Switzerland's Canyoning Disaster... and Memorial

Near Interlaken, a stone marker remembers the 21 victims of the 1999 Saxetbach tragedy.

A memorial board is filled with notes from loved ones, and photos of those who died.

Twenty-one stone cairns honor the 21 victims.

By Rick Steves

Adventure sports in the Alps were brash and cocky until July 27, 1999. On that tragic day, a group of young tourists (mostly from Australia, New Zealand, and Britain), led by gung-ho mountain guides, ignored warnings of an impending storm, and put on their wetsuits and helmets to go "canyoning" — climbing and sliding down an Alpine river gorge. They got caught in a flash flood filled with debris and 21 of them died — so battered by stones and logs that their bodies were difficult to identify.

And there have been other tragedies in the area. In May 2000, an American student died bungee jumping from the Stechelberg-Mürren gondola (the operator used a 180-meter rope for his 100-meter jump). Also a few years ago, another adventure sportsman died the day before I arrived in Interlaken; his parachute failed when he jumped off a cliff.

You can find your alpine thrills any number of ways. Since these accidents, adventure companies in the Alps have been rigidly controlled for safety.

But if you are considering anything extreme, visit the memorial to the victims of the Saxetbach canyoning disaster first (3 miles from Interlaken, just outside Wilderswil on the Saxeten Road). Twenty-one towers of stone ornament a peaceful garden. Under a wooden shelter, a 30-foot wide board is filled with love letters from family, poems from partners, and sad notes from friends remembering the people who died in the prime of life. Reading the board, the only sound you hear is the Saxeten River that killed them. It seems to say, "Respect the power of nature."

For up-to-date specifics, see the latest edition of the Rick Steves' Switzerland guidebook. We also offer free-spirited tours of Switzerland.