138 m above sea level ), the Planplatten ( 2250 m above sea level ), the Blattenstock ( 1849 m above sea level ) or the Glogghüüs ( 2534 m above sea level ). The Engstlenalp can also be seen from Understock .
Innertkirchen is the junction between Meiringen , Gletsch ( Wallis ) and Wassen ( Uri ).
traffic
The road to Understock is to a certain extent part of the pass road (northern ramp) of the Grimsel Pass , as it connects Innertkirchen with Guttannen . It was and is used as a bypass road when the main road is closed or impassable. However, it is extremely narrow, curvy and very confusing and only allows oncoming traffic in a few places. Most large vehicles cannot and are not allowed to use this road.
Understock has no connection to the public transport network. The next junction is Innertkirchen, where you can change to the Meiringen-Innertkirchen-Bahn and the PostBus lines to the Grimsel , Furka and Susten passes.
tourism
The connecting road Innertkirchen - Guttannen via Understock is part of the national cycle route ( Aare route ). With the increase in hiking and cycling tourism, more and more people are finding their way to Understock.
Understock is also a stage on the Sbrinz route, a historic mule track .
About a third of all houses in Understock are used as holiday homes and are only inhabited for a short time each year. The holiday guests appreciate the absolute tranquility and the almost untouched nature. There is neither a hotel nor a restaurant, only two bed and breakfast offers.
Economy and Infrastructure
The infrastructure in Understock is virtually non-existent. The only public building is the fire station , which contains a spray truck and tools.
Apart from three farms there are no other farms located in Understock. In summer the farmers cultivate all the meadows and pastures with cows , domestic goats and sheep . The farmers sell their milk and meat products directly from the farm, but mostly in Innertkirchen and Meiringen.
The «Urbachtaler Honig» is particularly famous. A very sweet, but tastier honey , which is composed of individual in midsummer bee strains geimkert is far and applies across the regional borders as a secret.
population
The population has shrunk massively in recent years due to the rural exodus and there are practically no people under 40 living in the remote place. Most of the people living in Understock are retired and are no longer gainfully employed. Most of the still working residents are involved in agriculture .
Climatic peculiarities
Because Understock is firstly on an exposed mountain foothill and secondly is exactly at the point where the four valleys Urbachtal, Grimseltal, Sustental and Haslital meet, the place is extremely exposed to wind. Föhn and Bise largely determine the weather and the clouds and fog wafts through the valleys often cover the place in gray impenetrableness, while in Innertkirchen or Guttannen the cloud cover is still far away.
The second specialty is the fact that Understock is located exactly north of the Loibstock and is therefore in the shade for a certain time every day. In winter it can even be that the sun reaches the place for a maximum of four hours and the rest of the time not a single ray of sunshine reaches the place.
Blowing up the chapf
For several decades, rock falls on the Grimsel Pass road between Innertkirchen and Guttannen became more and more frequent. At times, night driving was even prohibited in this area of the pass road and all Grimsel traffic was diverted via Understock. The reason for this was the movement of a rock outcrop called « Chapf » 900 m above the road. As these movements became stronger and stronger, the federal government finally decided to blast the entire rock outcrop in a controlled manner.
On October 4, 2001, the Chapf was blown up after months of drilling. 150,000 cubic meters of detached rock made this blast the largest in Swiss history.
As one had the best view of the Chapf from Understock , countless onlookers as well as invited guests from politics and business enjoyed the “spectacle” on the meadows of Understock.
Web links
- Official website of the municipality of Innertkirchen
- Demolition Grimsel in the archive of the show Schweiz Aktuell (SF1)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://map.veloland.ch/?lang=de&p&route=all
- ↑ http://www.sbrinzroute.ch/Routenseiten/Route-Meiringen-Guttannen.htm ( 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.
