Swiss Alps – Breathtakingly Beautiful and Picturesque Sceneries
Switzerland is made up of three areas. The Swiss Alps extending from the southwest to the southeast cover about 61% of the country. The Mittelland stretches from Geneva to St. Gallen and takes up about 29%. And the Jura in the northwest takes in the remaining 10%. The Eiger Moench and Jungfrau mountains Nevertheless, the mountain region explains an internationally popular holiday paradise and a significant image- and economic factor. Switzerland covers only 13.2% of the Alps total area of 190,600 km2. However, 48 out of 82 Alpine four-thousanders in the Alps are on Swiss territory and the remaining few are within 20 km to the border to Austria, Italy and France. The main area concerning settlement and economic power is the Mittelland (middle land) in which also lies the biggest Swiss cities – Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne and Zurich. The only canton to the south of the alpine main ridge is the Ticino. The origin of the Swiss Alps
Where today lies Switzerland, spread out once the Tethys Ocean. As the African plate started to move to the north at the end of the middle age, the Swiss Alps opened up in three phases. With that, old rocks like granite as well as younger rocks like sediments were put under pressure in the most varied form. At the same time the surface changed by decomposition and demolition, a process that is still underway today. Accordingly, the Swiss Alps offer geologically as morphologically an extremely colored picture with fantastic sceneries. Examples are the striking Mount Säntis, Mount Pilatus and Mount Rigi, which are built up from Kalkstein. Moreover, in the cantons of Grisons and Valais, you can discover different soft, quickly weathering sediment rocks found in the gentle hills- and mountain sceneries at the Alpine north edge. The Bietschhorn in the valley of Loetschen The North-eastern group contain the Alpstein/Toggenburg, Glarus, Schwyz and Eastern Alps of Uri. The North-western group form the Alps of Western Uri as well as those of Unterwalden, Bern, Fribourg and Vaud Alps. The Valais, Ticino and Grisons form the Southern Alps. The middle height of the Swiss Alps lies at around 1700 m (5,577 ft) above sea level and over one hundred summits are higher than 4000 m (13,123 ft). The Matterhorn (4,478 m or 14,691 ft) is well-known worldwide but not the highest mountain in Switzerland. The "Dufourspitze" (4,634 m / 15,202 ft) in the Monte-Rosa-Massiv near the Swiss-Italian border is highest summit. However, the highest mountain, which lies entirely on Swiss territory, is the Dom (4,545 m / 14,911 ft) located in the Valais. The Lago Maggiore (193 m) in Ticino is the lowest point in Switzerland. The various Height steps of the Swiss Alps Switzerland has such a wide vegetation spectrum that in just a few hours, you can experience it from the Mediterranean area to the arctic and the seasons from summer to winter. Therefore, in the Swiss Alps, we make a distinction of five height steps and they are... • The hill step goes up to about 600 m (1,968 ft) above sea level, includes the large mountain valleys, and the higher situated areas of the Mittelland (middle land). In those regions, fruits, vegetables, wine and grain are cultivated. • The mountain step reaches to a height of about 1200 m (3,937 ft) with foliage mixed forest and pastural agriculture. • The lower alp step reaches up to the forest border of up to 1800 m (5,905 ft) marked by coniferous forest. • The upper alp step heads all the way up to the snow border at around 2500m (8,202 ft) with summer pastures, single trees and an especially extensive flower flora and… • The snow step with rubble- and stone waste dumps, snowfields and glaciers. The height can vary considerable depending on the solar exposition. On the south side, the snow border lies approximately 300 m (984 ft) higher than on the north side of Switzerland. Flora and Fauna in the Swiss Alps The Swiss Alpine flora is especially very varied and admirably still grows under difficult climatic conditions. In the short vegetation time, the sun can warm up itself to over 40°C and sometimes cool down at night to below zero degrees. The biotope in Switzerland can be from desert-like to marshy-wet.
To the typical kinds of flora count the Edelweiss, rusty-leaved Alpenrose, steamless gentian, Alpine pasque-flower, mountain pine, glacier buttercup, Alpine dwarf orchid and the Alpine rock-jasmine. One hundred sixty of the over three thousand flower- and fern-like plants of Switzerland are protected. With a little luck, in the higher mountain regions, you can see marmots that disappear with a ringing whistle when danger arrives. As daring flyers appear the small black Alpine choughs. Now and then, you can also discover golden eagles and beard vultures. Most of the time, you can observe chamois and Capricorns only with binoculars who climb around elegantly on vertical cliffs and found even in the highest locations. Unbelievable, but wolves immigrating from Italy or from the Balkans arrive regularly in the south of the Swiss Alps. Also brown bears have appeared again, which were actually exterminated at the beginning of the twentieth century. No worry, you will not come across them that easily. Mittelland Two thirds of the Swiss population lives in the Mittelland between Lake Geneva and Lake Constance on 30% of the land surface. The Mitteland is densely populated and for every 1 km2 live 450 persons. It is the most densely populated region of Switzerland and the most important with respect to the economy. Geologically, the Swiss plateau is part of a larger basin that extends beyond the border of Switzerland. It has a length of about 300 kilometers and its width increases from the west to the east. Swiss Jura The Swiss Jura, a limestone range stretches from Lake Geneva to the Rhine. This picturesque highland crossed by river valleys lies on average 700 meters (2,300 ft) above sea level. The hills of the Jura Mountains provide nice forests but further down on the plateau you will discover varied thin meadows with bush- and shrub vegetation. The highest summit on the Jura Swiss region is the Mont Tendre at 1679 m (5,508 ft) to the south of Lac de Joux. In the wintertime, the Jura is the coldest region and it is less sunny than the Mittelland or the mountain region in the south. But regardless of that, the Jura has excellent regions for cross-country skiing or hiking. So no matter where and when you want to go, the Alps offer spectacular sceneries – romantic mountain village, top ski resorts, cows grazing on green pastures, beautiful chalets or picturesque peaks. Do not forget to take your camera along to take lots of mountain pictures of the Swiss Alps. Return from Swiss Alps to Facts About Switzerland Return from Swiss Alps to High End Travel Switzerland Home Page
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About 77% of Switzerland is densely settled land. The remaining 23% make up the Swiss Alps in which only a fifth of the Swiss live.
The valleys of the Rhone and Rhine rivers as well as the valleys of the Reuss and Ticino valleys arrange the Swiss mountains in different groups. 