Schilthorn/Mürren, CH: 03/16/18

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
Following the near perfect day at Grindelwald/Wengen on Wednesday, overcast skies returned on Thursday so we did some sightseeing in nearby Interlaken. Luckily, the Friday forecast was bluebird during the first half of the day, giving us the opportunity to check out another bucket-list stop in the Jungfrau.

After leaving the Autobahn, there's a fork in the road -- left to the Grindelwald and right to Mürren, and 90% of the traffic was turning left so we were looking forward to a comparatively uncrowded day. Here's what it looks like driving up the valley toward Lauterbrunnen, with towering cliffs on both sides of the road:
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When we arrived at the parking lot in Stechelberg, there's a taste of what's to come 6,300 vertical feet uphill -- a billboard for a James Bond exhibit covering the 1969 film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," which was partially shot at the Schilthorn peak. The film starred Telly Savalas as the villain Blofeld -- who ran the diabolical SPECTRE organisation, which planned to unleash some sort of germ warfare on the world, I believe -- and the Australian George Lazenby, who took over after Sean Connery decided he didn't want to be permanently typecast as 007. Here's the famous nighttime ski chase and the daytime chase featuring an avalanche.

One can only guess how much the Ian Fleming estate received to license this:
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There are audio bumpers in the buildings and all sorts of visual reminders, including a backpack for the employee running the tram:
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To reach the summit, you have to take four different trams -- I like this old-school bare-bones diagram:
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40 minutes later, you arrive at Gloria Peak:
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Love this:
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Staring down a gun barrel. I originally thought it was a camera iris:
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The men's room:
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Oh yeah, and then there's the skiing -- starting out from the top with a nice steep pitch:
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My wife and I enjoying the buttery soft snow on the same pitch as the James Bond ski chase:
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Looking back at Gloria Peak:
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Further down:
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Drinks at an igloo:
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Lots of vertical:
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After finishing lunch around 1 pm....
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... it started getting overcast, which actually worked out for us as the lower half of the ski terrain didn't get sloppy:
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Around 3 pm, we decided to call it a day and downloaded on the two lower cable cars. Arriving back in Brienz:
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Somehow I'm not surprised that James found a men's room that outdid the one I saw on the Sella Ronda. :lol:
 
kingslug":3kki8nej said:
And that actually was one of the better movies.
Interesting you say that -- I always thought the George Lazenby movie was considered an outlier (i.e. liked by very few) in the Bond oeuvre. I've always been Team Roger Moore (love his suave 70s routine) but plan to block out 90 minutes to watch On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The two ski chases linked above are great; I'm a Diana Rigg fan; and I look forward to watching Telly strut his bad-guy steeze.
 
jamesdeluxe":b4fznqju said:
kingslug":b4fznqju said:
And that actually was one of the better movies.
Interesting you say that -- I always thought the George Lazenby movie was considered an outlier (i.e. liked by very few) in the Bond oeuvre. I've always been Team Roger Moore (love his suave 70s routine) but plan to block out 90 minutes to watch On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The two ski chases linked above are great; I'm a Diana Rigg fan; and I look forward to watching Telly strut his bad-guy steeze.
I always have liked "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", although George Lazenby was, IMHO, one of the weakest actors to play Bond (and he was Australian and not even British!) But Diana Rigg and the bald man Telly were strong actors and the plot, skiing and scenery were first rate (by Bond film standards).
 
jamesdeluxe":2zwdr8q4 said:
A prop camera iris for photo ops:
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Nope. While similar to an iris, that's from the start of the title sequence of every Bond film - you're looking down the barrel of a gun from the firing chamber.
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jamesdeluxe":29e51qf1 said:
kingslug":29e51qf1 said:
And that actually was one of the better movies.
Interesting you say that -- I always thought the George Lazenby movie was considered an outlier (i.e. liked by very few) in the Bond oeuvre. I've always been Team Roger Moore (love his suave 70s routine) but plan to block out 90 minutes to watch On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The two ski chases linked above are great; I'm a Diana Rigg fan; and I look forward to watching Telly strut his bad-guy steeze.

I was inspired to watch On Her Majesty's Secret Service the other night since it is free on Hulu and barely remember it.

Wow - about 2/3+ of the movie was filmed in Murren / Jungfrau region. It was entertaining to watch the ski scenes with the 'stunt' skiers of the day. Humorous to see the actual actors interjected. Also, the producers must have actually triggered an avalanche to film. Appreciate the non-CGI action and scenery.

Just some interesting notes I looked up:
The Ian Fleming novel was supposed to be set near St. Moritz - hence the use of the word 'Piz' which is Romansch. Murren just kept it after filming though inappropriate for the region.
The film company helped finance the completion of the restaurant. Hence, they took over Piz Gloria for the winter of 1968-69 to film.
 
ChrisC":2zv15ngq said:
The film company helped finance the completion of the restaurant. Hence, they took over Piz Gloria for the winter of 1968-69 to film.
I missed this bit of trivia when posted earlier. Who knew?
 
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