Titlis is a mountain of the

Uri Alps The Uri Alps (also known as ''Urner Alps'', ) are a mountain range in Central Switzerland and part of the Western Alps. They extend into the cantons of Obwalden, Valais, Bern, Uri and Nidwalden and are bordered by the Bernese Alps (Grimsel Pass) a ...

, located on the border between the cantons of

Obwalden Canton of Obwalden or Obwald ( ; ; ; ) is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of seven municipalities and the seat of the government and parliament is in Sarnen. It is traditio ...

and

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. At above sea level, it is the highest summit of the range north of the

Susten Pass Susten Pass (German: ''Sustenpass'') (el. 2260 m.) is a mountain pass in the Swiss Alps. The pass road, built from 1938–1945, connects Innertkirchen in the canton of Bern with Wassen in the canton of Uri. A 300-metre long tunnel crosses the pass ...

, between the

Bernese Oberland The Bernese Oberland (; ; ), sometimes also known as the Bernese Highlands, is the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern. It is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context it is referred to as ''Oberland'' witho ...

and

Central Switzerland Central Switzerland is the region of the Alpine Foothills geographically the heart and historically the origin of Switzerland, with the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Lucerne and Zug. Central Switzerland is one of the NUTS 2 s ...

. It is mainly accessed from

Engelberg Engelberg (lit.: ''mountain of angel(s)'') is a village resort and a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Obwalden in Switzerland. Alongside the central village of Engelberg, the municipality enc ...

(OW) on the north side and is famous as the site of the world's first rotating

cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift *** ...

. The cable car system connects Engelberg () to the summit of ''Klein Titlis'' () through the three stages of '' Gerschnialp'' (), ''

Trübsee __NOTOC__ Trübsee () is an intermediate cable car station by the , Trüebsee (lit.: ''turbid lake'', Germanized: ''Trübsee'') is an Alpine lake () on the Ober Trüebsee Alpine pasture (or often just incorrectly shortened to ''Trüebsee'') in the ...

'' () and ''Stand'' (). In 2016, a direct route was created that bypassed Geraschnialp, going directly to Trübsee. The last part of cable car leads above the

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

. At ''Klein Titlis'', it is possible to visit an illuminated

glacier cave A glacier cave is a cave formed within the ice of a glacier. Glacier caves are often called ice caves, but the latter term is properly used to describe bedrock caves that contain year-round ice. Overview Glacier caves form in the bottom edge ...

from an entrance within the cable-car station, which also includes shops and restaurants. The

Titlis Cliff Walk The Titlis Cliff Walk is a pedestrian bridge along the cliff of Mount Titlis in the Swiss Alps. Built at around above sea level, it is believed to be the highest-elevation suspension bridge in Europe. It broke the record held by Salbit Bridge, ...

, the highest elevation

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

in Europe, opened in December 2012, giving views across the Alps. Many people use Titlis as a cheaper and easier option than

Jungfraujoch The Jungfraujoch (German language, German: lit. "maiden saddle") is a Saddle (landform), saddle connecting two major Four-thousander, 4000ers of the Bernese Alps: the Jungfrau and the Mönch. It lies at an elevation of above sea level and is dir ...

Geography

Titlis straddles the border between

and

. The main summit of Titlis (sometimes distinguished by the name ''Gross Titlis'') and Klein Titlis are both located between the municipalities of

on the north and

Gadmen Gadmen is a small village and a former municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014, the former municipality of Gadmen merged into the municipality of Innertkirchen.

on the south. The Titlis massif is also partially located in

Nidwalden Canton of Nidwalden or Nidwald ( ; ; ; ) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven municipalities and the seat of the government and parliament is in Stans. It is traditionally considered a " half-canto ...

, where the highest point of that canton is found: the

Rotstöckli The Rotstöckli (2,901 m) is a peak of the Urner Alps below the Titlis, on the border between the Swiss cantons of Obwalden and Nidwalden. It is List of Cantons of Switzerland by highest point, Nidwalden's highest point. The summit is split betw ...

(2,901 m). Titlis itself is the highest point in Obwalden and in the valley of Engelberg. East of Titlis is the Grassen, where the borders between the cantons of Obwalden, Berne and

Uri Uri may refer to: Places * Canton of Uri, a canton in Switzerland * Úri, a village and commune in Hungary * Uri, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province * Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India * Uri (island), off Malakula Island in V ...

converge. The geographical center of Switzerland is situated about 15 kilometers west of the mountain. Titlis is the highest mountain in the portion of the Uri Alps north of the

. This part of the range is located between the valleys of the Hasli (west) and the

Reuss Reuss may refer to: *Reuss (surname) * Reuss (river) in Switzerland * Imperial County of Reuss or Reuß, several former states or countries in present-day Germany, and the People's State of Reuss * Principality of Reuss-Greiz and Principality of R ...

(east), thus separating the waters feeding the basins of the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is the main tributary of the High Rhine (its discharge even exceeds that of the latter at their confluence) and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to i ...

and Reuss respectively. On the north side, the valley of Engelberg (''Engelbergertal'') is drained by the

Engelberger Aa The Engelberger Aa (or ''Engelbergeraa'') is a river in Switzerland. It rises west of the Surenenpass in the Canton of Uri, flows through the valley of Engelberg ( Obwalden) and Nidwalden. At Buochs it flows into Lake Lucerne and is there ...

, a tributary of the

Lake Lucerne Lake Lucerne (, literally 'Lake of the four Waldstätte, forested settlements' (in English usually translated as ''forest cantons''), , ) is a lake in central Switzerland and the fourth largest in the country. Geography The lake has a compli ...

. The valley is located southwards from Lake Lucerne. The northern side of the massif is covered by the Titlis Glacier (). Due to the

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

the glacier has been receded dramatically; it is expected to disappear in about twenty years. The south steep and rocky face rises above the

Wenden Glacier The Wenden Glacier () is a glacier in the Uri Alps in the canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. See also *Trift Glacier *Stein Glacier *List of glaciers in Switzerland *Swiss Alps References

Glaciers of the canton of Bern Glacie ...

. The east side overlooks a glacier named ''Firnalpeligletscher''.

History

In earlier times, Titlis was known under the names ''Wendenstock'' or ''Nollen''. The Reissend Nollen and the

Wendenstöcke The Wendenstöcke are a multi-summited mountain of the Uri Alps, overlooking Gadmen in the canton of Canton of Bern, Bern. The main summit (3,042 m) is named ''Gross Wendenstock''. References External links Wendenstöcke on Hikr
Mountains ...

are the nearest western neighbours to the mountain, slightly lower than Titlis, but with sharp rugged peaks.Titlis
brauchtumschweiz.ch. Retrieved 16 February 2010 In a document of 1435 the mountain is called ''Tuttelsberg'' (''Tutilos mountain''), referencing to a man named ''Tutilos'', who was probably a local farmer. The name, from ''Tutilos Berg'', became ''Titlisberg'' and later ''Titlis''. The first ascent of Titlis was probably made in the year 1739. It was done by Ignaz Hess, J. E. Waser and two other men from Engelberg. The first written evidence of an ascent is found in the ''Engelberger Dokumente''. They mention a party of four men that reached the summit in 1744. On 21 January 1904 the first ski ascent of Titlis was made by Joseph Kuster and Willi Amrhein. In March 1967 the cable car to Klein Titlis (3,032 m) was inaugurated. In December 2012, the

opened to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Engelberg-Gerschnialp cableway.

Telecommunications

Klein Titlis hosts a significant telecommunications site, used for high capacity point-to-point microwave radio links and VHF/ UHF repeaters. Licensed band radio links are regulated by the Swiss Federal Office of Communications.

Weather

The summit of Titlis is located above the

snow line The climatic snow line is the boundary between a snow-covered and snow-free surface. The actual snow line may adjust seasonally, and be either significantly higher in elevation, or lower. The permanent snow line is the level above which snow wil ...

, thus it has a cold, snowy climate with permanent snow cover and freezing temperatures.

Gallery

File:Engelberg-Titlis cableway wallpaper.JPG, Stand-Klein Titlis cableway (July 2010) File:Titlis.jpg, Titlis Glacier (October 2005) File:Titlis Rotair.jpg, Stand-Klein Titlis cable car, old version (March 2008) File:Titlis, Kleintitlis und Sustenhorn von Pilatus.jpg, Titlis from Pilatus

References

Swisstopo Swisstopo is the official name for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, Switzerland's national mapping agency. The current name was made official in 2002. It had been used as the domain name for the homepage of the instituteswisstopo.admi ...

maps

External links

Titlis webpage on the Swiss national tourist office

Titlis Tourism homepage
{{Authority control Mountains of Switzerland under 1000 metres Alpine three-thousanders Tourist attractions in Switzerland Cable cars in Switzerland Highest points of Swiss cantons Engelberg Mountains of Obwalden Mountains of the canton of Bern Bern–Obwalden border