Switzerland's ICE PALACE

Walk Inside a Glacier at The Top of Europe

- BY SUE EYRE

The Swiss are known for pocket knives, fondue, chocolate, and accurate timepieces as well as a train system that works like clockwork. That train system can take you to Jungfraujoch, "the madden saddle," the highest observation platform in Switzerland at 11,333 feet in elevation, where on a clear day, you can see Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Travel by train, cog railroad or gondola from Inter-laken to Grindelwald and Kleine Scheidegg, continue through a tunnel in the Eiger mountain to this UNESCO World Heritage Site at the Top of Europe, visited by more than 500,000 people each year. Step off the train into a station deep inside a mountain in the Swiss Alps, walk directly into a glacier, Switzerland's Ice Palace and marvel at this engineering feat at the top of a geologic wonder.

MOUNTAINS AND GLACIERS

The Alps are the highest mountain range in Europe, formed tens of millions of years ago as the African and Eurasian plates clashed and forced the ancient seabed skyward. The stress on the sediments resulted in large folds that pushed northward, breaking and sliding over one another to form thrust faults in this beautiful mountain wonderland. This area is home to thousands of glaciers that span over 750 miles across eight countries.

Hikers viewing the Aletsch glacier.

Adobe Stock/Yü Lan

Stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Himalayas, the Alps are often divided into regions. In the region located in central Switzerland, the uplifts took place along a ductile north-south fault zone called the Rhone-Simplon line.