Inside

It's near impossible to choose which photo to backblip for today, so, as you'll have plenty more mountains in the coming days here is something different - the inside of the Eiger.

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Today was our last full day in Interlaken, and better weather than yesterday, so it was now or never to grasp the nettle of the cost of the trip up the Jungfrau. As this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip the nettle was grasped - gulp.

The trip involves a diamond shaped route.  Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, then up on a cog railway up to Kleine Schieidegg (which I ought to stop thinking as Small Fried Egg) then up the inside of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau to the base that's built on the ridge between the latter two.

The railway was originally designed to reach the summit, but they gave up on that part.   It was started in 1896 (yes, 18) and took 16 years to create.  It's the highest railway in Europe.

Incredibly there are two 'stations' on the way up where there are viewing points.  This is at one of these, and handheld in the dark so forgive the blur.  I should really have wound the ISO up, but the train was about to leave and I'd just been photographing snow!

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At the top of all this is rather a lot of tourist cheese, although the ice sculptures were impressive.  

You can access the outside too. Potentially there's a cross-glacier walk along a prepared path.  However, a large, cold, and windy cloud had parked itself on the Jungfrau and what we did see rather came and went, and despite two jumpers  and cost and hat and gloves and ... it was blipping cold!

Amazingly there are birds up here!  Alpine Chough's; more of which later.

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I duly acquired a Swiss Army Knife at this point.  One of the few things not ridiculously expensive relative to the UK.

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The way down was via Grindlewald, at the base of the infamous north face of the Eiger.  

(However, my walking stick, having sneaked off on it's own at Lauterbrunnen, travelled back directly to Interlaken where it waited for me at the station).