Bachalpsee

LakesBern (Berner Oberland),Switzerland

A shallow pan of snowmelt at 2,265 metres in the Swiss Alps that holds a wall of rock and ice upside down on windless mornings.

September·Peaking now

Sep–Oct

The turf turns rust-gold. Catch it before the First cable car shuts for revision at the end of October.

Year-round The Wetterhorn–Schreckhorn wall and the Grindelwald glacier close the terrace's far side every day of the year; the open water, its dawn mirror, the alpine turf and the cable-car access are all seasonal.

Bachalpsee is a shallow pan of snowmelt on a treeless shelf at 2,265 metres, and on a windless morning it holds an entire mountain wall upside down. Across the valley the Wetterhorn, the sharp pyramid of the Schreckhorn and the Finsteraarhorn behind it close the view, with the Grindelwald glacier pouring down between them. The lake is small: about eight hectares, and nowhere deeper than roughly fifteen metres, on a shelf above Grindelwald below the summit of the Faulhorn. Nothing grows tall up here, so the wall of rock and ice is in front of you the whole way round the shore. It is really two lakes: a natural rock dam splits the water, and the basin behind it sits a full six metres lower, which almost nobody notices in the photographs. A single stream, the Milibach, drains the whole thing. Getting there is a walk, not a climb. From the top of the First cable car a gravel path runs three kilometres across open pasture on a gentle gradient; most people take about fifty minutes, and marmots whistle from the slopes on either side. In late June and early July the turf reddens with alpine roses; by October it has gone rust-gold, the air is at its stillest and the crowds have thinned. Then, from about mid-December to early April, the lake is simply not there: it freezes, disappears under snow, and the summer path is groomed and walked as a winter trail. The reflection everyone comes for is a matter of hours rather than months. It needs still air, which in practice means the first hours after sunrise; as soon as a breeze picks up, the surface ripples and the mirrored peaks break apart.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Come up on the first cable car — the walk out takes fifty minutes, so only the earliest lift reaches the water while the air is still calm.
Snow can bury the path into mid-June — by July it is an easy walk in trainers, but early in the season check the trail status before you ride up.
The classic two-basin frame is not shot from the shore — carry on up the Faulhorn path for twenty minutes, then turn round and look back down at the lake.
The water is snowmelt-cold all summer and there is no lifeguard — wading the shallows is fine, but a real swim at 2,265 metres is not the good idea it looks.
Marmots hold the slopes above the path — listen for the whistle first, then look for the sentry sitting upright on a boulder; the pasture between First and the lake is riddled with their burrows.

Things to do

1
Walk out across the open pasture from First
A gravel path leaves the top station and runs three kilometres over bare, rolling alp pasture — no trees, no drama, just turf, rock and the whistle of marmots. The Schreckhorn wall builds ahead of you the whole way, and by autumn the grass under your boots has turned rust-gold.
2
Catch the Schreckhorn upside-down at dawn
On a windless morning the lake goes completely flat and the whole wall — Wetterhorn, Schreckhorn, the glacier spilling between them — drops into the water. The northern shore gives the cleanest line, with the Schreckhorn's pyramid landing dead centre on the surface.
3
Find the second lake behind the rock dam
Most people stop at the first shore, take the photograph and turn back. Walk on over the low rock bar and a second, smaller basin opens below the first, with its own shoreline and a lone stone hut. From the slope above, the two sheets of water read as one lake broken in half.
4
Walk the shore when the alpine roses are out
For a few weeks from late June the turf around the lake fills with alpine roses — a low rhododendron with rust-backed leaves that flowers deep pink — with gentians in the shorter grass. Come right down to the water's edge, where the whole wall of peaks sits at eye level on the surface.
5
Climb to the Faulhorn and look back down
The path carries on past the lake and up to the Faulhorn at 2,681 metres, about an hour and a half further. From the top the Bernese chain lines up end to end, and Bachalpsee lies far below as two small blue eyes set in the grass. The summit inn will put you up for the night.

Watch

Nearby

12 km