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Day “E” in the Adventure Countdown

    E is for Evil is Conquered on the Schilthorn!

     What do you get when you combine a secret agent, some shady business deals and henchmen, and a revolving restaurant on a mountain in Switzerland? Why, a James Bond movie of course! On Her Majesty’s Secret Service to be precise… The Schilthorn was a shooting location for parts of this film, including some pretty amazing skiing chase scenes!

     Here is a livecam so you can view as you read 🙂 http://schilthorn.ch/en/Info/Schilthorn_Live/Livecams Currently the visibility is low and I can only see clouds and people walking around on the platform. We can visit the Schilthorn and view the panoramic views of the beautiful surrounding buildings while we are visiting Murren. After we are done freezing our fingers off, we can step into the rotating restaurant, watch the views from inside the glass, and drink some expensive, yet still delicious hot chocolate!

     (following from myswitzerland) My name is Bond, James Bond. The agent who presented himself in such an unmistakeable way made a decisive contribution to the fame of the Schilthorn. The mountain with its breathtaking panoramic views is today one of the top attractions of the Jungfrau region. Lying at the foot of the Schilthorn, Mürren has nevertheless remained a cosy mountain village.

     At the end of the 1960s, the makers of the Bond film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” were immediately taken by the futuristic revolving restaurant on the Schilthorn: the scenes involving the imaginary ‘Piz Gloria’ had to be shot here… The film became a great success, the Schilthorn cableway and the revolving restaurant equally so. The magnificent 360° panorama from the summit takes in the world-renowned Alpine triumvirate of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, reaching right to Mont Blanc and into the Black Forest.

     (following from Wikipedia) The Schilthorn is a 2,970 metre high summit of the Bernese Alps, overlooking the valley of Lauterbrunnen in the Swiss canton of Bern. It takes you just 32 minutes by Cable car to reach the summit of the 2970 m high Schilthorn. It is the highest mountain in the range lying north of the Sefinenfurgge Pass. The Schilthorn lies above the village of Mürren, from where a cable car leads to its summit. It has a panoramic view which spans from the Titlis, Jungfrau, Mönch, Eiger, over the Bernese Alps and the Jura mountains up to the Vosges Mountains and the Black Forest. Mont Blanc is also just visible. The Birg cable car intermediate station with the north face of the Eiger

    To get to the Schilthorn from the valley floor either of a series of cable cars must be taken. The cable cars begin in Stechelberg leaving to Gimmelwald and then onto Mürren. From Mürren another cable car is taken to Birg, which is the final change before the Schilthorn. This cable airway is the longest and was the most technically challenging airway to be built. The other way up is to take the cable car from Lauterbrunnen to Grütschalp and a train to Murren, from where the cable car must be taken. Between Birg and the summit, the cable car passes over Grauseeli, a small lake. It is also possible to hike to the peak, along the myriad of small, but well-marked paths to the top. The hike to the top takes roughly 5 hours from Gimmelwald for an experienced hiker.

     There is a panoramic revolving restaurant, named Piz Gloria, at the summit, which is where the 1969 James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was set. A famous black ski run featured in the film starts at the summit and leads down to the Engetal below Birg. The restaurant revolves a full 360 degrees in 55 minutes.

     After considering a number of locations, the stalled construction of the sports bar atop the Schilthorn was chosen when the film’s producer financed the completion of the famous revolving platform for the right to use the facility for his next film, the first and only Bond film starring George Lazenby.

     Quite a number of scenes in the film were photographed by cameraman, John Jordan, hanging below a speeding helicopter. Jordan had previously lost a foot to a helicopter rotor while filming the movie You Only Live Twice. Within a year and fitted with a prosthetic limb, Jordan lost his footing and fell 2,000 feet to his death when filming similar aerial imagery used in Catch-22.

     During the Winter the Schilthorn is the traditional start for the world longest down hill ski race the “Inferno” which started in 1928.

    During the summer the Inferno Triathlon finishes at the summit after a run up from the Lauterbrunnen valley.